In the time of Herod, We Long for God to Break In

“In the Time of Herod, We Long for God to Break In”

November 30, 2025 - Cobleskill United Methodist Church, Pastor Anna Blinn Cole

Luke 1:5-13; Lamentations 3:55-57

Advent 1

Luke 1:5-13

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵ 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.

Welcome to Advent, folks.  AD- VENT, a word that literally means “to arrive.”  We have both arrived at Advent and we are still arriving.  We are freshly stuffed from our Thanksgiving feast and its leftovers, and the next minute searching our closets for the Christmas decorations and wrestling with the pre-lit tree that comes in three different sections, each with its own string of lights that has its own mind, apparently.  There’s the potential, I’ll admit it, to exit one season already exhausted and find ourselves staring into another even busier season.  

We have both arrived and we are still arriving.  That’s the nature of advent.  Somewhere in the middle of the busy that was yesterday, the busy that is today and the busy that will be tomorrow, we find ourselves here, at the doorstep of the church’s most mysterious and breathtaking season, Advent.  It sneaks in on us gently as if to say, like an old friend who we haven’t heard from in a long time, “Hey, it’s good to see you again.  Why don’t you push pause for a moment.  Take a breath.  Something actually really holy is happening in this moment.”  

Advent comes at a time when the darkness each day is literally growing longer.  This is not accidental.  Because Advent also comes at a time when other kinds of darkness are growing.  This is a historical and lived reality.  The Gospel writer Luke, makes sure we know in what setting the story of Christ’s coming takes place.  “In the time of Herod….”  Luke 1:5 says.  Herod was a puppet king who ruled Judea on behalf and the behest of the Emperor Augustus.  The lived-out consequences of the Roman occupation of Judea meant the days were long with anxiety for the ordinary people.  As the commentator Dr. Boyung Lee states, King Herod “governed with paranoia and cruelty.  His power, secured through imperial alliance, was maintained by coercion, surveillance, and brutality.”  It’s important to the Gospel writer Luke to make sure we, his readers, understand that Advent, the arrival of God into this world, doesn’t come during a golden age of peace and prosperity.  It comes into literal and figurative darkness. 

It’s on to this stage that Luke begins the Advent story.  But surprisingly, it doesn’t begin with the characters we traditionally put in our nativity set, Mary or Joseph or Jesus.  It begins with two people named Elizabeth and Zechariah, an aging couple.  They stand on the shoulders of the generations that have come before them, but they are not prominent or privileged in the face of the darkness around them.  What they do have, though, is longing.  For Zechariah and Elizabeth, their longing is for a new generation, a child.  It’s a longing that has kept them waiting many years.  

The moment Luke’s gospel drops in on the couple is a moment when Zechariah, a priest in the synagogue, has randomly been selected as the one to go into a private room where the altar stands and burn incense, as was the custom.  It’s at this moment that Zechariah encounters an angel from God.  

Zechariah is terrified.  A literal messenger from God meets Zechariah face to face and Zechariah doesn’t say YES! THANK YOU! FINALLY!  Zechariah is disturbed. Troubled.  Agitated, even.  The scripture says “fear overwhelmed him.” 

The angel senses what’s happening here and says “Do not be afraid, Zechariah.”  And then delivers this news: “Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you will name him John.”

This is where our scripture for today stops, but if you’ve heard this story before you know that Zechariah does not immediately come out of his fearful state.  He doubts this good news.  And as a result, he is left, literally, speechless, mute, for the remainder of the pregnancy.  

Sometimes when we’ve lived through dark times, we are not yet able or ready to immediately hear the answer to our longing.  We grow so used to disappointment and darkness and brokenness around us, that when hope stares us in the face and literally says “do not be afraid,” we are not yet ready to hear it. 

The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and their eventual son, John the Baptist, is the traditional prelude to the story of Jesus’ birth.  John, who we’ll hear more about next week, becomes Jesus’ most prophetic supporter during their lives together.  They are yoked from the beginning of their lives as children born together in dark times in the midst of great longing.  

This scripture for us today has a deeper meaning.  We all know what it’s like to live through difficult times.  Times when we have very real and very present fears.  Times when our lives are over-shadowed by grief, anger, brokenness, despair.  Times when we are too far into the darkness to even hear good news if it was said.   

Today, as Advent begins, we pause with this story of fear and longing.  We read it without moving on to what comes next to understand that even, and especially, in the story leading up to Christmas, there must be room for us to name the fact that sometimes we are afraid.  To be honest and to plainly say that dark times can be the stage for both fear and good news.  

To say that we’re afraid out loud gives us permission to not hide ourselves. 

And it’s into this honesty, that God breaks in.  The angel’s words: “Do Not Be Afraid” do not belittle the fear or criticize Zechariah for having fear.  It’s a moment of reorientation, as our commentator notes. “Your fear is real—but it is not the only truth.”  

God is listening, always, to our longings and our fears.  God’s first response will always be to listen and recognize that our feelings are real and true.  

So let me ask you this today: what do you fear?

Could that be our starting place this Advent?  An open invitation to be honest about how we are carrying ourselves these days?  A place to begin in our waiting for what comes next.  

…

To name our fear is to acknowledge our fear.  To place it before God as though an angel were standing right in front of us.  To have God receive it, hear it and only when we’re ready, reorient us.  

As you go forth into this week, let me share these words that Zechariah sang when his voice returned after John’s birth.  

Because of the tender mercy of our God,    the dawn from on high will break^[i] upon^[j] us,⁷⁹ to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,    to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Anna