Gone Speechless

A Sermon Based Upon Luke 1: 5-20

By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

Second Sunday of Advent, December 9, 2012

“He kept making signs to them and remained speechless. (Luke 1:22 CSB)” 

Silence is as not as golden as it used to be.   Much of the activity of our world depends on making a lot of noise and a lot of talk.      

We seem to have a great need for noise, and more noise.   What do most of us do when we get up in the morning?  We want to hear.   We want to hear the morning news.  And the daily news we want to hear depends on somebody saying something.  The 24/7 cable news is a non-stop business of talking and noise-making.   Noise gets our attention.  It makes news, sells books, and makes an impact.  All this noise has created a need for even more noise.     

The Christmas season makes its own kind of noise.  What would Christmas be without the sounds of the season---the singing of carols, the warm greetings of good cheer, and of course, the message of “good news” which we believe will make us most happy?  Christmas is all about making THE most joyful noise, right?   Not so fast. 

GONE SPEECHLESS IN FAITH

According to Luke, the most important Christmas story-teller, the very first Christmas miracle does not make a sound.  It was kind of a very odd, silent, and even negative miracle--a kind of miracle in reverse.  The first miracle of Christmas was the very odd occurrence of a preacher who can’t talk.   Preachers don’t like this miracle.  But we should have known it was coming, because before there could be a “holy night”, there had to be a “silent night”.   Before we can get to the core of Christmas, we need to hear this silence.   “Jingle Bells” can’t be heard until the preaching stops.

Don’t you remember how true this was when you were a child?   When we would gather at Teresa’s grandmothers on Christmas Eve, before we opened the presents, we first had to get still and listen to Maw Maw Pauline read the Christmas story.  Children had to be taught to endure these moments of stillness at a very young age or else, they couldn’t stand it.   They fun can’t start, until the talking stops.

Needless to say, putting a “dumb”, speechless preacher ahead of the Christmas story proves that Luke wasn’t a preacher.  Tradition says he was a medical doctor.  No preacher or prophet would put such a story up front.   Mark skips Christmas altogether.  John doesn’t tell this story, he starts with the “Word”.   Even Matthew, who does talk Christmas, doesn’t dare tell this story.  He gets right talking about Jesus.   But Luke decides to start with a speechless preacher, just standing there, looking all kinds of silly.    

The scene is even funny.   Zachariah comes out the inner most sanctuary to make his normal speech and can’t speak.  He starts waving his arms.  He keeps on waving his arms.  People are wondering what is going on.  They know something is not right, but since Zachariah is a good priest and a good man, they give him the benefit of a doubt.  “He’s seen a vision”.  If they only knew that what had happened, but all good ole preacher Zach could do was wave his arms and look “dumb”.  No wonder they called his son a Baptist!

 This whole scene is filled with humor, but it’s not funny.  A year or so ago, a prominent Pastor in Greensboro announced to his congregation that he had to retire early to go on disability.   In the process of having surgery to repair a hernia, they removed his breathing tube and damaged his vocal cords.  Now, he could only speak about 5 or 10 minutes until his voice gave out.   You might wish too!   Shame on you!  Being a preacher, you need to talk a little longer, so he had to file for disability.   He must have had a good lawyer.  

If you are a preacher or a church goer, this story speechlessness has serious repercussions.   The silence of Zachariah can be deafening.   It can have more silence than we may want to hear.  

Zachariah’s story began with angel appearing.   Even for the Bible, and for a priest, having an angel appear is not normal.   “Fear overwhelmed him” (1.12).  While shaking in fear, Zachariah is told by this angel that his wife Elizabeth will bear (him) a son to be named John.  Birth stories have been told, but who would think it could happen to you.   The angel tells Zachariah:  “This child will be great in the sight of the LORD” (1.15). “He will turn many of the people of Israel to the LORD their God” (1.16) and “with the Spirit of Elijah” (the great prophet), he will “turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the LORD.” (1.17). 

