“A long-awaited dawn”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, December 24, 2022
Luke 1:67-80 (Forward, p. 56) CEV p. 1056
Have you ever been in a situation where you longed for dawn to break, where you fervently wished that it would hurry up? I have been in that situation at least twice. Once was during a winter camping trip. In spite of a banked fire and warm eider-down sleeping bags, a person still managed to feel rather chilly during the early pre-dawn hours, a time of day that often ‘seemed’ to be colder than any other time of the day. How eagerly we awaited sunrise and the prospect of warmer temperatures no matter how slight.
The other time was when I was in the hospital with complications from pneumonia. The pain and discomfort were almost unbearable and somehow during the long hours of the night they seemed worse. How welcome dawn—and its seeming relief—was at this time.
So, in light of our own experiences of a long-awaited dawn, it is interesting, and informative, to note that Zechariah uses this image in his much-storied song of praise, the Benedictus. He refers it using the words ‘the dayspring from on high’.
So, what did it mean to Zechariah in the context of his day? What kinds of darkness did he wish to have relief from? There are many things that might have been in his mind:
a) The Roman rule: for all the supposed benefits of the Pax Romana, that rule was still very brutal, and still very swift and robust in suppressing any opposition or dissent. The Roman general Varus, for instance, crucified 2,000 Jews in Galilee in 4 B.C., and this was not at all rare. Zechariah would have been well aware of this practice and probably had seen it.
b) Herod the Great, the local ruler of Judaea, wasn’t much better, having ‘eliminated’ one of the earlier high priests and several of his own family, including his own wife. The later murder of the infants in Bethlehem was simply par for the course for him, given his suspicion and paranoia.
c) The Jewish authorities were not much better than the Romans. They corruptly raked off profits from the illegal market conducted in the Court of the Gentiles in the Jerusalem Temple and added their own taxes to the already oppressive Roman ones. Furthermore, they were impressed only with power, position and appearance and cared little for the welfare of the common folk. And, furthermore, they really did very little to foster the faith of their people, but only burdened them with endless rules and regulations.
d) On top of these things, there had not been an acknowledged prophet for oh-so-many years. It was as if God had stopped talking to Israel, and so things looked very bleak and dismal indeed.
And, so this was the kind of darkness that Zechariah knew so well, the kind of darkness that he yearned for a relief from. And so, in his hymn of praise, he speaks a word of faith, saying that finally, a Saviour is to come, a rescuer, a dayspring from on high. And furthermore, he says that this will happen through ‘the tender mercy of our God.’ In other words, it will be God’s doing and not some invention or intervention from a human source.
Today, many of us will most surely sympathize with Zechariah and his sentiments. As we approach Christmas and the New Year we are well aware of the darkness of the world, be that from Ukraine or Iran or from the sabre-rattling of China and North Korea, or from the continuing health crisis or the winter storms, or from natural disasters, or from the political uncertainty the world over, there is much that we might label as darkness. And, while we often hope, rather in vain, that our political leaders and systems will ‘fix everything’, that hope is ill-founded. It is only God that can intervene and make things better. And, what we know, at this Christmas time, is that He already has. He has sent the ‘dayspring from on high’ in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ. So, let us praise Him and place our hope in Him and trust Him, now and always. Amen.
Forward notes: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins” (verses 76-77).
“Talk about a toast—and at a post-circumcision party, no less! Zechariah sets the bar high. He knows his son has a distinct purpose, and he shares it with all the guests.
“While most fathers are proud of their newborn sons, Zechariah is over the moon. He predicts (rightly) that John will be among the highest prophets, preparing the way of the Lord, offering salvation and forgiveness of sins.
“The guests must have been elbowing one another as Zechariah went on. Who has these kinds of hopes for their child? And who dares speak them publicly? But Zechariah has inside information: he knows what Gabriel foretold, and as for his friends, they would just have to wait and see.
Moving Forward: “What hopes and dreams do you have for your children? Have you shared them with your children?”