Luke 1:5-13 NRSVUE

In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

8 Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. 10 Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. 11 Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.

Herod the Great, King of Judea, was an insecure and fearful leader.

Herod came from an important Idumaen family – the Idumaeans said to the the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, the grandsons of Abraham, who converted to Judaism when the victory celebrated at Hanukkah, restored Judea as an independent kingdom in 164 BC.  You can find that story in the Books of Maccabees, in a Bible that has those extra books.

Herod’s dad was chief Minister of Judea Under King Hrycanus II, but Herod’s Dad, and Herod rebelled against the King.  Herod went to Rome to ask for help from Mark Antony (yes that Mark Antony, from Antony and Cleopatra!) and in exchange for Rome’s help, Judea became a Roman province and Herod was named King of the Jews around 37 BC.  But then the Romans killed Julius Caesar and Antony married Cleopatra, and everyone was taking sides between Octavian (who became Caesar Augustus) and Mark Antony.  Herod chose Mark Antony.  So when Antony and Cleopatra died and Caesar Augustus became the Emperor of Rome, Herod was eager to curry favor with Rome.

• Herod was also not popular with his Jewish subjects. 
  Herod’s ancestry was of Edomite converts so that’s one strike against Herod.
• Herod’s mother was Persian, and Jewishishness is determined through the maternal line – strike 2. 
• Herod had helped topple the King of an Independent Judea and brought in the Romans — that’s a huge strike 3.
• But, Herod finished the 2nd Temple, which might seem like a good thing, except Herod refused to listen to the Priests about how the Temple was to be built — strike 4, and…
• Herod raised taxes very, very high to not only finish the enlarged Temple, but also to build himself two palaces, help fund the Olympic Games of 14 BC, and send more money to Caesar Augustus to keep himself in power — strike 5 — and why there’s so much complaint about heavy taxation in the Christmas story.
• Also, Herod divorced is first wife and disinherited his son, to marry Mariamne, the granddaughter of King Hyrcaus II, whom he had rebelled against, which did not make the Jewish people like him any better.

(much of the  history about Herod  is from https://historycooperative.org/king-herod-of-judea/ )

Herod was a deeply insecure and deeply fearful king.

• Fearful because he backed the wrong Caesar – Mark Antony.
• Very Fearful because his own people did not accept him or Rome.  So fearful that according to Flavius Josephus, Herod had a personal guard of 2000 soldiers to protect him from the Judean Rebels.
• So very fearful, that Herod murdered many of his own sons.
• So while there is no historical evidence of the Biblical account that Herod ordered the killing of all the babies, when he heard about the birth of the new king from the Wise Men, it sounds like something Herod would do.

In that political climate,  Zechariah is called to take his turn serving at the Temple.   Zechariah was a nobody.  Just an ordinary priest, who married a bit above himself, but he had no children, so people would have talked that maybe God didn’t like Zechariah and Elizabeth that much.  Back then, they thought that poor health or infertility was probably because a person had offended God.

So Zechariah and Elizabeth would have been afraid to travel to Jerusalem for Zechariah’s week of service at the Temple with Judean rebels attacking travelers on the roads.

They would have been afraid of the politics among priests as Herod often tried to meddle in the appointment of the high priests.

With no sons to help them make their living, they would have been worried about the high taxes in Judea.

And they may have wondered what they had done to offend God, what sin they had unknowingly committed, that was causing God to withhold the blessing of a child.

They were afraid, but they showed up anyway.

Showed up to serve God and to serve the people who visited the Temple.

They were afraid, but they showed up anyway and God met them there with hope.

Hope for a son – proof that God wasn’t mad at them.

And hope for a messiah  — an anointed one who would proclaim the Year of the Lord’s Favor and tear down tyrants from their thrones.

And as is so often the case when God gives us hope, they had no idea what God was actually going to do!

Zechariah and Elizabeth didn’t ask to live through interesting times anymore than we did!

And yet…

There they were and here we are.

In fearful times, it can be so tempting to hide, to distract ourselves with pretty things and entertainment.  It can be so tempting to say, “nothing I do, makes a difference,” so why show up at all?

And sometimes we do need to rest!

We can’t do everything!  

Boundaries are Holy!  That’s why God told us to take a Sabbath every week!

But when it’s our turn, like Zechariah, we can show up.

We can show up even when we’re afraid.

And those are often the times that God surprises us with hope.