The Path Of Peace

By Rev. Larry Leland, Faith United Methodist Church, Montoursville

One of my favorite people in the biblical story leading up to Christmas is Zechariah. His story is recorded in Luke 1. Zechariah, a priest, was chosen by lot to burn incense while those assembled for worship lifted up their prayers to God. In that once-in-a-lifetime moment, an angel appeared and offered a message that answered the prayer of Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth. They would welcome a child into their lives. The angel’s message also answered the prayers of generations by promising the coming Messiah, the hoped-for one who would deliver God’s people.

With an answer to the very prayers he was there to lift before God, and in the presence of an angel (for crying out loud!), Zechariah questioned the possibility of the message. And then he was silent for months following.

Many a pregnant wife would welcome silence in her husband during the nine months of waiting, growing, morning sickness, and the like. While that silence may have prevented Zechariah from saying the dumb things that expectant fathers sometimes say, the real purpose of this season of silence was to allow Zechariah to truly listen and reflect on the promise of God, symbolized by the baby growing inside his pregnant wife and the baby of her relative, Mary.

The day arrived. Elizabeth gave birth, and the couple went to the temple for the covenant of circumcision and naming. When it came time to announce the name, everyone sat back, fully expecting Elizabeth to say, “Zechariah, Jr.,” or its equivalent. When the words come from her, “He is to be called John,” you could almost hear the crowd gasp. There was no “John” in the family. So they turned to Zechariah, still unable to talk, and he wrote four simple words on a tablet: “His name is John.”

Backing his wife, and following through with the angel’s instructions, Zechariah’s act of faith was what finally opened his mouth, and what came out was a song of praise (Luke 1:5-79 NIV).

Zechariah praised God for the unfolding plan of rescue and redemption that he saw in John’s birth. He also pointed to John’s work and to the work of Jesus, the One for whom John would prepare the way.

John would go before the Lord, giving people a foretaste of the salvation that Jesus would bring, as he baptized them for the forgiveness of their sin. Jesus, then, would be the One, come from heaven, fulfilling a prophecy of Isaiah, as he would “shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1:79).

Zechariah’s song proclaims the truth that, all too often, we can forget. Jesus did not simply come so that we might individually find forgiveness for our sin, though this aspect of our salvation was certainly accomplished in Jesus. Jesus also came “to guide our feet into the path of peace.” Jesus’ work was not simply to ensure for us what would happen after death. It was to invite us to participate in the ongoing redemption and restoration of creation that would usher in the kingdom of God, the new heaven and new earth, by guiding us into pathways that lead to peace.

May it be said of all of us that we have lived out our Advent (waiting) faith and our Christmas (incarnation) celebration by praying for, seeking out, and working for peace in our families, our communities, and our world. If we do that, we live into our identity as children of God and followers of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.