A Devotional on Luke 1:5-25
Jennifer Skinner

Scripture:
“In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,[a] of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 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.”

18 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.”

Devotional
Luke’s account of the miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth and Zechariah is an overwhelmingly beautiful story. We are astounded by the power of God to bring a blessing to this elderly couple. We are moved by their patience and deep commitment to the Lord despite their years of suffering. And we are excited by the revelation that their child will be John the Baptist - the one who will go before Jesus to prepare the people for His coming. 

These are all lovely aspects of the story. But buried in the beauty are a few verses that always make me scratch my head. When Zechariah hears this wonderous news, it seems to me that he asks a logical question. He and his wife are very old, and he assumes that the ship has sailed on their desire to have a family. Because he expresses this reasonable doubt, the Angel Gabriel renders Zechariah mute. Every time I read the story, I admit that I think, “All due respect to the Almighty God, Gabriel, but isn’t this overdoing it a bit?” 

Since the text tells us that Zechariah’s inability to speak is a result of not believing Gabriel’s words, we see this as a punishment for his lack of faith. As parents, we sometimes must punish our children. But we don’t punish them simply to make them uncomfortable or to watch them suffer. Ultimately, we want them to learn something from the punishment. The same is true of God. God doesn’t revel in our suffering. His desire is that we grow and mature into the people He wants us to be, just as our desire is the same for our kids. So I wondered, “What is God trying to teach Zechariah by rendering him unable to speak?”

The obvious answer is that he shouldn’t doubt God. But I’m not sure that’s the most important answer. When I put myself in Zechariah’s shoes, I know I would ask the same question. In fact, I would ask A LOT of questions. Then, I’d likely run to everyone and their brother to talk about this crazy thing I heard from God. Whenever I am confused by a Scripture passage or by something the Lord is asking me to do, my instinct is to talk it to death. I might call my sister or a friend. I might discuss it with my Bible Study group or with a pastor. But because I’m not great at stillness and silence, I will yap about it to just about anyone I can find. 

Thankfully, God has put very faithful, wise people into my life. He has done so on purpose so that they can help me understand His Word and my calling. But what if I couldn’t speak out loud? What if I couldn’t ramble incessantly about my thoughts, feelings and questions with other people? Who could I talk to? Where would I turn?

The only One who could hear my voice without my speaking out loud would be God. Without the ability to pursue another opinion or interpretation of His message to me, I’d be forced to shut up and listen to Him alone.

I wonder if that was God’s intention with Zechariah. Maybe He didn’t mind the doubt all that much. Maybe He simply wanted to be sure that Zechariah understood that there was only one place to turn to grasp the depth of the blessing that was coming. Maybe as Zechariah wrestled with his inability to speak, he learned that to seek God above all others first would always be the best way to remove doubt. Maybe that silent “time-out” was exactly what Zechariah needed to prepare himself to parent this very, very important child.

Prayer:
Father, thank you for allowing us to see ourselves in these ancient Bible characters. Thank you for pointing out their flaws, so that we can become more aware of our own. And mostly, thank you that these stories teach us that when we seek and draw near to You first, our understanding and our faith will be strengthened. In Jesus’s Holy name, we pray. Amen.