Luke 1: 67-79
“I like the Christmas Jesus best.” That’s what the actor Will Ferrell says in the movie comedy Talladega Nights, when he is playing a stock car driver named Ricky Bobby. “Dear tiny Jesus,” he says as he begins his prayer at a family meal. “Golden fleece diapers, with your tiny, fat, balled-up fist ….” At this point his wife interjects, “Jesus did grow up. You don’t always have to call him baby.” “I like the Christmas Jesus best when I’m saying grace,” Ricky Bobby insists. And so he continues his prayer, “Dear 8 lb., 6 oz., newborn infant Jesus. Don’t even know a word yet. Just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent …. Thank you for all your power and your grace, dear baby God. Amen.”1
Now we might laugh at that portrayal, but the truth is that all of us have images of Christmas, and of Jesus, too. Ours may include watching children sing “Away in a manger, no crib for his bed…,” or perhaps lights or “illumination,” and the chance to sing “Silent night, holy night...” Among the images we have are Mary and Joseph, the village of Bethlehem, the manger and surrounding stable, the Shepherds in the field, the three magi.
Yet, there is one image for the Advent and Christmas season that you may not have had before. This image is far older and was put into words long before “Silent Night” was sung for the first time in a village church in Austria. That image of course is --- unicorn Jesus.2
Obviously I am being dramatic to make a point. Yet, this symbolic image of the baby Jesus portrayed as a unicorn was important enough to be placed in stained glass windows and on tapestries in Medieval Europe. To be honest, it was never really a very popular image of Jesus in the church even then, partly because it is based on a mythical animal, the unicorn. Yet that image did exist and its roots are found and related to our gospel.
Today’s gospel is the song of Zechariah, which he sang upon regaining the power of speech after the birth of his son, John, whom we later called the Baptist. If you may remember, elderly Zechariah had gone mute because he did not believe the angel who had come to tell him that his wife, Elizabeth was to become pregnant. Now, nine months later, after the birth of John, Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke.
But there is something more about the song of Zechariah called the Benedictus, Latin for, “Blessed be” that I would like to focus on. Specifically I want you to examine with me verses 69-70 “He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago).” This is the coming of the messiah, who we know to be Jesus, which Zechariah is singing about in his spirit filled song, not John the Baptist. John was not of the house of David. So, Jesus is that “horn of salvation.”
However, that term “horn of salvation” is pretty much lost on us. For example, in the NIV Bible, you may have a footnote at the end of the word "horn" that says: "Horn here symbolizes strength." In the NRSV Bible the verse would read, “He has raised up a mighty savior for us…” with a footnote that the Greek would say, “a horn of salvation.”
What is going on? The horn, a basic item in that agricultural world, is described and used in the Old Testament in a variety of different ways with many rich meanings. A horn could be a ram's horn, blown to sound the "all-clear" to go up the mountain of God or to topple Jericho's walls.3 A horn is the term used to describe the four upright corners of the altar in the Temple in Jerusalem, where atoning sacrificial blood from animals was painted or where a person could grasp from which to beg mercy and seek sanctuary.4 The list goes on for a horn could be a container to hold king-anointing oil, as a musical instrument of worship to God and as a symbol of royalty and power.5
Then of course there is the reference to which our Bible translators allude, the horn could be a sign of strength as a deadly weapon against the Lord's enemies. That image as a sign of strength and as a deadly weapon, comes from David’s song after he had defeated Saul to become king, “He said, ‘The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.’”6 In that context “horn of salvation” meant a weapon that could be used on the battlefield, not necessarily in a warrior’s hand, but like a bull that comes charging in a bull fight. Beside this reference and Psalm 18:2, are the only places where the whole phrase "horn of salvation" is used.
The varied meanings of “horn” and “horn of salvation” in the bible is the basis for the mythical image of a unicorn used to portray the song of Zechariah in windows and tapestries in medieval Europe. Let me quote from a 12th century bestiary, which is kind of like an Encyclopedia about the natural world:
“Our Lord Jesus Christ is also a Unicorn spiritually, about whom it is said: ‘He hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his son David.’ The fact that it has just one horn on its head means what he himself said: ‘I and the Father are One.’”7
As we know, Jesus, is our horn of salvation, but is no longer portrayed as a unicorn during the Advent and Christmas seasons. As far as I know there are no specifically Christian unicorn ornaments on Christmas trees. And I am not saying that we need to return to that medieval picture. Rather, these two verses simply point to the fact that we can be very much like Ricky Bobby, the stock car race driver, caught up in a limited, small, and Christmas child.
Furthermore, instead of seeing what will come in Bethlehem, we need to keep in mind how in one way or another, the promise of the savior completes, fulfills, embodies God’s salvation of the world; meaning that if we are not paying attention to these great works of God that are intended in that birth in Bethlehem, we are missing out on part of the path that was prepared for the messiah in our lives and the world. It is like receiving a map to visit a friend, and because we cannot understand all of the language of the map we assume the road to visit our friend is a small dirt path in the country, unaware that that narrow dirt road is actually a grand highway.
The reason we know that is true because that is also in the song for Zechariah, “as he said through his holy prophets of long ago.”8 That simply means that “horn” and “horn of salvation” for example, phrases used frequently throughout the Bible by the prophets, are not mere puns or double-entendres but gold-mines of deep wisdom and so very much more.
The reason Zechariah become mute at the words of the angel was not simply because he challenged the message, rather Zechariah had forgotten what God can and will do. We suffer a form of amnesia as well. We forgot or ignore the varied and rich expectations of this time of waiting, and thus not fully understand why we are celebrating when Christmas finally does come.
Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and amazing things came out of his mouth. Here Zechariah remembers Israel's past and the God who made it possible. He connects what is happening with what has already happened and therefore states with what will happen -- in order to maintain the ancient covenant, you are my people and I am who I am, and this newborn son, John, will go before the Lord to prepare his way thus fulfilling God's ancient promise.
Zechariah remembered that God promised redemption -- rescue from all the enemies, all the fears, all the dark and deadly realities of life, using the “horn of salvation.” Zechariah remembered that God promised a fresh beginning, a new dawn. Zechariah remembered that God promised to show his people the path to perfect peace, and so much more.
Where are our minds, hearts and prayers this advent as we await the birth of the anointed one, Jesus? What have we forgotten? What do we not understand? How are our hearts closed to this grand highway coming in Jesus Christ? Amen.
1 Illustration from www.homiletics.com
2 http://castlelyons7.blogspot.com/2008/09/christ-unicorn.html www.wickedwinks.com/uni/ul.html and www.weird-encyclopedia.com/unicorns.php
3 Exodus 19:3; Joshua 6:4;
4 Exodus 29:12; 30:10, et al;
5 1 Samuel 16:13, 1 Kings 1:50; 2:28, Daniel 7:24
6 2 Samuel 22: 2-3
7 From a 12th-century Latin bestiary, tr. T. H. White www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/NOA/pdf/27636_17th_U46_Unicorn-1-5.pdf
8 vs. 70
Comments