Luke 1:1-25
The Daily Office
Well, I dragged you through two weeks of the Old Testament. Hopefully you have caught a glimpse of the world that Jesus of Nazareth came into. It was a world in which Jesus's people, the Jewish people, felt to their core a combination of emotions: shame at their past infidelities against God; righteous anger at how the bullies of the region had treated them; and anxiety sometimes bordering on despair of when God would finally intervene on their behalf.
All that has built up to this day in Luke's Gospel, when Zechariah does his priestly duty in the Temple, and in his ordinary religious observance, sees the extraordinary: the promise of a son; a son who will go before Jesus. And so John will go. He will bring judgment, which does not condemn, but gives insight. He will bring repentance that does not seek punishment, but reconciliation.
Whatever is lacking in your life; whatever hole you sense in your soul; do not fear to face it. Do not fear to face your guilt, your anger, your hopelessness. Face it, and you will see a child, then a prophet, then a cross, and finally an empty tomb. Just take the first step, and each step in this cycle of redemption and release will be easier.
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