Waiting. We don’t like it. It’s not popular. People even abhor it. We don’t like to wait. When we wait, we don’t feel like we’re in control. We feel powerless when we have to wait. Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite spiritual writers, says that people who are fearful have the hardest time waiting, “because when we are afraid, we want to get away from where we are. But if we cannot flee, we may fight instead.” Fear leads people, and even whole communities, into destructive actions because of what might happen. Out of fear, they take action into their own hands. They strike first because they are too afraid to wait. The more fearful we are as a people the harder waiting becomes. Because of our fear, we are prone to take actions into our own hands, question God’s methods, and put trust in anyone who can assure our safety.
When we open the first few pages of Luke, we find six figures who are all in the position of waiting: Zachariah and Elizabeth, Anna, Simeon, and Mary and Joseph. The whole opening scene of Luke’s gospel is filled with waiting people. Each of them is a figure of “waiting Israel” and therefore a figure of “Christians in waiting” for Christ. Each week in this series we will look at each figure and the message we need to hear about waiting for Christ.
- Nov. 29th Waiting with Hope – Elizabeth and Zechariah
- Dec.6th Waiting is Active – Anna
- Dec. 13th Waiting with Peace – Simeon
- Dec. 20th Waiting Births Love – Mary and Joseph
One of the beautiful pictures of waiting when Elizabeth and Mary are in view is that they both receive the message that they are going to have a son (Elizabeth via mute Zechariah). This gives us one of the first lessons about waiting, those who wait do so because they have received a promise that permits them to wait. Elizabeth and Mary both receive something that is now at work in them, like a seed starting to grow. The important message we receive from these two exemplars of the faith is that we too have already received the seed, the Holy Spirit, within us to bring about a transformation in us.
Waiting is never moving from nothing to something. Waiting is a movement from something to something more. To put it another way, the Spirit within you grows and redeems the parts of you in need of redemption (John 14:15-17). The Spirit is the promise that gives hope. It calls us to action and preparation. It brings us to peace in a world of chaos. Finally, the Spirit of Christ in us then births love into the world. We will explore each of these themes in the weeks to come.
For this Sunday, we are going to look at how Luke Zechariah responds to the good news of what God is going to do in the world around him. Take some time to read Luke 1:5-25. Place yourself in the story and listen to what God might be speaking to you through your reading. When I think about Zechariah, I am reminded that I have a tendency to speak too often and about too much. I can rationalize quickly how God does or doesn’t work in certain ways. We have a tendency to question. Question what? Everything. So, we talk. We plan. We question. We make claims on what the future holds because in our talking we also try to take the reins from God because we like to have control of our future. In all his talking, God gives Zechariah the gift of silence. This silence then gives birth to hope.
Take some time this week to reflect on your life. Where do you put your hope? What areas of your life need the gift of silence so that you can fully listen to the God of Hope?
During this season of Advent, let’s develop the posture of waiting by scheduling times to be silent before God. As the Psalmist writes in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.”