How does hope survive? How does hope endure unmet expectations, silence, waiting?

Perhaps if I were more sane, more sturdy-souled then my thoughts wouldn’t typically take this turn. When I’ve made a request and it’s met in return with “Wait.” or even worse silence I contemplate the worst. I’d like to think of myself as an optimist, but I tend to interpret “wait” as “no” and “silence” as “forget about it.”

This played out in full form in the spring as I was waiting to hear back about a new job. Swaths of time would pass between next steps. Each gap spun me around. “Oh, of course, the job was too good to be true…They don’t want me but can’t find the words…The job must have been given to someone else…Actually, the job never really existed…”

The reality is that the situation could have gone either way. With jobs, relationships, passions and pursuits, sometimes a resounding “Yes!” follows the wait and the silence. But sometimes what we want doesn’t come. In the midst of those dicey odds, what do we do with hope?

This week we’re going to look at how doubt often makes its bed in times of waiting and silence, and we’ll look at what gives hope the audacity to keep walking. A song written by an old man named Zechariah will orient us to this enduring hope.

ANCIENT ORIENTATION: We’ll begin with the background before we venture into this week’s sacred reading.

The voice of God, strong as wind, hot as fire, fragile as the mouth of a prophet, had not been captured since Malachi, some 400 years ago.

But while the words of Yahweh fall silent on the page, cries, and clanks and Koine Greek resound.

The cries of a boy in 356 BC echoes through the East. In the span of 33 years, Alexander, becomes Alexander the Great, conquering city, after city, after city in Asia, Africa and Europe. In Alexander’s brief life, he doesn’t leave behind institutes or edifices, but brings culture and language. Greek becomes the terra lingua.

And while the world was listening to the chattering of Greek, it also heard a clank, clank, clank. It was the sound of Rome moving in on them: roads, roads, roads being built. 200 BC. 100 BC. 1 AD. All roads leading to Rome. With the roads come the soldiers. With the soldiers come Pax Roma. Closer. Closer. Closer.

In the midst of these world powers emerging is a people living in a space of land smaller than the state of North Carolina. The Jews are in the throes of their own war. It isn’t primarily a war of military might or land acquisition but rather it is a clash of cultures.

They have not escaped the influence of the Greco-Roman culture of Hellenism. And in the late 160s BC, the Jews are being ruled by Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who modeling himself after Alexander the Great is out to promote Hellenism. Will the Jews embrace a culture that immortalizes reason and worships beauty? Or, will the Jews hold tight to the teachings of Yahweh – in the midst of a spinning new world.

Yes. And. Yes. Is their response.

Some accept Hellenism without reserve. And others – specifically those we have come to know as the Maccabeans – resist!

Resistance turns to revolt thanks to the Selucid King Antiochus IV’s audacious attempts to abolish the Sabbath, to prohibit circumcision, to erect a statute of Zeus in the Temple, to sacrifice pigs on the Temple altars, to destroy Jewish scriptures and to burn alive anyone abiding by the rules of the Torah.

The revolt in167 BC was bloody and miraculous and by 164 BC the temple was rededicated and Jewish worship was restored. The Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah also began to be celebrated.

But as the revolutionists establish themselves as the rulers, religious fervor and pious dedication seem to diminish.

There is infighting, so much so that the Roman General Pompey is called in to take control.

Soon the Maccabeans are supplanted by the house of Herod. Herod Anipater – or Herod the Great – was put in charge of Judah. While Herod helped restore the temple, many Jews hated him. An opposition arose in Judah. But the Jews were no match for the Romans. Herod killed all who were against him, including his own family.

So, there the Jews were – being led by an arrogant and insecure leader. One, who amongst many other things desperately needed therapy.

It had been quite a 400 years since Malachi. Scripture is silent about these years. Yet the Jews have had their resisters, their revolts, their prophets, their priests, their rabbis.

But right now they are left with the question: where is the God who has promised to rescue them?

It is in the midst of that question: we come to the words of Zechariah. But before we hear His words, we should be reminded of his silence.

Zechariah was a faithful Jewish priest, a righteous man looking with expectation for God’s redemption.

But Zechariah was slightly caught off guard when he was serving his annual stint at the temple and was accosted by an angel. The angel Gabriel does his precursory greeting “Do not be afraid” and proceeded to tell Zechariah that God had heard his prayers. This infertile couple would have a son, and he would be great in the sight of the Lord and would ready God’s people for the coming of the Messiah.

