Prince Caspian grew up in a great castle in Narnia with his uncle and aunt, the king and queen.  His parents were dead.  So was “Old Narnia”.  That was when animals could talk and Aslan the great lion came to help his people.  The “New Narnia” was under the king’s control, so he wanted it to remain.  But young Caspian was destined to restore what once had been (The Chronicles of Narnia, Book 2, C.S. Lewis). 

Luke’s Christmas story reminds me of Narnia and Prince Caspian . . .

The Birth of Elizabeth’s Boy

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”  Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him (Luke 1:57-66).

“What is this child going to be?”  People throughout the Judean hill country were wondering about the old priest Zechariah’s boy, “For it was plain that the Lord’s power was upon him.”

How that was plain is part of the wonder of Luke’s Christmas story.  We remember an angel had promised Zechariah his old barren wife would bear a son who was to be named John.  When Zechariah doubted, the angel struck the priest dumb.

Now IT’S TIME, Zechariah!  Elizabeth gives birth to a boy.  Neighbors rejoice.  Then comes circumcision and the naming.  Neighbors assume he’ll be called Zech, Jr.  But Elizabeth says, “His name is to be John.”  Nonsense, think neighbors.  Nobody in the family is John.  They appeal to Zechariah.  (Why they “made signs” isn’t clear.  Had the old priest been struck deaf too?)  Speechless Zechariah wrote: “His name is John.”  An act of obedient faith.  That’s what the angel named the promised boy.  Instantly Zechariah started praising God.  (Don’t you wonder what he said?)

Just an unusual circumcision, right? An old barren women gave birth.  Who knows how nature’s trick allowed that?  Parents insist on giving him a non-family name.  A little tradition-breaking.  After nine months, Zechariah suddenly speaks.  A coincidence that it happened just after he wrote “John.”

Neighbors, though, “were all filled with fear” and asked, “What is this child going to be?”  They knew they were witnessing an unusual event.  It was plain to them “that the Lord’s power was upon [John]”.

But that’s not all.  The Holy Spirit who had filled Elizabeth three months earlier when Mary visited, now filled Zechariah . . .

 Zechariah’s Prophecy

His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear  in holiness and righteousness before him all our days (Luke 1:67-75).

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel (Luke 1:76-80).

The prophetic claim is stunning:  God has come and redeemed his people. Messiah has been raised up to save them from their enemies.  It’s a show of mercy that fulfills the covenant made to Abraham 2000 years earlier. Abraham’s descendants will be enabled “to serve [God] without fear in holiness and righteousness . . . all [their] days.”

Zechariah continues his prophecy, now over his son.  John isn’t Messiah, but a prophet to “prepare the way” for Messiah.  He will preach about Israel’s sins and how she can be forgiven, how God’s tender mercy is about to shine upon a nation living in death’s shadow.

The Preparation

That circumcision may have been a big “celebration” in that Judean hill town.  But it was a small town, one house and one family.  Just an eight-day old infant.  Yet he was destined to spearhead the Messiah’s restoration of, not only Israel, but of the whole creation.  “For . . . the Lord’s power was upon him.”  This, too, is part of Luke’s wonder-full Christmas story.

However, we’re not simply meant to marvel.  As we await Messiah’s second coming, we must prepare his way (as grown-up John the Baptist exhorted crowds who came to him at the wilderness edge).  That means humbly confessing our sin and bearing fruit in keeping with repentance (Luke 3:8). Repentance fruit:  sharing clothing and food with the needy, not abusing people in your power, being content with what you have (Luke 3:9-14).  In other words, live the way you want Messiah to find you when he comes.

Doesn’t sound so wonder-full, does it!  But, you see, this is how we’ve been made to live.  And Messiah’s mercy makes such behavior possible!  So, the question at the end of this part of the Christmas story isn’t “Do we see the wonder?”, but, “Are we preparing for Messiah’s coming again?”

If we are, then we’re not just hearing the wonder-full Christmas story.  We are playing a living part in it and the glorious restoration it brings.