Christmas is the perfect picture of anticipation as a child. 

Every year on December 24, we let our kids open a present. A teaser, a taste of things to come, and we kids relished it. Of course, it wasn’t much of a surprise – we always get them new pajamas, even when they don’t need them. But still, it was a ritual of hope. Our kids hope they’ll get something cooler than PJs. 

Christmas morning. For many of us is an unfortunate picture of disappointment. I am only one person with his own set of experiences, but as I talk to others, I find similar feelings of frustration. As we get older, many people seem to develop a general distrust toward any day that promises to fill the emptiness they’ve felt all year long. It is why, for some, Christmas is a reminder of the inevitable letdown of life. 

The unfortunate answer to the question, “Did you get everything you wanted?” is, of course, no. And we feel terrible about this. 

Why can’t we be happy? Why can’t we be satisfied? Will we ever be content with what we have – with the gifts in our stockings, the toys under the tree? Why is there this constant thirst for more?

Christmas is about hope, but if we’re honest, in the dark places of our hearts, we feel hopeless. 

Many of us look back over this last year with a sense of regret. We think of conversations we wish we could redo, choices we could makeover, opportunities we missed that we would take, if only. 

Each year, the Washington post releases how Americans feel about the year. They asked them to describe their year in one word. Of the top 20 answers, 11 were negative. Words like bad, unsettled, scary, disastrous, disappointed, horrible, turmoil, challenging. And the number 1 word to describe this year was chaotic. 

Many of us can relate. 

Where does this come from?

Henri Nouwen says our feeling of hopelessness comes from 3 places, three lies many of us believe:

• I am what I have 
• I am what I do 
• I am what other people say or think of me

In Luke 1, Zechariah and Elizabeth felt this. An angel promised Zechariah and Elizabeth that they would have a son, one they had longed for. Hope for a childless couple. 

Zechariah and Elizabeth are the first ones we encounter in the Christmas story. Now, what is fascinating about Zechariah’s name is what it means, especially as we are looking for hope. Zechariah means “The Lord has remembered.” When we feel hopeless, we wonder if God has forgotten.

This is incredibly powerful for us to hear. It is in the act of remembering that God acts.

This is incredibly painful in any century, but in the first century, having children was considered a sign of God’s blessing. The gospel of Luke points out how Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous and followed God’s law so that we don’t fall into the temptation of thinking their childlessness is a result of personal sin.

They had resigned themselves to being childless. They had prayed and asked, and nothing.

Many of us have been there. Many of us are there. We’ve prayed and begged God. We’ve shouted at the heavens and nothing. So, we resign ourselves to not being answered. We take God’s silence. We feel forgotten and give up on hope.

The story of Christmas, the birth of Jesus and John in impossible ways, in ways that only God can bring about is what Christmas is all about. It is what Christianity is all about. The hope we long for is only possible through Jesus.

Christmas, the gospel, Jesus is about bringing about something new.

In Luke 1:78-79, Zechariah sang a song after his son was born about the new life that God brings about: Those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death have seen a light.

Tim Keller said, “Christmas through the lens of Jesus is the most unsentimental, realistic way of looking at life. It does not agree with the optimists who say, ‘We can fix things if we try hard enough.’ Nor does it agree with the pessimists who see only a dismal future. Instead, the message of Jesus is, ‘Things really are this bad, and we can’t heal or save ourselves. Things really are this dark – nevertheless, there is hope.”

One of the most common feelings at Christmas is feeling forgotten. It might be missing out on a Christmas party, a gift, a bonus at work, or not getting a Christmas card from someone. 

Christmas raises the awareness of our feelings that lay beneath the surface for the rest of the year.

The story of Christmas found in Matthew and Luke is a story of the unexpected. Two thousand years ago, in Israel, the people of God had been waiting. God had been silent for 400 years. Think about that for a moment, 400 years and nothing from God. God had not sent a prophet. A king or even an angel to help them like in the past. There were so many prophecies made in the Old Testament, and yet for 400 years, nothing seemed to be happening. 

