(Video Unavailable)
December 7, 2016 – Advent Text: Luke 1:57-66
Dear Friends in Christ,
Maybe you’ve heard about the little six-year-old boy who announced one day, “I’m running away from home!” His parents asked him, “What will you do when you run out of food?” “That’s easy,” he said, “I’ll come home for more.” “What will you do when you run out of money?” “That’s easy,” he said, “I’ll come home for more.” “What will you do when your clothes get dirty?” “That’s easy,” he said, “I’ll come home for more.” The dad turned to the mom and said, “This kid isn’t running away from home. This kid is going away to college!”
Do you know that people of all ages are running away from home, and in record numbers? The pain of sick families is so great people will run about anywhere for love and acceptance. Husbands run to bars and go on achievement binges. Women run to extramarital affairs for a listening ear and loving touch. Children run from family pain and then can’t handle life as they get older.
We are in a series called “Family Life.” Remember last week and the devastating circumstances of Zechariah and Elizabeth? Longing to have children. There must of have been times they simply wanted to run away.
Homes can sometimes be tough places, can’t they? Someone said marriage goes through three stages. “The Happy Honeymoon.” “The Party’s Over.” “Let’s Make A Deal.” Maybe your conflict is money; there never seems to be enough. Maybe it is raising children; one is too strict, one is too lax. Maybe you fight about vacations and where to go; “we always go where you want to go.” Family conflict, though, is not the issue. Yes, I said that right. How we handle family conflict – now that is the issue!
When conflict strikes our first option is my way. “My needs, my wants. Food we are having for dinner. Sex when I am in the mood. Spending time with my family.”
Then there is no way. I back away. I ignore the problem. We use discussion killers, “Give me a break!” or, “I can’t believe you are making a big deal out of this.” Solve this conflict, “No way.”
Another option is your way. I give in, roll over, play dead. There is an epidemic in America called the passive, detached husband. At an alarming rate more and more men are becoming distant and disengaged. They get beaten down by their wives that they finally say, “Fine. Have it your way.”
Zechariah and Elizabeth, though, through the Holy Spirit, decided on another way. And what is that? That would be . . .
“OUR WAY”
“On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, ‘No; he shall be called John.’ And they said to her, ‘None of your relatives is called by this name.’ And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called.” (vs. 59-62)
Zechariah had doubted the angel Gabriel’s promise that God would give him a son, so Zechariah was told he wouldn’t be able to speak until his son’s birth. Then during all the excitement of his son’s birth, “he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’” (v. 63) Amazing. When it came to naming their son, it wasn’t my way, no way, or your way. It was our way. Our way means I care about solving the problem. I care about healing our relationship. Our way attacks the issue, not the person. It emphasizes reconciliation, not resolution. There is a difference.
Reconciliation means we see ourselves as bigger than our problems. We don’t bury the problem or bury the hatchet. We talk about the issue together. Remember we married “for better, for worse.”
Why did both Zechariah and Elizabeth insist on naming their child John? Because that is what the angel said in Luke 1:13. “John” means “The Lord is gracious.” The angel told them to name their son “John” because in the midst of their conflict the only way Zechariah and Elizabeth would get to our way would be through God’s way; and God’s way is the way of grace.
Because of grace God gives us new life, forgiven life, and eternal life. God is full of grace, we are under grace, and saved by grace. Grace reconciles us to each other.
On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur wright got their flying machine off the ground. The airplane was born. In their excitement, they sent a telegraph to their sister. It simply said, “Flew 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas.” When their sister Katherine got the news, she ran to the local paper in Dayton, Ohio and showed it to the editor. He glanced at it and said, “How nice, the boys will be home for Christmas.” He completely missed the point. The Wright brothers matriculating back to Dayton for Christmas was nice, but a person had flown in an airplane for the first time. That was the big news!
We also miss the big news of Christmas. The big news is that God took flight and traveled from heaven to earth. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And He did it to show us the full meaning of grace. You see, when it comes to grace, Jesus nailed it perfectly. But before the nails, he wanted to run away. Three times in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked the Father to remove the cup of suffering. But the Father didn’t. So Jesus went. He went willingly to Calvary to take our sins we have committed against family members. He rose on the third day and now lives as the gracious Lord of heaven and earth. Grace. Jesus nailed it. Perfectly – for you!
Forgiven by grace, forever in grace, when family conflict arises we are empowered to renounce my way, no way, and your way and say, “Yes” to a better way, God’s way. It’s Zechariah and Elizabeth’s way. You know it, don’t you? It’s…our way.
Amen.