Biblical Texts: Psalm 85v7-11, Luke 1v57-66, 80.

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If I had a display behind me as I preached today, I would put up a picture of a mosaic. If you haven’t seen one before, a mosaic is a picture made up of lots of small pieces of tile or stone. They can be any colour, and the individual pieces are each important, but when you put them together they make up a much bigger picture. Keep that image in mind as we work through these passages this morning.

Small stories matter. We heard in our gospel today the story of the birth of John the Baptist. I realise today it’s our patronal festival here, and in that sense this is not a small story. Nor is it a small story in the New Testament really. This baby, born to Elizabeth and Zechariah, will pave the way for Jesus, the Messiah. He is a sign that something new is happening.

But consider this. Zechariah is a priest. Not a high priest, just a regular levitical priest. He has no kids, and no hope of having them. He is neither distinguished nor particularly important. He is simply going through the motions in the temple, when the angel Gabriel appears to him. Despite Gabriel’s affirmation that he and Elizabeth will have a child, he doesn’t believe, and is unable to speak for the length of the pregnancy.

For everyone but Zechariah, his lack of speech is the first clue that God is up to something. No-one else got to see Gabriel, but they realise something happened in that temple. Elizabeth gets another couple of clues. First, she gets pregnant, and then, her baby leaps in her womb when she meets a pregnant Mary. This leads to Mary’s song of praise, what we often call the Magnificat. But before Mary’s baby is born, we must first hear about John’s birth. Luke knows this story is important.

8 days after his birth, family and friends gather around to celebrate with Zechariah and Elizabeth, and as was their custom, to circumcise and name the child. Usually, he would have taken his father’s name, and it would have been appropriate. Zachariah means “God remembers.” If this boy wasn’t a sign of God’s remembering his people, not to mention Zachariah and Elizabeth, then what was? But no, his name was to be John…”God is gracious.”

When Zechariah and Elizabeth have conveyed the message about John’s name, God opens Zachariah’s mouth and after 9 long months he cannot wait to praise the one who has both remembered and been gracious…and perhaps unsurprisingly the story of this strange pregnancy and birth was passed on from person to person throughout Judea. God is doing something new.

As we know, Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesies, in words that have now become known as the Benedictus, and are regularly repeated in Morning Prayer. But our passage doesn’t end there. John grew, and became strong in spirit, and was in the wilderness until he appeared publicly in Israel.

What are we to say about John and his part in this story…not just the story of his birth, but the wider story that he plays a role in. Luke takes his time to show the importance of this childless couple, the faith they showed, and the way it fits into the wider story Luke is telling. 

John’s role has been prophesied of course. One of our unused lectionary readings today is Isaiah 40, “a voice crying out in the wilderness, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Unsurprisingly this has been associated with John ever since Luke put pen to paper, and probably before. But the themes of John’s prophesies are there throughout scripture, as our Psalm demonstrates.

“Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation…
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.”

The writers of that Psalm are looking forward in confident hope of a day when all will be renewed, when heaven and earth will be in harmony, just as God intended. This is a hope in the steadfast love and mercy of God, a God who would send even his own Son to accomplish his will.

But that’s the big picture right? Zechariah and Elizabeth, and even John, they’re part of the smaller picture. A piece of the mosaic, that when placed in exactly the right place at the right time, will help that bigger picture become a reality. This small family are a reminder of the way God can incorporate even the least of us into his wider story of salvation.

They join so many others, some with big roles, some small, to bring about God’s purposes. Noah, Moses, Rahab, Ruth, David, Bathsheba, Solomon, Josiah, the prophets, Nicodemus, Mary, the woman at the well, the centurion, Lazarus, the widow who gave her last penny…we could go on. Named and unnamed, all these played their part in God’s story of redemption.

And here we are. Perhaps you see where I’m going already. God’s story of redemption is not over. The canon of scripture may be shut, but God’s Word, Christ himself, is alive and well. And he calls us to be part of that redemption story, to play our role, whatever that may be. Our call is to have our smaller story fit into place within the bigger story of God’s redemption. We are called to be part of that larger mosaic. And we are called to love God and love others, that all would come to know their own part in that story.