A Father's Excitement - Fr. Anthony, Dec 31

STSA Church Podcast · Jan 02, 2024

Transcript

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, amen. We are on the final Sunday of the month of Kiach, the Advent month. As we talked about before, the month of Advent, we have five readings that we do. Four Sundays plus Christmas itself, which will be next weekend. And there's like a symmetry in them. So we said the first week of Advent was what? What was the topic of the first week of Advent? The Annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist. The first two weeks are annunciations, the final two weeks are fulfillments, and the middle one is the interaction. So the first week was the Annunciation of John the Baptist. Angel came to Elizabeth and Zechariah, said, you're going to have a baby, he's going to be a special baby. Second week was another Annunciation, same angel, working overtime during the holidays, and the Virgin Mary said, you're going to have even more special baby.

You don't even need a man for this one. This is the Son of God. Then the final, then we have these two week three, which was last week, these two ladies interacted with each other. Okay, Elizabeth and Virgin Mary had their meeting with each other. And then today we have the fulfillment of that first promise of John the Baptist and his birth. Next weekend we'll gather for the fulfillment of the second promise, which obviously is Christmas, which is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. So in today's passage, we're nine months away from where we started. And Zechariah and Elizabeth have their baby. And their baby is a special baby. And when their baby is born, Zechariah has been mute for nine months, he hadn't been able to speak. And they come to them and they say, what's this baby going to be named? And the mother says, his name is John. And they responded to her and said, we don't care what you said, his name can't be John. There's no relative named John, it can't be John, it can't be John. How about let's go to the father? Father, what do you say the name is going to be? And then the father, that's when God opened his mouth, he wrote it down, John, and then he opened his mouth and he started praising. I want to look at the praise of Zechariah. Listen to what Zechariah says in his praise. And I want you to listen to it. But I want you to pretend that you don't know that Zechariah just had a baby. I want you to pretend that you just landed from the moon and you don't know anything about anything. You just showed up here, you don't know anything about babies or like he's an old 80 year old man, whatever it is, you don't know anything about anything. All you know is you showed up, you know you're in the midst of people. What do you think the most common topic discussed at the water cooler was in this time in the ancient world? What do you think most of the Jewish people, what was their main topic that they discussed? Sports?

Weather? What do you think was the main topic that they discussed? They discussed that they were in oppression. Okay, that they were in essence, they weren't slaves exactly, but they were as close as you can get to it without actually being slaves. They were second class citizens, they were oppressed by the Romans. Only thing they cared about was when is God going to deliver us from this enemy? That was the most common topic. Okay, so you don't know anything about babies. You know you're in the midst of that climate where you're constantly oppressed everywhere you go. Like you want to talk to your friend, but you can't because if there's Romans around, they can hear you. So you have to speak in code languages and you want to say something about your faith, but you can't.

You have to go underground over here and your customs and everywhere you go, you see a That was the culture that they existed in. Okay, listen to this praise. You know anything about babies. You just know that's the context. What do you think Zacharias is talking about when he says this? Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. You don't know anything about babies. You're listening to this praise. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham.

To grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies, second time enemies, might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. What do you think that praise is talking about? You showed up from the moon. You only know one thing. Maybe the moon is not the right context. You showed up from another part of Israel, so you don't know the story about the babies. You just know the oppression piece of it. You hear this praise. What do you think just happened? What do you think just happened? Anyone listen to this and be like, he must have had a baby. Aww. First child. That must be what it is. Anyone who's, I don't know if you have any nurses here or, yeah, nurses who worked in like the maternity and things like that. You know when a parent has their first kid, they're a little crazy. That's the most beautiful kid on the planet. Okay, okay, okay. Is that what this is? Like this is just Zacharias, like you see this kid, is that the most beautiful kid standing up here?

Like not really, not like, is that what this is? So this guy's just a little, you know what, he just had a kid, you know, he's old so he just, there's no way anyone, like this has nothing to do with a baby. Like save us from our enemies. The little guy saved us from our enemies. He even talked about it here. The promise to Abraham. The oath which he swore to our father Abraham. What was the oath that he swore to our father Abraham? If you go anywhere in Israel and say God is going to fulfill the oath he swore to our father Abraham, what would every single person think you're talking about? Give us the land. That was the promise. This is going to be your land. You're going to inherit the land and you're going to be in this land and you're going to defeat the enemies and the Canaanites and all the, like that's what he swore is that you're going to be in this land and you're going to be blessed in this land and none of the enemies can defeat you. And remember he said to Abraham, whoever curses you, I curse him. Someone curses you, I curse them. Someone blesses you, I bless them. Every single person thinks that he's talking about a military victory. But he's not. He's talking about a baby. He actually was talking about a military victory. But a different kind. Zacharias was so excited today. Break it down for me.

