Once again, I am embarrassed to say that, for the second week in a row I have been too lazy to write a blog. Fortunately, Zechariah, the Father of John the Baptist, who spoke at our Arlington campus last week, came to Cordova this past Sunday and I asked him to be a guest speaker. Here is approximately what he said:

Good morning! Let me introduce myself. My name is “Zachariah.” Last week, I was in Arlington, and your pastors asked me to come again to Cordova and talk about my wife Elizabeth. As you learned last week, I lived during the reign of Herod the Great, King of Judea (Luke 1:5). I was a priest and a descendent of Aaron (v. 5) As a priest, my job was to offer sacrifices and perform Jewish religious ceremonies. We priests maintained the Temple as the center of the Jewish religion.

My wife, Elizabeth, and I lived a few miles out of Jerusalem in a small place, where I had a plot of land and also worked growing food for our family. Elizabeth and I were both raised as devout Jews. We tried as best we could to obey the laws of Moses (v. 6), which is why we are referred to as “righteous” in your Bible. We were not perfect, but we tried to obey the instructions of Moses.

Unfortunately, we were childless (v. 7). As was common in our society, our friends and neighbors considered us to be cursed by God. Perhaps it was because our neighbors sometimes spoke of our parents or us as having committed some sin deserving punishment that we were so anxious to fulfill the law. Your pastors have told me of well meaning Christians who feel that serious disease is connected to sin and judgments. Unfortunately, as I have learned, the world is not that simple.

I cannot tell you how much I loved and respected my wife. She was always a source of help to me. Both of us had grown up in priestly families, and therefore, she understood my job and its demands (v. 5). She bore the gossip of our neighbors with fortitude and hid the sorrow in her heart from everyone but me. She was always diligent in prayer for our nation and looked forward to the day when God would send his Messiah to save us.

Elizabeth Meets Mary—and John Leaps in the Womb.

Most of you know a little bit of her story, and it is the most well known part of the story that I want to read to you this morning. Hear the Word of God as it comes from the Gospel according to Luke:

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “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 1:39-45).

 

Let us pray: God of Miracles, who can bring life from death and barrenness, come with your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life, that we may grow into your image. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

 

What Happened.

As was mentioned last week, on one occasion when I was on duty in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to me and told me that my wife and I would have a child whose name would be John. You would think that, as a priest, I would have received the message with faith. Instead, I doubted. I was old and beyond the age when I expected to have children, and Elizabeth was barren and also beyond the age where she could have children. There seemed to be no hope.

The angel did not appreciate my lack of trust in God; therefore, he told me that I would not be able to speak until the child was born. I went home speechless and unable to communicate. Fairly soon thereafter, Elizabeth told me that we were going to have a baby! At that point I knew that the message of the angel was true.

It was at this time that I realized the importance of faith and trust in God. I also realized that mere religiosity is not enough in the life of faith. Going to church, going to the temple, attending Bible studies, going to youth group, and the like, are no substitute for the adventure of the life of faith. During all this time, my respect for Elizabeth grew and grew. Unlike me, she never doubted the message of the Angel. She also never tried to impress our neighbors by holding over them miraculous circumstances of her conception.

For five months, she stayed indoors. During those months and months thereafter, I had a lot of time to watch Elizabeth and think about my life. To tell you to the truth, I had come to feel sorry for myself. I came from a prominent family, had an enviable job, and was a property owner. I loved Elizabeth and chose her. Nevertheless, as the years went by and I realized I might never have a son and heir, I was sometimes filled with regret. I’m not sure that God appreciated my feelings.

Who Elizabeth was Like: Sarah and Hannah

 One reason I feel ashamed of my lack of faith when the angel Gabriel announced the birth of our son is that I should have known better. As I mentioned earlier, I was a religious professional. I knew the story of Abraham and his wife Sarah, who though they were old and beyond the age of having children believed the promises of God and received Isaac after 25 years of waiting (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-1-6; 18:1-16; 21:1-7). I also knew the story of Elkanah and Hannah, who were barren and could not have children, and yet received the child Samuel, who became a great prophet and judge over Israel, in answer to their prayers (I Samuel 1:1-2:11).

