In the announcement and fulfillment of the John the Baptist's conception and birth, God continues his pattern of bring life out of barrenness, hope out of despair, and using the most unlikely of servants to answer His call. When God calls us to carry out His purpose on earth, we often shy away or cynically deny the call, 'This cannot be, I am not worthy.' We argue with God, stubborn refusing our commission, building up a fort of denial and unworthiness...we let fear guide us.
Zechariah, a priest who descended from Aaron, is no different. Even though he is a righteous man: "walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord," Zechariah gets so caught up in how he thinks things should be that he cannot accept the path God calls him to without fighting it with human trepidation and belligerence. That isn't to say Zechariah isn't holy, it signifies his humanness and the power of hope that God works through our flawed nature to call us to the coming Messiah...
"But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years."
This is a familiar theme in biblical scripture. Eve bearing Seth after the death of Abel, Abraham and Sarah, Tamar, Hannah...it is a repetitive theme. Yes there is the physical struggle of not breeding a child, but more importantly the spiritual presence of God bringing life into barren places and offering a path when the natural course of life says that redemption is impossible. In God choosing Elizabeth and Zechariah to be parents of John the Baptist, God flips the logical, guiding us to trust and see things not as black and white, unbreakable, but a path out of the wilderness into life.
"And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
God answers prayers, he hears our pleas. Prayers aren't answered according to our demands, but in accordance with God's plans. He listens and tends our needs, even in unanswered prayers God is at work in our lives.
John the Baptist is being sent before the Messiah, because people need to be prepared. We can have a slow learning curve at times. John is the signal, heralding God's promises of a Messiah will be fulfilled and leading the lost to repent so that they can prepare a place for the Lord and heed Christ's call.
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
Instead of accepting this miraculous news with joy, Zechariah questions and doubts the news. How can he and his wife, advanced in years and long barren be able to have a child? He does not believe the good news.
The angel Gabriel, attests that he stands in the presence of God and reaffirms the 'Good News.' See why we need someone to herald the trumpets that Christ is coming, even in the midst of angelic glory we get confounded by worldly details. Gabriel informs Zechariah that because of his unbelief, the priest will be mute until his son's birth.
This sealing of Zechariah's lips isn't punishment, but a necessary part of the process. It tells Zechariah to rely on God's words and trust the message.
In this time of Advent as we prepare for Christ birth, like Zechariah we should reflect, wait in the silence anticipation of the coming birth of Christ, the Messiah. Sometimes our doubt forces crashes us into the reality of belief. Then the joy will resound triumphant empowered by God's glory.
"Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her."
Confusion, reflection, rejoicing...
"and on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him. Zechariah after his father, but the mother answered, "No; he shall be called John." And they said to her, "None of your relatives is called by this name." And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors, And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and al who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him."
It takes knowing the darkness, to recognize the light, doubt to understand the foundation of faith. Zechariah was forced into a difficult position of nine months of muted lips, so that when he could speak again it was with blessings and recognition of God's work in his life. He acknowledges the gift of his son, John, and foretells the coming of Jesus as the Christ Messiah.
Zechariah's Prophecy:
And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying,
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. and you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us form on high to give light to those who sit in the darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of "peace"
The prophecy has been fulfilled, John the Baptist is born, calling us to embrace the coming Christ...
No comments:
Post a Comment