Just simple. Why? Zacharias was excited today, was praising today, was elated today because he has now, he now has a son. He now has a son. He now has a family. Not that he and Elizabeth weren't a family before, but he now has a family and it was the desire of his heart and his wife's heart. It was their great desire to have a family and Zacharias wanted a son. And I'm telling you in today's passage, Zacharias is a picture of somebody else. Zacharias is a type of somebody else. Who is Zacharias symbolizing today? Who is just so overjoyed to have a son and to have a family?

Who? The true father. Zacharias today is a picture of God the Father. Because in today's passage you hear Zacharias saying, we have a father. The enemy has been defeated. No more, the enemy is oppressing us. No more. You hear the voice of God the Father saying that the victory, there was an enemy who took away God's family. There was an enemy who took away God's family. That enemy obviously was the evil one, Satan, who we know his name means the separator, the divider. And what he came to do was to separate man from God, to separate son from father, to separate, when I say son, I mean sons and daughters, sons and daughters, children from their heavenly father.

And this was a serious problem. And then God came and said, enough, God rolled up his sleeves and said, let's take care of this enemy. We're going to take care of the enemy. And that's what Christmas is all about. Is about God restoring his family. Is that God giving us a chance to fix or God fixing what was broken and giving us a chance to be his sons and daughters again. If you don't believe me that the theme of the readings today was about family, let me give you a selection of passages starting from last night's Vespers. Every single one of them, you see the theme is family, family, family and fatherhood of God. Last night Vespers, Psalm 87. And of Zion it will be said, this one and that one were born in her and the most high himself shall establish her. Mattans this morning, Mark chapter three, who is my mother and my brothers? And he looked around in a circle at those who sat about him and said, here are my mother and my brothers for whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister of my mother.

Pauline Epistle that I told you to pay attention to. I will call them my people who are not my people and her beloved who is not beloved and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people there they shall be called blanks of the living God. Sons children close enough. Again I will call them my people who are not my people and her beloved who was not beloved. What he's saying is people who are not part of the family. People who are not beloved. People who are not part of my sons and daughters. I will call them sons and daughters. People who thought they were unaccepted. I will tell them they're accepted. People who were distant and estranged.

I will bring them in and make them part. They are my people and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people there they should be called sons of the living God. Even the book of Acts, I didn't pay attention to what you just right now. Even acts acts. What was acts about? He paid attention. It was about Abraham begot Isaac and Isaac begot Jacob and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. It was about the formation of the family of God. So if you've ever wondered, if you've ever asked yourself this question, why did God bring us into the world which is full of evil? You ever wonder that? It's a common question you hear. Why would God, like why would God create man if he knew man was going to sin? Why would God create man if he knew the world was going to be evil and there's going to be drunk drivers and there's going to be drugs and there's going to be stranger danger and all those different things? Why would God do that?

And the answer is very simple. Every parent in the room understands the answer. The answer is because God wants to have a family. And when parents have children, they know they're taking a risk. They know that the kids are going to give them a headache. They know the kids are going to cost them money. They know that the kids are going to at some point say, I hate you mom, I hate you dad. It's called teenagers. They know that. But then why do parents do it?

Why? Because parents want to have a family. That's what love is. Love requires an object. Love can't be contained. Like if I'm the only person who exists in the world, there can't be love. Love requires, like when love, like if God is love. God is boundless, therefore love is boundless. So if I put love in this room, I just, let's say I could take love and I put it right here. It can't stay. Love has to expand. It has to like pour itself on something. Love can't. Okay. Think of it like the sun. Okay. If I put the sun right here and I say, sun, stay here. Don't let your rays go anywhere. It can't. Like if the sun exists, the rays are going to go all the way to wherever it goes. You can't put God.

You can't put love and just stay, stay contained. Well here what we see today is Zacharias is a picture of God the Father. And God the Father is saying to us today, I'm excited to have children. I'm excited to make you my son and my daughter. I'm excited for you to be part of my family. And that's what Christmas is all about. It's about God sending his son into the world to reestablish his family. I saw a nice way of phrasing it, okay, which is it's basically a spinoff of what St. Athanasius wrote on the Incarnation, which hopefully you've been reading with us here, but it makes it a little bit easier to understand. It said, the Son of God became the Son of Man to allow the sons of men to become sons of God. See that one? The Son of God became the Son of Man. Repeat after me. The Son of God became the Son of Man. So that the sons of men could become sons of God. Son of God became the Son of Man. So that the Son of... This is me now, okay. So that the sons of men... I'll have you repeat something else, don't worry.

