When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old. One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying. While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.” Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.” Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.” Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long. When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary. When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home. Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”
Luke 1:5-25
Dear God, I was going to do Zechariah all at once, but there’s too much good stuff here. I’ll do this visitation and pregnancy first. I’ll come back and do Elizabeth in a couple of days. Right now, I want to focus on Zechariah and this angel visit. I had two main thoughts when I read this part of the story:
- He and Elizabeth had seemingly done everything right their entire lives, but I’m sure they felt like you were not honoring who they were and what they did (as is evidenced by Elizabeth saying, “[The Lord] has taken away my disgrace of having no children.” Just living faithfully day to day. What a witness!
- Even when our faith isn’t enough, it won’t get in the way of your plan. You’ve got it covered. When he questions Gabriel, Gabriel didn’t take it back and say, “Never mind.” No, Zechariah didn’t have to have enough faith in that moment. He just had to be the kind of man that you needed to raise John the Baptist (JTB).
As I type all of this, I’m now starting to wonder what those 10 or 11 months until John was born were like for Zechariah. Did he try to write down everything Gabriel said so he wouldn’t forget? Did he think about what kind of person JTB would be? Was he intimidated by the thought of raising a prophet that would have the spirit and power of Elijah? Maybe you needed him to have those months alone with his thoughts. Maybe he spent most of that time in prayer, preparing for his new role as father to the prophet.
Father, you can do all of what you want to do with me or without me. I can be all yours or I can lose all my faith, and you will have it covered. I can do the right thing for the rest of my life and never see the fruit of it and that can be okay. There is a great peace in all of this. I am making a lot of decisions right now for the clinic where I work. I’m doing my best to listen to you. To hear your still small voice. Now, help me to talk less and listen to you more. Help me to put my head into a space that is still and can hear your voice. Do it all so that your glory might shine and that you might use my life to make this crisis count.
In Jesus’s name I pray,
Amen
Emails to God 