Save Us From Our Enemies - Second Sunday of Advent
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
December 08, 2024
“Through your holy prophets, you promised of old to save
us from our enemies, from
the hands of all who hate us, to show mercy to us. This
was the oath you swore to our father Abraham: to
set us free from the hands of our enemies.” These words are the beginning of
what is called Zechariah’s prophecy. Zechariah was the father of the one we
know as John the Baptist, the one who prepares the way for the one we know as
Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior of the people promised by God. What generations
longed for was to be saved from enemies. This was how the people remembered
God’s promise. This was what they prayed for.
For the people of the Hebrew Scripture and in Jesus’ day,
much of the emotions of their lived existence, the ways that they prayed, are
bound up in the part of the Bible we call the Psalms, communal worship songs that
expressed every feeling in their hearts and the pit of their stomachs as they
lived through all of the uncertainties of life and all of the wrestling with
God’s word, even the times God’s law was certain and it made them grumble, just
as much as it led to thanksgivings and praise. Usually we have a psalm between
our two readings before the gospel.
Lots of the psalms talk about enemies, not just our
football adversaries. We don’t usually hear these in our weekly lectionary and
perhaps with good reason. If you have ever had an interaction with someone who
said the words out loud that polite company would say, “keep to yourself,” that
describes these parts of the Bible that give voice to how we really feel. Maybe
if we dared to engage them more often, we would not be drawn to those in the
public sphere who just say whatever they want. Things sometimes we want to say
too. These psalms make obvious the web of violence especially for the weak, the
sick, the suffering and those under attack in a hostile environment (or one
that is felt to be hostile). They captured the feelings of the people of Israel
who felt beleaguered and beset by conflict around them and within, in a world
that often felt really fragile. They bring pain to the center of religious and
social life. Enemies are the expression of a chaos we want eradicated. This
was what people hoped for in their Messiah.
It is important to hear the brutal honesty of the prayer
book of the Psalms and what it says the people say about their enemies. And it
is important to remember that while these Psalms help us know we can come to
God with any prayer, it would be a mistake to assume that how the people felt
is how God felt, or how the people tell of God’s actions is how it really was.
They range from what sounds like the time our middle
school aged daughters got in a fight and swore they were never speaking again,
to genuine calls for God to deliver violent retribution and be “God on our
side.” Here’s a sample:
They have stolen from us (Ps. 71). “Why should they say,
‘Where is their God? Return their taunts sevenfold! Rise up and wipe them out!”
(Ps.79). “O that you would kill the wicked.” (Ps. 139) I count them among my
enemies. Don’t you hate those who hate you? I do. (Ps. 94). They’re saying bad
things about me. (Ps. 109) Silence them! (Ps. 143). Save us from them. Fight my
enemies! (Ps. 35). Deliver me from my enemies (Ps. 59) Break their teeth! Let
them vanish! Our ancestors told us you destroyed and afflicted our enemies for
us- come do that.
Wow. This is the collective energy behind the opening of
Zechariah’s prophecy. The daily struggle and ongoing battle with and against
enemies that leaves people feeling surrounded, threatened, hunted, persecuted.
With no harmony or at the least, great irritation. But no matter how much
“enemies” in the psalms are expressions of chaos and no matter how much of
their actions are represented in imagery of almost a mysterious super power
with incredible hold over the world, they are never demonized.[1] We as people of faith would do well to hear that today.
We as people of God can come to God in all situations and
emotions with our concrete and even combative prayers to save us. This is not just
people of the Old Testament in a far-off land. Both the Old and New Testaments
appeal to the violent power of God and for an end to violence. And both reveal
God’s message that we are both victims and perpetrators. No matter how great
our desire to be otherwise. We must reckon.
Brutally honest prayers uncover the structural distortion
of life that is offensive to God. Of course we are calling forth God to fight
against the chaos. Of course, we are confronting God with the mystery of evil
and the contradiction represented by people in the world caring only for their
own advantage. These prayers reveal the human struggle against chaos, and our struggle
with and against God. When the situation contradicts what we believe or hope
about the reality of God, and God’s perceived withdrawal from it all, we want
God to show up! Because we are afraid. Zechariah’s prophecy is of a God
breaking through.
The good news is that God coming to reckon with enemies
is really about reckoning with fears. To free us from these so we are free to worship you, God, without
fear.
What does it mean to speak of enemies if not to speak of
our own fears? Our “enemy” in the full sense is that which makes us afraid. I can
see myself surrounded by enemies, human or superhuman. Indeed, I can create
enemies for myself by projecting my own fears. And there are genuine fears of
course that we are seeking freedom from. Seeking freedom from them with all the
passion that we have and seeking liberation from those who are the cause of
those fears.
And so, God being God, shows up not with force, but looks
upon us with compassion. It is in the tender
compassion of our God that the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to
guide our feet into the way of peace. None of the prayers of the psalms
calling for God to act were asking for peace. But God in Christ gave what we
truly needed. Isn’t fear and conflict without end exhausting? Zechariah’s
prophecy is the unfolding of God’s answer, in tender compassion, dawn from on
high, breaking in to reveal God not only as judge but communicating God’s own
self.
God places the feet of the fear-beset person who prays on
solid ground, leads them forth into open space and makes darkness light. God
draws us forth in the midst of chaos-arousing us to cling to God when really
everything speaks against God.[2]
We are remembering in Advent God coming in the form of a
helpless baby who will become a man who refused to be a king, refused to resort
to violence. Who embodies “seek peace and pursue it.” Who will greet his own
closest followers in their greatest fear with “Peace be with you.”
Zechariah’s prophecy of peace seemed out of touch with what
people longed for. These days there are again lots of religious folk imagining
apocalypse, destruction and God abandoning evil sinners.
But we, waiting and hoping for Christ’s return, are not
hoping he will show up to take names and settle scores, but to bring heaven to
earth, an end to all chaos and everlasting peace. Our purpose is watch for
where we see peace breaking in, and to prepare hearts and shine the light even
as we cry, “Amen, Come Lord Jesus, come!”
[1] Zenger, Erich, God of Vengeance, Westminster
John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1994, p 74
[2] Zenger, p 78
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2024 All rights reserved. May
not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
Sermon Text: Luke 1:68-79 ( The “Song of Zechariah”).
Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel,
you have come to your people and set them free.
You have raised up for us a mighty Savior,
born of the house of your servant David.
Through your holy prophets, you promised of old to save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us,
To show mercy to our forebears,
and to remember your | holy covenant.
This was the oath you swore to our father Abraham
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship you without fear,
holy and righteous before you, all the days of our life.
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of | the Most High
for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way,
To give God’s people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
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