I like interactive too. The Son of God became the Son of Man. So that the sons of men could become sons of God. So in other words, here's our message for today. And this is for every single person, but somehow I feel like there's some people in particular that really need to hear what I'm about to say. God is excited about something today. As you hear Zacharias jumping up and down, 80-year-old man, kept praising saying, this is the greatest thing, and jumping up and down, and praising, and making all this noise. God is excited about something today. And the thing that he is excited about, which not the thing, the person he's excited about is you. You. You, and you, and you, and you, and you. God is excited that you be part of his family. No strings attached. God didn't come to love us so that we could serve him. Sometimes we have that wrong mentality. God came to make us his servants. No, God's got better servants than me and you. God didn't come because he, you know, like, he lost a bet with the angels, so it's like, okay, he lost a bet, you know. God didn't come because he was bored. God didn't come because he was in need. God doesn't need a single thing from me and you. But he loves us. And he loves you.

With no strings attached. I don't know why, but I just feel very strongly that some of us need to hear that today. Some of us just need to hear that God doesn't want anything from us. That God doesn't need anything from us. That our Father just wants to be connected with us because our Father knows that as tough as this life is, as tough as this life is, no one's going to tell me that this life out there is getting easier. As tough as this life is. And that applies to you if you are in preschool, middle school, high school, college, graduate, postgraduate, married, single, whatever's after that, okay, bad knees, bad back, you're retired, empty, whatever it may be. The world is hard. There is no phase in which the world is not hard. It's exponentially harder if you're an orphan. You don't have a father.

You're disconnected from your father. And that's what God is coming to tell us today. I'll give you a repeat after me verse. I say the best verse of all. Catholic Epistle came from where today? Came from 1 John chapter 2 and chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 verse 1 and 2 is golden verse. I'll give you just verse 1. You look up verse 2 when you go home.

Repeat after me. Behold what manner of love. Behold what manner of love. The Father has bestowed on us. The Father has bestowed on us. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. That we should be called. That we should be called. Children of God. Children of God. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. That we should be called children of God. That's what God wants. Christmas we always say Christmas isn't about gifts. Christmas isn't about gifts. Christmas isn't about gifts.

I disagree. Christmas is 1000% about gifts. And it's not about giving gifts. It's about receiving gifts. 100%. Christmas, only thing that matters. Everything else in the world doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is receiving gifts. And the most important gift to them all, the only gift that matters is that I on Christmas day and you through Christmas day receive the gift that I can be called a child of God. And nothing in this world is more valuable than that. Because all the problems, all the confusion, all the whatever it may be that exists out there you give me this gift and I know I'll be okay. That doesn't mean all my problems are going to be solved. Children of God don't have less problems than the people of children of the world. Children of God have more problems. But the difference is we also have more power. We have more support. And we have more wisdom. We have more grace. We have more strength.

So it's not saying no problems. But give me the gift. Give me the gift for Christmas. All I want for Christmas is one present. And I want to be the child of God. And good news, that's exactly what we get. I'm going to give you a sneak peek as to the readings, the psalm that's going to be read next Saturday. The psalm that we read on Christmas. Anyone know what the psalm we read on Christmas? Say a nice long tune. Whoever at least is, hopefully someone's preparing to sing in the long tune. I know some of the deacons is, okay. It's from Psalm 2. So we read on Christmas. About the greatest Christmas present ever. It says, the Lord said to me, you are my son. That's what we're going to read next week. The Lord said to me, to me, not to you, to me, to me, you are my son. Today, I have begotten you.

Watch this. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the ends of the earth for your possession. Today, we see Zachariah rejoicing. We see Zacharias, and I'm telling you, that's not even 1% of the love of God the Father for every single one of us. And his excitement and his desire to make me his beloved son and you his beloved daughter. When you see Zacharias praising like this, all you think to yourself is, man, oh man, my Father loves me. My Father, my Father cares for me. My Father is more excited for me than anything else on this planet. And the war which had separated us, the enemy that had separated us, the enemy that had gotten between me and my Father and made me and my Father distant. And just like the prodigal son, you know the story of the prodigal son in the beginning? It's like, yeah, I don't need the Father. I'm good without him. I'm in good shape. But all of a sudden, that prodigal son very quick said, I need my Father. I need my Father. I need my Father.

I need him quick. The war that had separated me from my Father. Jesus came down and said, no more. Son of God has become the Son of Man. So the sons of men could become sons of God. That's what Christmas is all about. And I know it won't always feel that way. And I know a lot of people go through different things during Christmas. But whatever it may be, let us keep that in mind today and let us rejoice and celebrate. Our Father celebrates us. We are his beloved children. And the same way Zacharias came home, but I don't know how big the kid was. Probably this big. Okay, maybe not this big. Zacharias came home and said, that's my boy. Okay. And everyone on the block knew Zacharias had a boy. Everyone in the neighborhood knew Zacharias had a boy. And say what you want about whatever. But don't say anything about my boy. That's my beloved boy. I'm telling you, that's a picture. That's a type of God the Father. Holding you in his hands and saying that's my beloved child and whom I'm well pleased. Glory be to God forever. Amen.