Here’s the disabled man they’ve been gossiping about for years. Here’s his wife, far too old to be carrying that baby. Elizabeth is trying to tell people that the baby’s name is John, but of course, no one is listening to her. No one ever listens to mothers of newborn children. I imagine there was some annoying woman in attendance claiming that the baby wasn’t dressed properly, as well. There always is. And what do the people do? They “made signs” to Zechariah, asking him what the baby should be called. Zechariah wasn’t deaf, he was only mute, but here are a group of men gesturing like mimes at him instead of listening to his wife. I wonder whether they were deliberately patronizing Zechariah or just stupid.
Zechariah takes this with far more tact than I would. He asks for a writing tablet, and he writes “His name is John.” Everyone is amazed. Elizabeth was right all along. Fancy that.
By being born, John lifted his mother’s curse. By being named, he lifted his father’s. His father opens his mouth and speaks a prophecy:
Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Israel;
He has come to His people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour,
Born of the house of His servant David.
Through His holy prophets He promised of old
That He would save us from our enemies,
From the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
And to remember His holy Covenant.
This was the oath He swore to our father Abraham:
To set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship Him without fear,
Holy and righteous in His sight
All the days of our life.
You, My child, shall be called
The prophet of the Most High,
For you will go before the Lord to prepare His way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our Lord
The dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
And the shadow of death,
And to guide our feet into the way of peace.
And what happens to the baby, John, who took away his parents’ disgrace? Does he grow up to be a priest like his daddy? Does he have a dozen children and name one after Zechariah? No, that would have been too easy. John goes out into the desert and eats bugs. He cries out, “repent,” and preaches a baptism of repentance.
He points. “Behold the Lamb of God!”
He protests. “I am not worthy to undo his sandal strap. I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
He asks, “Are you He who is to come, or should we wait for another?”
And then he dies at the hands of an oppressive government, because of a rich woman’s vendetta against him.
No man born of woman is greater than John. No man born of woman honored his father’s memory, more than John honored Zechariah and Elizabeth. Their names will be remembered for all generations. We don’t remember the names of the other priests, the ones who weren’t struck mute, the ones who had many sons. We remember the one who was accursed in the sight of the world, but who remained faithful. We don’t repeat the prophecies of those other priests, if they had any; we repeat the prophecy of Zechariah every morning during Lauds.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel. He has come to His people and set them free.
(Image via Wikimedia Commons)
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