“What Are You Waiting For?”

Luke 1:39-45

December 13, 2009 – ©Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes

You are an amazing group of people. You come from places all around the world. And yet you have all come to worship Jesus. God is doing wonderful things.

I’m also not from here. I’m from Israel, near Jerusalem. And even more amazing than that, I come to you from a time more than 2000 years ago. Isn’t time travel great?

My name is Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah. My husband was a priest of the division of Abijah. Our story is in your Bible, in Luke chapter 1.

When it was Zechariah’s group’s turn to serve in the temple of the Lord, he would go to Jerusalem. They would draw lots to see who would be chosen to enter the Holy Place to offer incense to God.

One time Zechariah was chosen to offer the incense, was the time God chose to speak to him through an angel. The angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that his wife Elizabeth would have a baby boy and the baby’s name was to be John.

Zechariah found it hard to believe, after all I was a bit old to have a baby. So because he doubted the angel’s words, Gabriel told him would not be able to speak until the day that this all came to be.

Just as the angel said, Zechariah could not speak a word. He opened his mouth but no sounds came out. Imagine how hard it was for him when he came out of the temple to explain to people why he couldn’t speak. He tried hand gestures, but it just wasn’t enough.

For over 9 months he was silent. I’d ask him a question; he would write it for me or use hand signals. We got pretty good at communicating during those months.

I had to wait nine months to hear the whole story. What an amazing story it was. We have an amazing God, don’t we?

Waiting

We had been waiting a long time for God to bless us with a child. As a new wife I was anxious for a baby. But as years went by, I stopped expecting God to answer my prayer. For a married woman in our society, to be without a child is shameful.

Some people said we must have done something wrong for God not to give us a child. Yet, we were God-honoring people all our lives. We did our best to live according to God’s Law.

The waiting was difficult. We never doubted that God cared about us. We remained faithful to God even though I was childless.

Then Zechariah came home from Jerusalem after his encounter with the angel. It was hard to imagine that after so many years a woman of my age would conceive and bear a child. Yet, I did get pregnant.

Then we waited for all those months for our baby to be born. After all the years we had waited for a baby, you would think nine months would be nothing. But it seemed like forever.

Waiting is what the Jews, God’s People, are all about. For over 2,000 years we had been waiting for God to send the promised Messiah, who would come and set his people free.

Some people gave up waiting for the Messiah, just like I had given up waiting for a baby. Yet for some, hope was very much alive. When we hope in God, our hope is sure. God always keeps his promises.

Surprise!

So I shouldn’t have been surprised when God sent the angel Gabriel to Zechariah. Yet, the news that we were about to start a family was quite amazing. God finally took away my disgrace and showed his favor for me.

God gave us a son. When he was eight days old we named him John, just as Gabriel had told Zechariah. The moment Zechariah wrote the name “John,” God opened his mouth and began to speak and praise God!

I waited for many years for a baby. God didn’t give me just a baby. He gave me a son who would prepare the hearts of the people for God – for the Messiah God was sending.

That’s what the angel Gabriel told my husband.

He will be great in the sight of the Lord. …

He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 

He will bring many of the people of Israel back to the Lord their God. 

And he will prepare the way for the Lord. [Lk.1:15-16,17].

As this special child grew within me, I thought about those words. My baby, John, was to get us ready for the Messiah. Could that mean that the Messiah would come soon?

When I was about seven months along in my pregnancy, I had a surprise visit from my young relative Mary. When I heard Mary’s voice, the baby within me leaped.

The Holy Spirit inspired me to say to Mary:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 

But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” [Luke 1:42-43, 45].

God revealed to me that Mary was with child. But, for Mary too, this was more than just a baby. The baby she was carrying was the promised one from God, the Messiah.

Suddenly, I knew–and Mary knew–that what we and all the Jewish people had waited for was here. Our waiting was over.

What are YOU Waiting For?

· So what are you waiting for?

· What dream for you has yet to become a reality?

· What is the prayer of your heart that God has not answered?

· What sign of God’s blessing are you still looking for?

Waiting is hard.

· Sometimes people are so focused on what they are waiting for – a husband, a wife, a baby, a job, new beginning – that they miss the blessings of God today.

· Sometimes people look only at the hurts and struggles – the illness, the divorce, the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, the loss of status, the unfair situation – and they fail to see the good things God is showing them.

· Sometimes people give up waiting for God to do something about their disappointing circumstances, and miss the opportunity to do something for God.

· Sometimes we are just waiting for Christmas. Waiting to see what presents we will get. Waiting to spend time with family and friends. But there is so much more to Christmas.

The Waiting Is Over!

What are you waiting for? The answer to all your questions, the solution to all your problems, the hope for your future is here.

What I had waited for, was here. The moment I heard Mary’s voice, I knew – and Mary knew – that what we and all people had waited for was here – in us.

God blessed me, Elizabeth, with a baby who would get people ready to greet the Messiah. His name is John, John the Baptist. John told the people to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. He told the people that the Messiah was coming so they needed to change their lives.

The One who would bring light to our dark world was finally coming. As the prophet Isaiah said,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” [Isaiah 9:6].

God blessed Mary with this child, with the Messiah, the Son of the Most High. His name is Jesus. He came to show his people the way back to God. God sent his Son Jesus to bless us, to save us and to love us.

So what are you waiting for? A sign of God’s blessings?

The sign of God’s blessing is Jesus.

But coming to us cost Jesus everything, even his life.

You’ve heard the rest of Jesus’ story:

· how the very people that Jesus came to save rejected him and put him to death on a cross;

· how they put Jesus’ body in a tomb, only to find that three days later he had risen – he is alive!

So what are you waiting for? Jesus has come. The blessings of God are yours, if you will receive them.

I waited so long for a son, but God gave me more than I could have imagined or asked for.

Whatever you have been waiting for can never compare with God’s gift of Jesus.

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This sermon is copyright ©2009 by Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes, Immanuel Evangelical Covenant Church, Chicago, Illinois.