Again, Zachariah is not “underwhelmed”, he is “overwhelmed” (1.12).  His negative response shows us a very human side this well-respected priest:  “How will I know this is so?  I am an old man, my wife is getting on in years” (1.18).   While it would be nice to read the story from the outside, Luke takes us on the inside; inside the church, inside the parsonage and inside the heart.   But perhaps we can understand a little of Zechariah’s cynicism.   He’s an old man.   He’s been around the block a few times.  He’s an expert in all the things that pertain to God.   He knows too much to get caught up in all this revelatory excitement. 

If it sounds too good to be true, it normally is.  That is the norm, and of all people the priest knows it, even if he can’t talk about it.  People might fall for it, but not him.   He’s seen too much and gotten too smart.   We know too, that though millions buy lottery tickets, only one person wins.  You have a better chance to be struck by lightning.   Most people stay poor and even those who do win, can’t manage all that money.  Life is bent in a “same ole, same ole” direction and is mostly downhill.   As I heard someone say recently, “The golden years aren’t so golden!”  But don’t blame Zachariah or his age for his negativism.  As a priest, he has experience.  He’s seen the worst side of life.  He hears about all the sins.  He hears all the prayers and knows that most seem unanswered.  You can’t fool him and you probably can’t help him much either.  If Zachariah has a voice left, it’s negative. 

  

Several years ago, when living in Greensboro, we bought our first house.  I was forty-two and finally had a house to call my own and also, I was learning about all the responsibilities with homeownership.  One day I got a letter in the mail, telling me my homeowner’s insurance was about to be canceled.   I called my insurance agent.  He said it was because I had a large crack in my driveway where a root had pushed up the concrete and made it too hazardous.  I could not believe they would cancel my insurance over a root.  I protested to the agent and he understood.  He said all this was done by an inexperienced adjuster who drove buy, took a picture and filed a hasty report.   He’s probably trying to make a name for himself.   He cited the concern that someone would visit me, get out of their car, fall and sue.   I told the agent to tell the company not to worry.  “I’m a preacher,  nobody ever comes to see a preacher. ” 

GONE SPEECHLESS FOR FAITH

I should have kept my mouth shut.   When life turns negative, we often become negative too.   You can lose your voice for God and for good, even when you are still talking.   For a preacher, negativity is a special hazard, even though we are called to preach “good news”.   Bad news just works better.  Sin sells.   Gossip works better than gospel.   Any of us can get hooked into such negativity.  Christians can sound more negative than positive.  Have you ever been in a church where the tone of the preacher’s sermon and the Amens of the congregation make the bad news sound more exciting than the good?   If you are Baptist, you probably grew up in a Zachariah kind of church which spent much more energy talking about what was wrong with the world rather than talking about what is right about God.  Is there any wonder many people don’t want to talk to Christians, who are so much better at talking about what they are against, rather than what they are for?  Is there any wonder it has gotten harder to talk about our faith to the world?   Who wants to listen to our negativity with all else they hear?  Christians often seem just as negative, domineering, pushy, extremist, uncaring, unkind, or snobbish as anyone else, or worse.   We can make “mountains” of issues out of mole hills.  We can strain the gnats and swallow camels.   We can see the splinter in the eye of another, but miss the log in our own.  We can get so big about our own viewpoints we can no longer walk through the eyes of needles in our discussions about faith.  It’s our way or the highway and most people take the trip away from us.     

Sometimes the best word we can have is to stop talking, at least at first.  Speaking up isn’t always the best way to share our faith.  When we get stuck in the negative, judgmental ways of seeing things, people don’t want hear us just like the angel did not want to hear Zechariah.   Like him, before we can rightly share our faith, we may need to lose our voice.   We might then come to realize that we’ve already lost our voice, because we’ve already lost our faith.   More might be will be believed, understood or revealed, if we would just be quiet and listen.  James was in this same kind of Christmas spirit when he said, “Be slow to speak, and quick to listen.” 

