“The Lord Interrupts”
Text: Isaiah 64:1-12; Like 1:8-23
This was
a big time in Zechariah’s life.
It was the time for his priestly division to serve at the Temple in Jerusalem
and on top of that, his name had been selected to offer incense
in the Temple. That was something some priests never got to do. But Zechariah
did. When he heard his name, chills of excitement must have run up and down his
spine. Yes, this was a special time for Zechariah . . . and the Lord picks
this time to interrupt! Right when Zechariah is in the holy place, going
through the ritual, placing the incense on the fire, an angel appears and
things come to a screeching halt while a conversation takes place. A message to Zechariah from God.
Now, I
don’t know
about you, but I don’t like
being interrupted! You’ve got
your day all planned out, or maybe even bigger than that, you’ve got your holiday all planned out
or maybe even your life all planned out, and all of a sudden you’re interrupted. Something gets in the
way, someone steps in, events change things, and all of a sudden everything is
messed up and comes to a screeching halt.
So it
was for Zechariah. For not only was his Temple service interrupted but, the
angel Gabriel tells him, his life is about to be interrupted.
Because
even though he and his wife Elizabeth were old and past the normal age for
children, they were going to have a child. And not just any child, but one who
would have a special, God-given job; the one who would be the forerunner of the
promised Messiah. So they would have to raise him special and with great care.
And when Zechariah doubted that this was real and true and would actually
happen to old fogies like them - which, we might say, is pretty logical - he is
interrupted again. He will not be able to speak until the child is born.
Over nine months. He will not be able to speak the priestly Temple ritual and
prayers. He will not be able to speak to his wife. He will not be able to utter
any words at all.
This was
not the first time God had interrupted the life of His people. The Old
Testament is filled with such stories, one of which we heard about tonight from
the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah’s day, Israel was a kingdom divided, and were
doing much to displease the Lord. They wouldn’t listen to the prophets the Lord sent them, so the Lord,
in mercy, stepped in and interrupted them with the armies of Babylon and
Assyria to conquer them and take many of them off as prisoners of war. No small
interruption, that. And no short one either. Their 70 years in exile makes
Zechariah’s nine
months or so seem like small potatoes.
All
these interruptions, though, are for the same reason: for God to work
salvation and eternal life for His people.
And God
got the attention of the people in Isaiah’s day! Isaiah prayed for Him to rend the heavens and
come down and save them. To tear open the heavens and come down with
some mighty and awesome and spectacular deeds, like He had done in the past,
like He had done in the exodus, like He had done to get the people through the
wilderness and into the promised land. Do that
again!
But just
as God does not always abide by our plans, so also God interrupts in His own
ways and in His own time. And while He did answer the prayers of His
people and come down to save them, it wasn’t in the way they wanted or asked for - it was
rather that day in the Temple, to an old priest no one had really heard of
until then, and with a child. Awesome in its own way, in God’s
way.
So too, then, for you and me today. God interrupts our lives for no other reason than for our
salvation and eternal life. Maybe you don’t think you need the interruption, and maybe you don’t want it and aren’t particularly thrilled by it. But
like Israel, and Zechariah and Elizabeth, and even Mary and Joseph, God knows
you need it. To shake you out of your boredom and
complacency, or to interrupt your anger and bitterness, and work in you.
Work in you as Isaiah pictured for us, as the potter works on his clay. God forming you, shaping you, carefully, individually, to make you
His own precious work of art.
Here is
how one author put it: This is the great conversion in our life: to
recognize and believe that the many unexpected events in our lives are not just
disturbing interruptions of our projects, but the ways in which God molds our
hearts and prepares us for His return. Our great temptions
are boredom and bitterness. When our good plans are interrupted by poor weather
or poor health, our peace of mind by inner turmoil, our hope for peace by a new
war, our desire for stability by constant change, and our desire for
immortality by real death, we are tempted to give in to a paralyzing boredom or
to strike back in destructive bitterness. But when we believe that patience can
make our expectation and hope grow, then fate can be
converted into vocation, wounds into a call for deeper understanding, and
sadness into a birthplace of joy (Henri Nouwen,
slightly edited).
Or in
other words, all those interruptions we really don’t want and really don’t like, perhaps they are divine
interruptions, for God to bring us to repentance and faith, for Him to bring us
His forgiveness and mercy, to bring us to love and good works for others
instead of self-absorption, for Him to bring us joy and work in us all that is
pleasing in His sight. To see interruptions in this way is to see them not as
unwelcomed intrusions into our well-ordered lives, but as wonderful, God-given
opportunities and as the loving hand of your heavenly Father in your life.
I don’t know if Zechariah saw it that way
right away, but after nine months of silence perhaps he began to understand. So for you too. Interruptions will come. Of that you can be
sure. But when they do, how do you react and respond? Perhaps after tonight,
you can think of Zechariah and think a bit differently. And
instead of seeing these interruptions as distractions from your true
work, to see them as your true work. Fulfilling
a vocation that perhaps you’ve been neglecting. An opportunity to receive from another. A
chance to love and forgive and care. A time to realize that God is
working in you and molding you, and that He cares enough to interrupt to do so.
For after all, one of the greatest interruption of all
produced the greatest gift of all - the gift of His Son, our Saviour. For when God interrupts, it is to give. To give to you. To give you what you need.
So
repent of your sin, receive His forgiveness, and rejoice in His interruptions,
as He prepares your heart for the next greatest interruption of all: when our
Lord will rend the heavens and come down - when He comes again in glory.
Lord
God, heavenly Father, thank You for Your divine interruptions in our lives.
Enable us to see Your hand at work in our lives, help us to repent and turn to
You, and fill us with trust that even when unwelcomed interruptions come, that
in these too You are working for our good, now and forever, through Your Son
Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now
and forever. Amen.