Zechariah and Elizabeth . . . Miraculous Parents

Week Four
November 29
Zechariah and Elizabeth
Miraculous Parents

Luke 1:5-25

Blessed be the name of the LORD!
Blessed be His Holy Name!
He has accomplished His
Mighty Salvation
through the humblest
and the least
among His beloved
chosen people.

I was a but a barren older woman,
the wife of a humble priest.
But I was oh, so happy, even so,
for Zechariah was
truly a man called by God.
He deeply loved God’s Holy Word
and he deeply loved God’s
chosen people.
And he loved me.

Our marriage brought us both
much joy as God blessed us
with much happiness
together, even without children;
though our family and our friends
pitied us, they were almost
always kind—Zechariah and I
found sweet comfort together.

You might say we had a fun,
give-and-take, back-and-forth,
non-stop, enjoyable, yet honest
conversation between us—
we both loved to talk, you see,
he as much as I, and myself
as much as he—but it was
all good fun—heart-to-heart.

Zechariah was never one to
hide God’s revelations from me.
In fact, he would often rush
into the house while I was
weaving, and excitedly explain
what Holy Scripture had to say
about God and His unending
Love for His chosen people.

When he went away to serve
in the Temple, I missed him,
but I eagerly looked foward
to the vivid reports he would
bring when he returned home
to me—his eyes would shine
and His words would flow
as He praised the Temple.

Well, you can imagine how shocked
I was when he came rushing
through the door one day,
his face gloriously alive with
holy excitement, but his mouth
mysteriously tongue-tied,
somehow unable to share with
me what had happened.

His good friend, Isaiah, another faithful
priest, had come along with him;
so Isaiah tried to tell me the
incredible story of the angel
who had appeared to my own
Zechariah in the Holy of Holies
with an astounding message—
Zechariah had written it down . . .

He had laboriously labored over
the shocking news he had to tell,
because God’s people needed
to know how God was moving,
and as you shall see; I, myself,
definitely need to know, for
my life was about to change
forever, and all for God’s glory.

Here is the story, even as my
dear Zechariah wrote it out:
“And there appeared to him
an angel  of the Lord standing
on the right side
of the altar of incense.
And Zechariah was troubled
when he saw him,
and fear fell upon him.
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.
And you will have joy and gladness,
and many will rejoice at his birth,
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.
And he will turn many
of the children of Israel
to the Lord their God,
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.’”
(Luke 1:11-17)

Oh my, needless to say I was shocked.
An angel appearing to my Zechariah?
The angel assuring him that I,
Elizabeth, his elderly barren
wife would bear a child?
Well, I must say, if anyone
other than angel of the LORD
had said such a preposterous thing, . . .

 . . . , well like Abraham and Sarah,
I would have laughed—
but what could I do?
The way Zechariah looked
at me—I honestly did not know
how to feel—just what does
a woman do, when God chooses
at this late date, to bless your womb?

Oh, there was deep joy in my heart,
in our hearts together, my husband
and I,  after a lifetime of barrenness;
but there were also two fears—
a natural fear; how could my
worn-out body handle pregnancy?
and a spritual fear; how could
the two of us raise such a child?

Finally, it dawned on me,
why couldn’t Zechariah
talk and tell me about
this mighty miracle, himself?
As Isaiah explained, my poor
Zechariah shook his head
in sorrow and embarrassment—
here it what he had written:

And Zechariah said to the angel,
“How shall I know this?
For I am an old man,
and my wife is advanced in years.”
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.
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.”
(Luke 1:18-20)

May God forgive me, with these words
I lost control; “My dear Zechariah,
The Angel Gabriel appeared to you
and you didn’t believe him?
How could that be?”
But as soon as I said it
and saw the guilt in my dear
husband’s eyes, my heart
softened, and I embraced him.

And our mighty God declared it.
And so it happened.
And so, on most days,
Zechariah and I rejoiced.
There were days, to be honest,
when the baby in my womb
seemed like a punishment
more than a blessing.

But that was the exception;
God’s Grace proved, as always,
more than sufficient,
and in the midst of my
heaviness, God brought
dear, sweet, Mary, my very
young cousin, also with child,
though she was a virgin—
Her visit changed everything.

As soon as she arrived,
little John in my womb seemed
to dance with joy! Listen
to what I said:
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the child you will bear!
But why am I so favored,
that the mother of my Lord
should come to me?
As soon as the sound of your greeting
reached my ears,
the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed is she who has believed
that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
(Luke 1:42-45)

Believe me, Mary and I
truly rejoiced together
as we shared
the good news
of God’s miraculous
working in our wombs
to bring about the birth
of our John and
Mary’s Jesus.

Eventually Mary returned
to Bethlehem, to her Joseph
while the time drew near
for me and Zechariah—
and praise be to God,
our great big baby boy
was born, and God continued
to surprise His people.

When all of our dear,
our lifelong and faithful friends
gathered for the naming,
they expected a cherished
name from the heritage
of Zechariah’s family,
but God had His own plan,
and His plans are good.

Zechariah remained silent,
even as the Angel Gabriel
had declared; so when
asked for the name
I replied for my dear husband,
”John!” Some gasped,
some objected, some asked,
”Where did that come from?”

But Zechariah motioned
for a slate and proudly
wrote the name, John,
even as I had said;
and at that moment
even as the Angel had said,
he spoke, and how
beautifully he spoke:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn 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,
(Luke 1:68-79)

What a story!
What a God!
How He blesses!
How He rules!

Those He calls
He strengthens
and inspires
His Work to do!

My Zechariah
and I, Elizabeth
His blessed servants
delivered John . . .

who grew strong
and in the Spirit,
prepared the Way
for our Lord.