I think that like many people, I assumed that answered prayers happen to someone else, not to me. I never thought of myself as a hero of the faith like Abraham. I thought of myself as an average Temple functionary who went to work in the morning and came home at night living out his days in relative obscurity. I wasn’t ready when God called me to experience the adventure of faith. Elizabeth, on the other hand, believed the promise and quietly went about her business until God fulfilled the prophecy that we would have a child. She was the real hero faith in our family.

The Great Meeting.

Without any question, the greatest event in my wife’s life, and the birth of our son John, was a meeting she had with Mary, her relative, when both were pregnant. After Elizabeth’s seclusion, when she was able to have guests, she received a note from Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph the carpenter in Nazareth, asking if she could come for a visit. Her note contained a most amazing story. Mary believed that she was with child by the Holy Spirit! Elizabeth promptly responded, inviting Mary to come to our house for a visit. Immediately, Mary made plans to visit us (v. 38).

When Mary arrived, she called out to Elizabeth as she was entering our home (v. 40).  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, she felt John the Baptist leap in her womb (v. 41). Suddenly, she was filled with the Holy Spirit! (v. 41). In a loud voice, which was unlike Elizabeth, she cried out, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child that you will bear!” (v. 42). Elizabeth could hardly believe that Mary was the mother of the Messiah and that the mother the Messiah had come to visit her! (v. 43). Elizabeth went on to tell Mary that God would bless her because she had believed the voice of the angel and agreed to be the mother of the Messiah (v. 45). You see, faith is an essential part of receiving God’s blessings.

Mary was so encouraged by these words that she began to speak a song that you Christians call, “The Magnificat.” Here is some of what Mary said that day:

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his Name. (Luke 1:46-49).

In this great song of praise, Mary worships and thanks God for blessing her.

Mary stayed with us about three more months, after which she returned to Nazareth. At this point, all that was left of our story was the birth of our son, John, which you heard about last week. The most amazing part of that story is the fact that I, who am not a prophet nor a poet, was able to sing what is been called the “Song of Zechariah” praising God for the birth of John, who would fulfill the role of Elijah in the coming of the Messiah, and for the deliverance of my people that would come to the hands of the Son of David, who I now believed would be the child of my wife’s relatives, Mary!

Lessons we Can Learn.

I have been in heaven for many years now, but I lived long enough to know that many other strange things happened surrounding the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. By watching my wife, and thinking about all that I have learned during these years, I’ve come to some conclusions about what it means to be a disciple of God:

• First of all, I have learned that it is important to be open to God. If we do not open our hearts to the voice of God we will never hear the voice of Angels or, more commonly, the quiet voice of God speaking in our hearts.
• When we hear the voice of God speaking in our hearts, whether in words or in silence, it is important to obey. God honors us when we respond to his voice, sometimes even if we don’t really understand what he’s saying.
• When I watched my wife so filled with the Holy Spirit upon her meeting with Mary, I realized I had not placed much emphasis on asking the Spirit of God to come in to my life and transform me. Elizabeth was able to recognize the Messiah because she was filled with the Holy Spirit. I wasn’t able to recognize the voice of God in the message of Gabriel because I was only religious.
•  Finally, the reason you have this story is because Mary, Elizabeth or I (I can’t remember which on of us now) told and retold the story. Eventually, a man named Luke interviewed one of us, or someone to whom we told the story, and wrote it down in your Bible. That is why my story is in your scripture today. It is important to pass along the stories of our faith.

Conclusion.

 I understand your church desires to share gospel from generation to generation. I am sure you can achieve this because throughout the more than 2000 years since my story occurred, people have told what happened to Zachariah and Elizabeth to their children. Of course, we are only a small part of the Big Story God has been telling ever since he called Abraham and Sarah to leave their home and go to a land he would show them. It is a story of how God blesses those who trust and obey him. None of us is completely obedient. The only one who was completely obedient was Jesus who went to the cross so that we might be restored to fellowship with God. My story is over; but your story is still being written. I hope you will tell it to others. They need to hear it. Amen

Copyright, 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserv ed