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But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is 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 in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also 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. He will also 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 a people prepared for the Lord." And Zacharias said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years." And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time." And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.
So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, "Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."
- Luke 1:13-25
On Saturday, we read from the beginning of Luke's story of the Gospel, of the unfolding of the mission of Christ in the world. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John." My study bible points out that Zacharias' prayer wasn't to have a son, but for the atonement of the sins of Israel (Hebrews 9:7). Gabriel's announcement is a revelation both that Zacharias' prayer for atonement will be answered and that Elizabeth will conceive a son. The atonement will be announced by John, who will identify Christ as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also 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. He will also 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 a people prepared for the Lord." Elijah, according to my study bible, is expected to reappear from heaven as the forerunner of the second coming of the Lord (Malachi 4:5). John the Baptist fulfills the spirit of Elijah as he is the forerunner of the Lord's first coming -- as Jesus will teach (see Matthew 11:14).
And Zacharias said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years." And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time." And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. My study bible tells us, referring to Gabriel's word to Zacharias, You will be mute: "Zacharias is disciplined for his lack of faith, yet this also serves as proof that Gabriel's announcement is true. The silencing of the high priest also reveals a deeper mystery. The Messiah was expected to fulfill three crucial roles held by various people in the Old Testament: prophet, priest, and king. Only Jesus Christ can be said to have fulfilled all three offices perfectly. He is the true Prophet (Deut. 18:15-18), the true King (23:3; Isaiah 9:6; Micah 5:1), and the true High Priest (Psalm 109:4; Hebrews 4:14). In preparation for Christ's coming, God had silenced for the prophets for many years [we will speak further to this regarding verse 24 further on], and also permitted an illegitimate usurper to occupy the position of king of Judea [Herod the Great, who was not himself Jewish but called king of Judea]. Here, in the last days before Christ's coming, the high priest is also silenced. With these three roles vacant, illegitimate, and silent, all is ready for the Son of God to be revealed as Prophet, King, and Priest."
So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, "Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people." My study bible tells us that the conception of St. John the Baptist is celebrated liturgically in the Eastern Church on September 23, confirming the sanctity of marital relations for those past childbearing years. Since the time of Malachi, God had not sent a great prophet to Israel (see 1 Maccabees 9:27). It says, "Silencing of the prophets served to heighten the anticipation of the Messiah and to make it all the more evident when He came. As John the Baptist was the prophet preparing the way for Christ, he was kept hidden until Christ was conceived [Elizabeth hid herself]. Once Christ was conceived, John was revealed through the prophetic act of leaping in Elizabeth's womb."
We see the importance of prophecy to the Gospels, and to the whole of Scripture, the whole arc of the word of God as we know it. In today's story, Israel has been without prophets for many generations, and there is more to the story in that so many things are not as they should be. The man on the throne who calls himself the king of Judea is not a Jew. How can this be the place of the people of God without prophecy, and without a true king for the people? It is a time when people are already anxiously looking for a redeemer, and the priest Zacharias prays for atonement for the people. It is a time of expectation and need and hope. Things are already awry, and barren in a certain sense of the nation of the people of God. So we have Elizabeth, a woman whom God loves, who stands blameless in her heart as God knows her, but who has a reproach among the society because she has no child. She and her husband are by now older in years. And yet the prophecy comes, the announcement of Gabriel. They will have not just a son, but one filled with the Holy Spirit, a holy man who neither drinks wine nor strong drink. 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. He will also 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 a people prepared for the Lord.'" The quotation is from the prophecy of Malachi (4:5-6) regarding the return of Elijah. As we have noted above, Christ will call John the one who returns in the spirit of Elijah. So powerful is the word of the archangel that Zacharias' doubt is enough to render him mute in the face of this extraordinary message, Gabriel's unimaginable good news. As we noted on Saturday, an archangel bearing an announcement brings something beyond our understanding and comprehension, and represents a power that is uncontainable and unpredictable. We have only to accept as a response; any other brings its consequences to us, so great is this power with which we interact. It is a time of the "breaking in" of the kingdom of heaven, a time when God's power is asserting itself and revealing things to us "which will be fulfilled in their own time," as Gabriel says to Zacharias. God is breaking into history, shaking up a situation in which there is so much that has seemed to go wrong, and this cannot happen without a kind of violence that tears the curtain between heaven and earth (as will literally happen with the curtain of the temple at Jesus' death). John is the prophet who straddles both the Old Covenant and the New. He is the last in the line of the Old and the first in the line of the New. He is the Forerunner (Prodromos in the Greek). He is the herald who will bear the news before the arrival of the king, preparing the people for this event. His life will be one of great sacrifice for this purpose. From his conception, his gracious life will bear out this role, as we will see.