Hearing and seeing Zechariah’s lack of faith, the angel identifies himself.  “I’m Gabriel.  I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news, BUT….”  It is this very “good news” which Zechariah has difficulty trusting and believing.   The very “presence of God” is speaking, but Zechariah can’t grasp it.  As a priestly voice for God, he must be held accountable.   “Because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur” (1.19-20).   The priest must now lose his voice so he can regain his faith.

What happens next is both comical and sad.  Zechariah comes out to stand before the people to give his normal message.  But he can’t speak.  The people are somewhat sympathetic, claiming he’s had some sort of vision.   Zechariah knows it’s much more than that, but he can’t speak.   He has all these things to say, but he can’t get it out.  He waves his arms.  He stands there. There’s all kinds of deafening silence.  Some people take a deep breath.  Others probably catch themselves chuckling.  Maybe some dare to laugh out loud.  With the time of worship gone, Zechariah just goes home, without saying a word.  Everyone goes home.  They all worshipped but none of the knew it.  They had a real sermon, but no one said or heard a word.  God was at work, but he was at work in all this silence.  By taking away the voice, God was at giving them a new faith.

HEARING GOD’S VOICE BEYOND OUR OWN

The good part of Zechariah’s speechlessness is what he didn’t say until God spoke.  We read that it was on the 8^th day, when they “came to circumcise the child” (1.59), and they all were going to name him.  Zechariah still couldn’t speak.  The naming of the child was going to happen the same way, the way it was always done, after the old traditions.  If God was going to bless this child, everybody thought, this child had to have the family name.  He had to fit the mold.  He had to take name after his Father? Right?  Wrong.  It was Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, who needed to speak up, if God was going to speak.  Sometimes, and especially at Christmas, if God is going to get a word in edgewise, a woman needs to speak up.    

Zechariah’s household was a good house, but it had become a house filled with too much negativity.  So the very next word we hear in Zechariah’s house is not his own voice, but it’s the voice of his wife.  Elizabeth’s very next word breaks all the negativity and all unbelief at home, when she speaks up with the voice of God in her heart and answers, “No”!   He is to be called John.”   Of course, the people argue with her.  “None of your relatives have this name.”  She doesn’t give in.  She stands her ground.  So, in a man’s world, what do they do, but they go to Zechariah’s, who still can’t speak.  They’d rather hear the opinion of a dumb preacher than a woman who speaks her own mind, or especially God’s mind.   They motion for Zechariah, the dumb preacher to have the final say so in naming this child.  “What name do you want to give the child, Zechariah?” 

Zechariah takes a writing tablet and wrote: “His name is John”.  When that man listened to his wife, he started listening and agreeing with God.  They were all amazed.  They were amazed that he agreed with his wife, against all the traditions, their customs, and against his own ego.  It was then, we read, that “immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. “  When Zechariah listened for the voice of God through his wife, he regained his voice for God.

This is not a women’s liberation sermon, it’s a human liberation sermon.  Sometimes we can’t hear God’s voice, until we lose our own.  Sometimes God speaks through a woman.  Sometimes God speaks through the man.   Sometimes God speaks through a no.  And sometimes God speaks the loudest through the silence.  But the truth of Zechariah’s story is clearly this:  We can’t hear what God has to say, until we lose our own voice.   Losing our voice is a first step to regain true faith.  If we will listen for God’s true voice first, then we find a new chance to speak “good news” for God. 

Do you hear what Zechariah went on to say and to sing, when he gets this second chance?   Now, he “blesses the LORD God of Israel….who has raised up a mighty savior….” (1.68)   It is not by big noisy ways, but by still, small ways, that God will “show mercy”, and “rescue” (1.72-73).   It is by “the forgiveness of sins” (1.77) and “by the tender mercies of our God, that the dawn will break upon us---to give light to us who sit in darkness, in the shadow of death” (1.78).   Only when Zechariah let’s God speak, can he come to know that when most talk war, that only God “will guide our feet into the way of peace”  God can and will give any of us a second chance, if we are willing to let God work in a new way.   Will you lose your voice, opinions, attitudes and beliefs to find the true voice of God still trying to speak?   It’s no small wonder what you can say, when you lose your voice and go speechless.  Amen.