What Child Is This: The Silent Word

I don’t know about you, but I’ve typically sung “What Child is This” with a bit of nostalgia. I’ve never thought of it as a song of rebellion or crying out in a traumatized world. Imagine it as the cry from mothers in a bombed out building in Ukraine. Forget the soothing lullaby and the silent night. Think of the world of Herod and the reality of babies during that time in history. The trauma for moms and babies was great. Many were silenced and the need for justice in the middle of trauma was large. In the 2^nd verse of What Child is This? the lyrist pens “the silent Word is pleading”.

If we want to be a part of the Advent movement, how will we cry out for true peace for all people? How will we sooth the trauma of the world in our time?

This was the question on the lips of Zechariah, the priest.

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. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him.

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. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 

Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”

Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering at his delay in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he returned to his home.

After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, “This is what the Lord has done for me in this time, when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”

Luke 1: 5-25

Before Jesus was born, there was an ache of injustice and suffering. Egypt ended decades of war in the Mediterranean and united the world under Rome’s banner. And many declared that Caesar was the savior of the world – the one who ended cycles of endless war. As I have explained before, Caesar’s peace had only arrived by many crushing victories and ruthless control of his subjects.

The 2^nd Sunday of Advent is know as Peace Sunday. Who is the peace for? Whose life is actually peaceful, and whose lives are diminished in order to have the peace that our governments define? To realize that God chose to come into the world as a human to disrupt the status quo during what Rome had declared “Pax Romano”—Roman Peace is significant. Why would God come in the midst of “peace” if God didn’t have vastly different ideas from Rome about what peace looks that who peace is ultimately for? Here is the story of Elizabeth and the prophecy of Zechariah:

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced
with her.

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name Zachariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” They said to her. “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his child David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might save him without hear, in holiness and righteousness in his presence all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. Because of the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel. Luke 1:57-80

As I mentioned, I took a group from my last congregation to Israel during 2014. Our guide for 13 days was an Israeli who has been an extremely well-traveled and long-term guide, well recommended by our denomination’s travel group, whose name was Miri. We immediately bonded with her. She took us all over northern Israel and then to Caesarea on the Sea, where a palace ruins was right on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a palace of Herod’s from Jesus’s time.

After Caesarea on the Sea, we traveled to Bethlehem. Miri explained that we would pass a border area and that while our Israeli driver could go through the barrier with us, she would not be allowed to travel with us once we crossed and that we would have a new guide who was Arab. Only Arab guides are allowed in Bethlehem—it is located in the West Bank.

We crossed the barbed wire cement border area and met our new guide. He hustled us around Manger Square and Star Street—two of the main attractions where the Church of the Nativity is. Instead of standing in the massive line in front of the Church of the Nativity, he scurried us around back to a basement entrance to go down to another place,

to kiss the star on the floor marking the location where Jesus might have been born. By the time were were finished, the line for the church was much shorter and we were inside quickly. He must have had special knowledge to arrange this trip, I thought.

After seeing the lovely church, filled with people of all nations and Arab guides speaking every language under the sun, we took a tour of Bethlehem. We learned about the problem with the Palestinian people living in the West Bank and them being so close to the jobs, homes, businesses, and other locations they needed to go—but being forced around make-believe or human-constructed barriers—to get there. Sometimes they were blocked from ever arriving.

We visited gift shops full of olive tree wood made into nativity sets and other Christian icons, silk albs, many Christian symbols in all sizes and shapes for Christian pilgrims to purchase. The Palestinians counted on income from Christian tourists in order to survive. Many of them were educated persons who had significant positions of leadership and were now selling items in a shop in order to pay the bills because they were unable to do their professional jobs.

After Bethlehem, we went back to Jerusalem, a city of many races, religions, and people. In the Old Town, we saw preschool and elementary children being escorted to school by soldiers with AK-47’s. These children were being protected from bombs being tossed over the barricade, primarily by Palestinians. But bombs do not discriminate between religions or races.

We learn from the silence of Zechariah that he had an opportunity to listen… he listened more deeply so he could understand the plight of others. When he could speak, he raised his voice in solidarity and with more understanding than he once had. He was able to speak out for the oppressed in his time.

This Advent, we do not need to be struck voiceless in order to hear the Silent Word. We can listen for the ideas of peace; for the cries of an oppressed humanity; for those who would keep children from having enough to eat or others from receiving shelter. How will we cry out for true peace for all people? How will we sooth the trauma or the world in our time?