psalms of Advent: the benedictus
"In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us,"
I probably should have called this series “the Canticles of Advent,” for this text is not properly a “Psalm,” but it is sung in response to the word of God.
Luke 1:68-79 1
One of the first of the infancy narratives (Luke 1:5-25, 57-66) is the story of Zechariah, a priest in the Jerusalem Temple who is an old man. He is visited by the angel Gabriel, who tells him that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son. Because of his skepticism, the angel strikes him mute. Zechariah’s tongue is only released when he consents to give his son the name “John.” He then praises God. The story is consistent with the Old Testament theme of God turning muteness into praise.
Esau McCaulley points out that Zechariah and Elizabeth were a ministry family among an oppressed people. They were some of the people tasked with making theological sense of God’s apparent absence in their midst, to make sense of their oppression. They would have faced some of the questions facing the people regarding oppression, poverty, tragedy, and war.
McCaulley says, “Zechariah and Elizabeth lived with national (Israel under the rule of Rome) and personal (no children) tragedy. They represent all Israelites whose personal stories carry the brokenness of the larger corporate narrative
within them.” 2
In the midst of their brokenness, the faithful people of God—like Zechariah and Elizabeth—had hope, an ultimate hope of the God who will one day right the wrongs. N.T. Wright says, “Often it’s the old people, the ones who cherish old memories and imaginations, who keep alive the rumor of hope.”
After John’s birth, Zechariah “was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophecied” (vs. 67). The Spirit that wells up within him and the hope that Zechariah possesses bursts forth in song. What proceeds is known as the “Benedictus,” (“blessed” or “praised”) after the first word of the song in the Latin Vulgate. This is the second of four songs in Luke’s gospel.