God seemed eerily quiet. They felt forgotten. The people of God wondered if God would remember his promise to send a Messiah.

And if we’re honest, some of us are there today. Some of us feel like God is silent. That God has gone away even. We might also feel forgotten. 

The first person God comes to is a man named Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth. Verse 6 of Luke 1 tells us about them: Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

Zechariah was a priest who went into the temple to intercede on behalf of the people. So, he’s doing his job, going about his business. We must be told they were blameless and then that they were childless because in this culture, if you weren’t able to have children, that was often seen as a curse from God, or it made people wonder if you had sinned. But it also tells us about their situation. 

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. Luke 1:11 – 15a

Now, when we think of angels, we always think of cute, cuddly creatures floating on a cloud that looks like a baby in a diaper or a toga. Yet every time an angel appears in scripture, the first thing they say is, “Don’t be afraid.” Because the angels looked more like warriors. They were called warriors of light. 

The angel tells him, your prayer has been heard. What prayer? It could be the prayer to have a child, but as a priest, he would’ve been praying for the coming of the Messiah. 

I’ve often wondered if he was still praying for a child or if he had given up on that prayer. Has that happened to you when you think, “I’m done praying for this because nothing seems to be happening.” We don’t believe that, but we just one day stop asking God for something. 

I wonder if, sometimes, to protect ourselves from being hurt, we stop expecting God to do anything. 

Look at Zechariah’s response in verse 18: “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

We’re so hard on people in the bible. An angel is standing there talking to you, and you are questioning him. How could he doubt?

We would do the same. 

We read a verse in the bible, see a promise of God’s, and think, are you sure? I know the text says I’m forgiven, but am I? I know the bible says God will never leave me nor forsake, but…?

Now, let me tell you something that I think is amazing. For many of us, we name a child after a family friend, someone close to us, or look up the top 10 names of the year and go on that. But Throughout the bible, names are essential. They tell a part of a person’s story, character, or something God wants us to know about them. 

Zechariah’s name means “The Lord has remembered.”

It is not a coincidence that after 400 years of silence, God’s first words are to a man whose name means “The Lord remembers.” 

Why? The people of God felt forgotten. They were under Roman rule. I’m sure many people wondered, how do we know God is even real? When was the last time we heard from him? When was the last time he sent us a prophet? Moved? Did anything we can see? 

Not only that, I wonder if Zechariah felt forgotten. I wonder if Zechariah heard his name said by friends and ever thought, “God doesn’t remember.”

Yet, Zechariah believed and prayed. And God remembered. 

God remembers and answers. The message of Christmas tells us, God remembers and answers. 

Right now, some of you are wondering, does God remembers and answer? Does he remember and answer while I walk through a divorce? Cancer? A family that is the picture in the dictionary when you look up dysfunctional? Does he remember and answer in unemployment? Lost hopes and dreams?

Sometimes, we need to be reminded; God knows you. God remembers you. God hears you. Maybe you’re here today, and you don’t know why you’re here, but you need to be reminded, God knows you. God remembers you. God hears you. God answers. 

Not always the way we want or on our timetable. Zechariah was an old man!

So God sends an angel to Zechariah to say, “Your prayer has been answered, you will have a son.”

Christmas is not about sentimental feelings. Those are nice, but they only get us so far. They aren’t able to handle the darkness of the valley. Christmas is about the reality that God came to earth in Jesus, he entered our mess and became one of us, and because of Jesus, and because of the birth of Jesus, this leads us to the peace we long for. 

God remembers and answers. 

So because of that…

What prayer are you asking God for this Christmas? 

Maybe it is something specific that you stopped praying for but need to start. 

Or maybe it is something you have never prayed for but need to start. 

Or maybe, you need to ask God to open your eyes to see what he’s doing around, so you don’t miss him showing up.