Sunday Sermon

Sermon # 1018
November 28, 2010
Luke 1:5-25
1st Sunday of Advent
Dr. Ed Pettus

“Sing, O Barren One”
Isaiah 54 begins with these words:
Sing, O barren one who did not bear;
Burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labor!

Barren women do not sing. Barren women cry because they are without children. The shame of not giving an heir to the family often led to other arrangements like we have when Sarah and Abraham feared that God’s promise of a son would not and could not come to fruition. Sarah gave Abraham one of her servants to serve as a surrogate mother for God’s promise to be fulfilled. But that was not God’s plan. The barren Sarah would indeed bear a son, Isaac, and so she would sing, and she would laugh.

Isaiah continues:
For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married, says the LORD. Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will settle the desolate towns.

The promise is for more children than can be imagined, so many children that you will have to build a bigger house, or as the poem says: “enlarge your tent”!

Hannah, from the book of Samuel, is another example of this kind of story. She was barren. She was in misery and prayed to the Lord and the Lord heard her prayer and she conceived and had a son named Samuel. When God’s plan comes to pass Hannah sings her song:
“My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory. ‘There is no Holy One like the LORD, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” Hannah’s song becomes the model for Mary’s song, another woman who has a miraculous birth, not one from barrenness, but one greatly unexpected, nonetheless!

Today’s gospel lesson takes us along another journey with a barren woman. Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, is one who exemplifies the Isaiah song. She is barren. She and Zechariah are old, old enough to know they are too old to have a child. But that was not God’s plan.

Zechariah was a priest and the story points both to his and Elizabeth’s lineage, Zechariah from a strong line of priests and Elizabeth from the house of Aaron. Luke tells us:
Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

It is an interesting contrast: they are both righteous, blameless in accordance with the commandments and regulations of the Lord and yet there is a contrast to that righteousness, the enigma is the conjunction “but”. They are righteous, and yet, they are righteous – “but” – they have no children. In essence the story makes no sense at this point – righteous, but no children. According to Jewish thinking, righteousness equals a house filled with children. So the story sets us up for this odd circumstance of barrenness.

I think also there is a bit of humor here in the phrase “getting on in years”. I guess it is a polite way to say they were getting old, too old for children. Well, God has a sense of humor too and sometimes God’s sense of humor works out with tremendous blessing. One day Zechariah is in the sanctuary and an angel appears to him:
“When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.”

This is great news to Zechariah, but also a little hard to believe. After all, he was getting on in years. He even tells the angel he is an old man and his wife is getting on in years too. Well, in this case it is not wise to second guess the angel of the Lord and Zechariah is struck mute until John is born. Elizabeth does conceive and she sings her own song: “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”

Elizabeth will give birth to the one who will proclaim the coming of the Messiah, John the Baptist.


Barren women cannot sing until God intervenes, then there is singing and laughing and celebrating.
Barren women having children are stories of the impossibilities of God. It is the lesson we will learn again in the Christmas narrative, that nothing is impossible with God. These are the stories of life when life seems impossible. These are the stories of hope when hope is lost. These are the stories that bring us into Advent, a time of hope and great anticipation as we look to God to do the impossible: to give barren Elizabeth a child named John who will announce the good news of the coming Messiah; to give Mary a child named Jesus, the Messiah, who will announce the good news of the kingdom, of salvation, of healing, of hope. God intervenes and God intervenes still today.

When we think nothing can come of a situation, when we think someone is beyond redemption, when we think there is no way to make all the payments due, when we think no peace is possible in a conflict, whatever the hopeless circumstance, the message of scripture comes to us: Sing, O barren one. Sing, O hopeless one. Sing, O depressed one. We can sing only because we know that there is nothing impossible with God. We can sing because we know that the Lord still intervenes. The good news to begin our Advent journey is that we can sing no matter what “barrenness” we may face.

The song may not be today, but it will come. Elizabeth thought she would never sing, but even when she was getting on in age, she was able to sing of the glory of God. Hannah thought she would never sing, but out of her barrenness – a child. Sarah thought she would never sing, but even when she laughed at God’s promise of a son, she could sing. Sing, O barren one. Barrenness can sometimes serve as a metaphor for what seems impossible to us. Advent is a season in the church year to consider our impossibilities and the possibilities of God. Sing, O barren one. Sing, O unhappy one. Sing, O (insert your impossible situation here) one! For the Lord hears our prayers and the Lord does impossible things that we may indeed sing. For the Lord has come. O come, O come, Emmanuel! Amen.