The Church's Song of Hope and Confidence

They are often known by the first word or words of text in Latin, such as Gloria in Excelsis (Glory to God in the highest), Nunc dimittis (Now you let your servant depart), Magnificat (My soul magnifies the Lord), and today's text, the Benedictus (Blessed be).

Of the five that we will study, two are from Luke 1, two are from Luke 2 and one is from Revelation.

The Benedictus is the canticle appointed for use in Morning Prayer, on page 134 in the front of the hymnal.

Another version is LBW at Hymn #2, with a psalm-tone melody.

And today we are singing it in still a different form, turned into poetry as a versified hymn at WOV#725.

Christians have been singing the Benedictus in Morning Prayer since at least the 6^th century, and probably much earlier.

It is a wonderful way to begin the day in song.

In it we hear the canticle move from darkness to light, from silence to speech, from statements of the past to anticipation of the future.

Those are the kinds of things that one would especially appreciate in the morning,

which is the dawn of salvation, the dawn of the last day of fulfillment.

So we are using the Benedictus as a proclamation of the God-given freedom to live the new kind of life as the day begins and unfolds its promise and hope.

So, let's take a closer look at the text itself.

Earlier in Luke Chapter 1, Elizabeth and Zechariah were introduced as good persons but childless.

Zechariah, while taking his turn at priestly duties in the temple, was visited by the angel Gabriel, who terrified him but gave him announcement that his wife would bear a son to be named John.

Zechariah did not believe the angel's words, and so was struck mute, until after the child was born and ready to be named.

Then, suddenly, his tongue was loosened and he was able to speak, and he praises God with the text we call Benedictus.

The exclamation seems to be divided in two sections: verses 68-75 which focuses on what God has already done, and verses 76-80 which point to what God will yet do.

And the persons addressed are different also: the first section is addressed to the God in thanksgiving and to the people as a reminder; while the second section is addressed to the infant John, as well as proclamation to all in anticipation of what God's action will bring about in the earth.

Those who have sung Morning Prayer here in the chapel have often used the version on page 134 in the front of the hymnal.

And we have puzzled over why the text is divided as it is between “All” and “cantor”.

And now we know: the second section begins with the single voice singing to the infant John, And you, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High.... and all the verbs are in the future tense in this section; they are God's promises.

Salvation will come, and Zechariah describes it in terms of the forgiveness that brings peace.

We will eventually want to say more than that, but this is a solid beginning place.

How is it that Zechariah makes bold with these hope-filled words?

It is because of the history of what God has already done that he tells again in the first section.

The Benedictus is a song of thanksgiving for the realization of the Messianic hopes of the Jewish nation.

Centuries earlier, in the family of David, there was power to defend the nation against their enemies, now again that of which they had been so long deprived, and for which they had been yearning, was to be restored to them, but in a higher and spiritual sense.

While the Jews had impatiently borne the yoke of the Romans, they had continually sighed for the time when the House of David was to be their deliverer.

The deliverance was now at hand, and was pointed to by Zechariah as the fulfillment of God's oath to Abraham; but the fulfillment is described as a deliverance not for the sake of worldly power, but that "we may serve him without fear, in holiness and justice all our days"

Now I need to point out to you a pattern that Zechariah or Luke, or whoever put this canticle in its present form.

We know that there is never an exact correspondence of what a word means in one language when translated to another language.

There are nuances that may lead a translator to choose one English word over another in a given spot.

That may obscure a pattern that may be visible in Greek but not in English translation.

Looking at the separate sheet with the lesson printed out, I have highlighted what the linguistic scholars call a chiastic structure, which is not our accustomed way of organizing things, but is in use in the poetry of Hebrew and other languages.

The main point of a passage, rather than at the end as we would likely write it, is in the center of the work, with words in ascending and descending order on either side of it.

Visit us in verse 78 corresponds to

Visited in verse 68

People, 77 ….......People,68

Salvation, 77......Savior, 69

Prophet, 76.. ..Prophets, 70

Hands, 74...... Hands 71

Ancestor, 73....Ancestors, 72

And so the phrase that is located between that final pair of words is what the writer wants to emphasize: ...has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore.

Here is the reason for the song, for the confidence, for the hope.

It is not depending on Zechariah's own worthiness or his own actions.

He has amply demonstrated that even a good person messes those things.

Rather it all depends on God keeping and fulfilling his promises to us.

Perhaps we may think that this chiastic structure is something dreamed up by a scholar with too much time on his hands.

Perhaps it is, but nonetheless, it points us to the central thing.

Zechariah reminds God, and reminds us as well, of this important fact, the fact that makes all the difference:

Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,... the one who makes and keeps promises. Amen

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.