Zechariah's big moment comes. He's been chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer the incense. Outside, everyone is praying. What a spiritual experience! To enter this place alone, to feel in community with God. Then he sees an angel. Today, in more skeptical times, some people in his shoes might ask, "just what is in that incense?" But Zechariah is a man of faith; he knows it is an angel, but that doesn't stop him from being terrified. After all, ordinary human goodness can't stand up to sheer holiness. Did he wonder about his sins? Did he think his human failings had now caught up with him? Or was he too scared to think about anything?
The angel told him not to be afraid (probably didn't make Zechariah unafraid, but the angel tried). What Zechariah hears is not bad news, not a judgement on his faults or failings. Instead, the longing prayer of his heart would be answered. He and Elizabeth would have a son and he ws to name that son, John. John was to live a holy life and would fulfill a holy purpose to turn many people back to God.
But Zechariah must have doubted. He was in good company. When Abraham and Sarah heard they were to have a child at an advanced aged, Sarah laughed until the tent shook and Abraham fell on his face with laughter--or joy, or a little of both. And God told them to name their son Isaac, which means mirth. Gabriel may have been a little less patient, or perhaps there were other reasons, but because Zechariah had doubted, he was told that he would be mute until the day the promise was fulfilled.
Have you ever heard good news when you may have expected bad?
How did you respond?
Do you think silence might have been helpful to Zechariah as he considered all the things the angel had told him?
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