Throughout the season of Pentecost (from now until Advent 1 on November 30), we’ll be looking at various women and men from scripture who exemplify how God works in all ages, and how we can learn from them to share our legacy of faith. The Spirit of the Living God does not just work in clergy or in the young or in a single gender. The Spirit of God can and does act in us all. Sometimes, though, we are not ready to hear the call and promise of God’s action.
We’ll start the series with Elizabeth and Zechariah. We meet them in the Gospel of Luke 1: 1:5-25 and 39-80. It’s a familiar story that we hear during Advent every year. Take time to read it in your favorite translation and in a version that isn’t as familiar, like the one at the end of this meditation from The Message.
Was there anything different that surprised you between the
translations? Was there something that made you pause and think about the story
in a new way?
For me, it has always been Zechariah’s argument with
Gabriel. Zechariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m
an old man and my wife is an old woman.” He, seemingly, cannot get past the
physical reality of being old.
It is easy to slip into that mindset, I think. Society too
often gives the impression that anyone over 60 or 70 is incapable of doing
anything useful. They should be content to go on cruises and take their
medications until they get sick and die.
That is not how God acts. Through Gabriel, God tells
Zechariah, Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time. There
is a price to pay for arguing with God’s messenger—Zechariah is struck dumb
until the child is born.
Elizabeth responds differently to the news, and to becoming
pregnant. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy.
“So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!” she said. I
particularly like The Message version. It is more positive than the
traditional wording that she hid herself for five months. Instead, she
is relishing her pregnancy. She is rejoicing in being a vessel
for God’s action.
Because she is celebrating and in tune with the Spirit’s
action in her life, she recognizes Mary as blessed among women, and the babe
in your womb, also blessed! And why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord
visits me? The two women offer support to each other in song and action for
the next three months. Elizabeth encourages Mary and Mary brings her joy to the
household. It must have been a joyous three months. Then Mary returns home and
Elizabeth gives birth.
Everyone assumes the child will be named for his father.
After all, the old man has waited a long time to have a namesake. But it is not
to be, on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling
him Zechariah after his father. But his mother intervened: “No. He is to be
called John.”…They used sign language to ask Zechariah what he wanted him named…Zechariah
wrote, “His name is to be John.” That took everyone by surprise. Surprise
followed surprise—Zechariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was
talking, praising God!
Elizabeth speaks up, and Zechariah supports her naming of
the child as John just as Gabriel had told him. Then Zechariah can praise God.
How would you feel if you were Elizabeth or Zechariah? Try
to put yourself into the story. Or perhaps you are one of the neighbors…
5-7 During
the rule of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest assigned service in the
regiment of Abijah. His name was Zechariah. His wife was descended from the
daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. Together they lived honorably
before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a
clear conscience before God. But they were childless because Elizabeth could
never conceive, and now they were quite old.
8-12 It so happened that as
Zechariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift
assigned to his regiment, it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary
of God and burn incense. The congregation was gathered and praying outside the
Temple at the hour of the incense offering. Unannounced, an angel of God
appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zechariah was paralyzed in
fear.
13-15 But the angel
reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth,
your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to
leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth.
He’ll achieve great stature with God.
15-17 “He’ll drink neither
wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves
his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their
God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften
the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among
hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”
18 Zechariah said to the
angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old
woman.”
19-20 But the angel said,
“I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad
news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until
the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on
time—God’s time.”
21-22 Meanwhile, the
congregation waiting for Zechariah was getting restless, wondering what was
keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he came out and couldn’t speak, they
knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language
with the people.
23-25 When the course of
his priestly assignment was completed, he went back home. It wasn’t long before
his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months,
relishing her pregnancy. “So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate
condition!” she said…
39-45 Mary didn’t waste a
minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country,
straight to Zechariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth…56 Mary
stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.
57-58 When Elizabeth was
full-term in her pregnancy, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and
relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her.
59-60 On the eighth day,
they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zechariah after his
father. But his mother intervened: “No. He is to be called John.”
61-62 “But,” they said, “no
one in your family is named that.” They used sign language to ask Zechariah
what he wanted him named.
63-64 Asking for a tablet, Zechariah
wrote, “His name is to be John.” That took everyone by surprise. Surprise
followed surprise—Zechariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was
talking, praising God!
65-66 A deep, reverential
fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people
talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart,
wondering, “What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this.”
67-79 Then Zechariah was
filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he came and set his people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,
and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago
through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies
and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
as he remembers to do what he said he’d do,
What he swore to our father Abraham—
a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world,
made holy before him as long as we live.
And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,”
will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people,
the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.
80 The child grew up,
healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his
prophetic debut in Israel. (Luke 1:5-25, 39-80, The Message)
