We're Number Two, We're Number Two

Luke 1:68-79

        Last Tuesday the Washington Wizards beat the Miami Heat by four points. It was the Wizard’s second victory in fifteen games, yet as the Wizards left the court most of their players could be seen holding one finger high in the sky. While I would like to believe they were pointing toward the heavens acknowledging the One whose birth we are about to celebrate, we all know they were claiming to be Number One.

        What is it about our desire to be Number One? With the notable exception of Avis Car Rentals, I can’t think of anyone ever celebrating being number two. And even Avis did it as a campaign slogan to suggest they tried harder. Being Number One seems to be in our DNA, after all, who wants to be Robin when you can be Batman.

        Our text this morning celebrates finishing second. The poem we read from Luke announces the birth of a child. Nothing unusual about that, after all we are preparing for Christmas. What makes this text so interesting is the father of the child praises God for allowing his son to be second best. I may have trouble recalling my phone number, but I remember every single moment of September 26, 1980. There might have been 15 other babies born at the hospital that day but only one bore the name Martina Lee Andrews. As far as I was concerned, she was the only child that mattered. So imagine what would have happened if I, on the arrival of her grandparents, had pointed out Martina and said, “That’s your granddaughter.  I really wish she was as pretty as the baby next to her”. (pause) We all know every child born is number one in the eyes of the parent. So why was the son of Zachariah the exception to that rule?

        Sometimes we get so occupied with the birth of Jesus we forget that Luke writes about two miraculous births. The gospel of Luke begins by telling us the story of Zechariah, a faithful priest, who was married to Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary.  Zechariah and Elizabeth had tried for years to have a child. But the couple had grown old and the idea of a child seldom entered their convresations. After a long day of fulfilling his priestly duties, Zachariah was visited by the angel Gabriel.  Zachariah was paralyzed with fear but the angel assures him, “Don’t be afraid. I bring great news. Your wife is about to bear a son.”

        Zechariah went from paralysis to analysis. “That is impossible. I am an old man and my wife is no spring chicken.”

        But the Angel continued, “Listen! God is about to do a new thing. God, in the form of a child, is coming to be among us. Your son, whom you will name John, will announce the coming of the Lord. Your son will prepare the people for God’s arrival.”

        All Zechariah could say was, “Shut my mouth”, and that is exactly what happened. Zechariah was speechless for the next nine months. Elizabeth became pregnant and gave birth. On the eighth day after the birth, Elizabeth was asked to name the child. Everyone assumed the baby would be named after his father but Elizabeth shook her head and said, “You will call him John.” Shocked, everyone  turned to Zachariah and asked what he wanted the baby to be named. The ancient priest wrote one word on the tablet, “John”. As soon as the word had been written, Zechariah was able to speak Listen to what he said. “Blessed be the Lord, who is coming to set his people free. He will set salvation in the center of our lives.  There will be deliverance from our enemies and mercy to our fathers. We will worship freely and be made holy by his presence.” Then Zechariah lifted up his own son. “And you, born first but second in importance, shall prepare his way. You will show us, one foot at a time, the path of peace.”

        Zechariah spent nine months of silence thinking about what he would declare concerning this miraculous birth. Zechariah must have crafted each word carefully, knowing each syllable carried with it the power of God’s new revelation. Zechariah did not fail at his holy task. As much as he must have wanted to rejoice over the birth of a long desired son, he first raised one finger to heaven and celebrated the unborn son of Mary. Zechariah knew the first must be last, and the last, first.

        The son of Zachariah grew up to be a very strange man. When John was old enough to leave home, he headed straight for the desert.  Living like a wild beast, he prepared himself to announce the arrival of the one who would lead humanity out of wilderness.  Like some traveling medicine show, when John performed, the crowds turned out in droves. He preached only one sermon, “Repent, for the day of the Lord is at hand.” Then John the Baptizer would take his new converts down to the river for a spiritual bath.

John collected his own band of disciples. Many suggested that the Baptizer was the new Elijah. John could have started his own movement but the son of Zachariah knew why God had chosen him. He had been reminded from birth that he was the messenger and not the message. Therefore he preached, “I baptize with water but the One who follows me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John preached a message of repentance. John invited people to look deep into their hearts and see what changes needed to be made. Then John pointed them down a different path. It was not a road that lead to glory; it was not a road that guaranteed personal wealth; it was not a road that promised they would become Number One.  John offered a radical pathway peace. He offered a chance to discover justice and righteousness in the light of God’s grace.

Words like that seem so hollow when the currents of history once again are churning into rapids, threatening to overflow every restraining embankment and carry us headlong into conflict in the land where God became flesh.  We want to be Number One and we want our God be Number One. We want our God to stand over against the tumult of madness and make it right according to our perspective. We want our God to be a strong, avenging angel. We don’t need a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. We don’t want the messenger of God running aimlessly through the wilderness. We want a message of power and might. We don’t want peace. We want victory.  That is the desire that seems to motivate the world regardless of religious preference. We want to be number one because we deserve it, we have earned it, and we dare anyone to take it away from us.

Bill Coffin once said “The world is beginning to resemble the extinct dinosaurs who suffered from too much armor and too little brains.” But then Coffin was always a dreamer. Don’t we need our strength, our power, our weapons of mass destruction? Ever look closely at that phrase, “weapons of mass destruction”.  What have those weapons, or the threat of those weapons ever really changed.  Violence, defended by lies, has a strangle hold on our destiny.  Firday was the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  What lies did the Emperor tell the people of Japan to justify such an attack? What lies did Ben Laden cultivate to justify 9/11. What lies have we told to justify some of our misadventures? Nonviolence, a road less traveled, is more radical than violence because nonviolence is born from truth, a truth that leaves us naked, vulnerable, and exposed. During the season of Advent we celebrate that truth comes as a baby born in a barn. We celebrate truth spoken by a man who bathed in the sins of humanity even though he was without sin.  We celebrate truth as a savior, hanging on a cross to counteract the violence of one culture, and the violence of all cultures. We celebrate the Prince of Peace, who humbled himself in order that we might be redeemed.

John the Baptizer was born to bear witness to the coming of the One who claimed humility over power, peace over violence, and love over hate. 

John the Servant lowered himself to serve the One who challenged the conventional thinking of his day, and our day.

John the Messenger repeated the words that should rise in our moral consciousness every time we clench our fist.  “Prepare the way of the Lord. Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain shall be made low. The Prince of Peace shall be revealed and all people shall see the salvation of God.”    

Radical Words…..Truthful words….The Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God!