Merciful Love

As Maria sung in The Sound of Music, “Let’s start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start.” When coming to this story, one has to understand that the main character in part of Luke 1:57-80, was Zechariah and he was temporarily mute. Now Zachariah was a priest on duty in the temple and given the special task to offer incense to God in one of the most holy places in the temple. As he was doing this, he was visited by the angel Gabriel who tells him that he and his wife, who was now beyond child bearing years, well, they are going to have a child.

Not surprisingly, Zachariah was somewhat skeptical that this could happen and because of it Gabriel hits the mute button and Zachariah was unable to speak, well that was until the promised baby was born. Yes, Zachariah’s wife Elizabeth did get pregnant and had a healthy baby boy. On the eight day, after the child was born, and when a child was traditionally named and circumcised in Hebrew culture, the people were wanting Elizabeth to name the child after his father. They did not want to listen to her as she knew the child was to be named John. Finally, Zachariah was given a tablet and was able to write down the name for them, the name John.

Immediately after Zachariah was able to speak, we get what is known to us as Zachariah’s song. It is a song of remembrance of what God has promised and a looking ahead to what God will do. It is a song about his son John who will prepare the way for Jesus. John’s message will be one that tells people that they will have to turn away from what they have been doing in order to prepare their hearts and minds to receive Jesus and his message of love, grace, and compassion.

Today is the day we light the candle of love on our Advent wreaths. It is a day that we celebrate the love of God for all humanity. God’s love is not just for good Christians; God’s love is for everyone. It is love that embraces people of all countries, all tribes, all races. It does not matter your stature, your economic status or viability. This love does not care if you are black, brown, white or any shade in between. This love does not care if you are male, female, or identify as LGBTQ2S+. This love is for everyone.

God’s love does care about how others are treated. God’s love cares about the marginalized and the vulnerable. This love is generous, kind, forgiving, and is meant for all. This love is merciful and unconditional.

What this love does expect from us is that we too will be loving, kind, merciful, and compassionate. This love hopes that we will be generous and that our love will move us to action. This love connects and restores relationships with ourselves, with God, and with each other.

God’s love, that is lived out in the life of Jesus Christ, is meant to move us to actions that include justice and mercy for those who do not have a voice. Zachariah is one who speaks out to announce that this is what God is up to.

One might wonder if we should be like Zachariah’s son, John the Baptist, and prepare the way of the Lord by demonstrating what love looks like. Now, I am not talking about romantic love, I am talking about love that goes so much further. This is love for people, even those we disagree with. This is the kind of love that we are looking at here. It is love that is willing to listen to those with whom we disagree and find ways that we can work together to bring about healthy community.

This love is so radical that it would see wars end, strife cease, people fed, housed, and clothed. Can you imagine and world where Gaza would no longer be a war zone, Ukraine would be rebuilt, Afghanistan would be a place of peace, and no one would be murdered on a beach in Australia because of their faith tradition. This is the radical love of God.

This love has room for others. It has hope. This love is the kind of love we are called to in our own time. We are to love our neighbours, our families, anyone who crosses our path, and love them.

It would seem that as people, cultures, communities, we are not able to love this way on our own. It takes the deep love of God, the recognition that every life is of value, before we seem to be able to even begin to comprehend what we are called to as Christians…as human beings.

This takes work. It takes listening attentively, even when we don’t agree. It requires that we engage in the work of restoration as the hands and feet of God in this world. It means that we pay attention to what God is doing in and through us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is for us to do this work of kindness, compassion, and love, so that people might even be receptive to hearing about God’s love for them. How can people know about that kind of love if they never experience it from another human being?

Like Zachariah, we are called to use our words to share the love of God with others. We are called to act to bring about hope, peace, joy, and love in a world that is seriously lacking in compassion and justice.

Christmas is not some joyous remembrance of a baby’s birth as we have made it out to be. To celebrate Christmas is to celebrate Jesus, the embodiment of God, come into the world to change it. It is God in-breaking into the world in a way that is unimaginable, transforming, and radical. This is about love so strong, so deep, so wide, and so high, that it cannot be contained, it must be shared and in so doing nothing can remain the same.

We can no longer tolerate injustice, harm, and suffering. We must work to overcome it, in the name of merciful love. Not the love that commands that one conform or bow down to power in order to achieve lasting peace, but love that transforms, that lifts up those who are the least and love that gives of itself.

We are called to radical, merciful, compassionate, yet powerful love. The love of God that comes to us in Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit moving and working in us and in the world. Today, may you begin to practice loving in unexpected ways, ways that bring wholeness, justice, and life-changing experiences to your relationships, this community, and maybe, just maybe the world. Amen.

To download this sermon, click here.
Online Service
Worship Service in print