Zechariah, Elizabeth and the birth of son John.
Sunday 29th November
Text: Luke ch. 1: 5-25
Zechariah was a descendent of Aaron the brother of Moses, and a member of the priestly tribe of Levi. His duties as a priest included mediating with God on behalf of the people. On this particular evening he was chosen to offer the evening incense sacrifice before the Holy of Holies. It was there that he became aware of an Angel named Gabriel.
Zechariah was confused and afraid when he saw the angel. Gabriel spoke to him and asked him not to be afraid. God had heard his prayers . Elizabeth, his wife, would bear him a son whom he is to name John. Zechariah continued to be afraid. He reminded Gabriel that both he and his wife were old so how could this happen. Gabriel replied that as God’s servant it was his duty to convey the good news to both of them. That the consequence of Zechariah’s disbelief was that he would not be able to speak but would have to use his hands to communicate till the baby was born.
Elizabeth too was a descendent of Aaron. She was referred to as being barren throughout her marriage to Zechariah. Barrenness in women was regarded as punishment from God for a past sin. Elizabeth, like her husband, was also old in years when Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the Temple. Zechariah got home and indicated to Elizabeth that she would become pregnant soon. Elizabeth conceived a child and went into seclusion for five months. Her husband continued to be silent.
When their baby was born Zechariah regained his speech and named the child John as instructed by Gabriel.. God had chosen John to prepare the way for the Messiah for whom the people of Israel had waited and prayed. John was later referred to as John the Baptiser.
Ponder: What would the time of waiting have been like for this ageing couple waiting for their first child?
Monday 30th November
Ponder – Hope: Zechariah and Elizabeth hoped and prayed for a child throughout their marriage. How long could ‘hope’ last in such circumstances?
Tuesday 1st December
Ponder – Loss: With no sign of a pregnancy perhaps the couple may have experienced a loss of hope as the years went by and they wondered why their prayers were not being answered.
Have you experienced a sense of loss when or if your prayers remained unanswered?
Wednesday 2nd December
Ponder – Expectation: It would have been an ordinary day for Zechariah as he went about his tasks in the Temple. He would have had no expectations of receiving a message from God or being visited by an Angel.
Have you experienced God’s presence in the middle of an ordinary day?
Thursday 3rd December
Ponder – Faithfulness: Both Elizabeth and Zechariah had stayed faithful to God over the years. The silence of God who hadn’t answered their prayers didn’t dim their faith in God.
Are there times when you are hoping against hope as you pray and there is only silence from God?
Friday 4th December
Ponder – Anticipation: Anticipation and preparation would have filled their days as the time for the birth of their baby approached. The period of waiting ended and the baby was born and named John. God had kept God’s word.
How do you celebrate God’s faithfulness and the answer to prayers?
Saturday 5th December
Hope – A Contemporary Story
Ajit sat at his regular table, ordered a flat white coffee and looked over the city. In the distance he could see the Cross on the roof of his church. His thoughts wandered to the church meeting he had just left.
He wondered if they had made the right financial decisions as they dealt with the loss of income caused by COVID restrictions. But, he thought, what options did they have? As an Accountant and a member of the Management Team he knew that he was valuable to his church. That this was where God wanted him to be. The church was his life. As always he recalled his Father’s words when his wife and he were migrating to Australia. “Remember your heritage, Son. You are a descendent of a family of Ordained Priests. Find a church!”
Ajit and Sonia had done just that when they arrived in Sydney nearly 15 years ago. It wasn’t long before Ajit was nominated as a member of the Management Team in the church where they were members. Sonia had volunteered to teach in the Sunday School as she loved children. She had used her creative skills as she told stories from the Bible. She had been the organiser of the Nativity Play each year. She would spend hours finding the right costumes for Joseph and Mary and a crib for baby Jesus. Ajit remembered the Shepherds and the Magi and their improvised costumes.
He sipped his coffee and thought again of Sonia. The last he had heard was that she was living in Perth with her Aunt. He shut his eyes as he felt the pain of separation course through him as it had done when he decided to end his marriage. Sonia couldn’t bear him a child. Their hopes over the years dwindled and finally died. The money spent on IVFs had been a waste. The counselling sessions took them nowhere. The long phone conversations with his parents in his country of birth haunted his dreams. When the Minister from his old church spoke with him on Zoom and quoted from the Bible it was nearly the last straw. He couldn’t bear to see the changes that were visible in Sonia. The fear and confusion that had started changing the woman he had married. He had kept asking God whether it was a past sin that had prevented them from having a child. The decision was made when his father phoned to say that if his wife didn’t have a son, the Family name would die with him. Ajit had signed the divorce papers. He believed that he was doing what was right for his family and for Sonia. She was now too old to have a child.
He paid for his coffee and walked out into the night..
Ponder:
When cultures clash or family history or traditions take precedence in a relationship how would ‘hope’ be affected? Could you give this story a different ending?