Zechariah expresses a bit of doubt on how in the world that can happen – with him and his wife oh so tardy with their biological clocks. Zechariah then is struck silent. For the entirety of his wife Elizabeth’s pregnancy he doesn’t get to say a word.

But when little John is born, Zechariah’s words return. And he finds his voice full of great joy.

SACRED READING: Here is Zechariah’s song found in Luke 1:67-79

Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy:

“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people.


He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David, just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago.

Now we will be saved from our enemies and from all who hate us.

He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant—the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham.


We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness for as long as we live.

“And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins.

Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.” (The New Living Translation)

THIS WEEK’S PROVISIONS FOR YOUR ADVENT JOURNEY

REFLECTION: I’m curious what those 9 months of silence were like for Zechariah. Did he ever give up trying to speak? Did he ever settle into the idea he may never have a voice again? What were his conversations like with God in the clumps of quiet? Did he scream at God with a silent tongue? Did he hush like a contented child?

When Zechariah finally is set free to speak his words are infused with hardy hope. His song is actually titled a prophecy in most bibles. However, it seems that Zechariah’s surety in what God will do is tied to what God had done in the past. I believe this tightrope between the past and the future is where hope gives her most daring performances. And, this will be our focus for the week.

THE PAST – I was struck by two of aspects of Zechariah’s prayer that were linked to the past. 1) Zechariah saw himself in the midst of a larger story, one that was being told for centuries and that had a community of characters in it. Zechariah had observed God working in history and in the lives of others. 2) While God’s story was epic, Zechariah seemed to have a very direct and intimate relationship with God. He speaks of God “visiting and redeeming His people” and says morning light breaks forth “because of God’s tender mercy.” Zechariah had experienced something far grittier and relational than a historical understanding of God.

THE FUTURE – So, Zechariah envisioned a day when light would illuminate the way of those who had been stuck in darkness and guide many to the path of peace. Because of Zechariah’s personal experience he could see that transformation was possible, God’s redeeming plan was inevitable, and that an enduring hope was given to him.

A couple of years ago I went through a difficult season. I felt like my voice—every way of expressing myself—was being stripped. During that time I cried more tears than the rest of my life collected. The bath water would drain and I’d find myself still bawling. Sitting in an empty tub in silence I’d cry out to God. In those thousand days of tears, a history was being forged with God. Though in many ways my requests weren’t answered—at least how I wanted—I felt God’s tender mercy.

Something got shored up in me. I discovered that hope is not a matter of outsmarting the odds. It’s not about being an optimist. It’s not attitude or aptitude. Hope is about character…the character of the one you have your hope in.

There’s only One you can’t out hope, One you won’t be made a fool in trusting, One you can’t love more than you’re loved.

QUESTIONS FOR YOU: What is your relationship with silence? Does it feel awkward or soulful, harsh or hopeful? Did you experience significant times of silence this year? Did you choose to be silent with God, or did you feel God was being silent with you?

How has silence affected your relationship with God? Has it caused doubt or trust to deepen? Has anything been shored up in you this year?

At the moment are you experiencing waiting and/or silence in response to any request you’ve made of God?

IMAGE OF GOD: Is there an aspect of God’s character that you’ve gotten to know more this year? If so, how does that understanding of God give you hope for the future?

INVITE OTHERS INTO IT: As you spend time this week reflecting on your year, I encourage you to share your reflections with a dear friend. Perhaps you can meet for coffee or a meal to discuss this.

RESOURCES: I strongly encourage you to download the following song from iTunes or www.aplacefortheheart.org: Inheritance on the The Awakening album by Jonathon Helser

Here is a book that you may enjoy going through and/or giving as gifts.
Holy Bible: Mosaic NLT (Meditations) by Credo Communications and Tyndale – This is a gorgeous bible that has art, ancient writings as well as modern reflections on Scripture, and it tracks with the Church calendar.

I leave you with the words of Simone Weil: “Our soul is constantly clamorous with noise, but there is one point in it which is silence, and which we never hear. When the silence of God comes into the soul and penetrates it and joins the silence which is secretly present in us , from then on we have our treasure and our heart in God; there are only two things piercing enough to penetrate our souls in this way; they are affliction and beauty.”(SIMONE WEIL READER edited by George Panichas, p. 421)

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Peace,
Tamara