Luke 1:5-25

The Birth Of John The Baptist Foretold

Annuniciation of the Angel to Zechariah, Domencio Ghirlandaio

"In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a
priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his
wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the
sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.
But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well
along in years.

Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he
was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom
of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when
the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were
praying outside.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing
at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was
startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be
afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you
a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to
you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the
sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he
will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of
Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the
Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to
their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready
a people prepared for the Lord."

Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of
this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."

The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the
presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this is
good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this
happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their
proper time."

Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah
and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could
not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept
making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

When his time of service was completed, he returned
home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained
in seclusion. "The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has
shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."-Luke
1:5-25

Those of you who are familiar with the gospel (I'm not claiming I'm an expert on this) and the books telling the gospel will know the differences in the way each writer starts off. I think Matthew was more of a historical approach, showing the genealogy to Jesus. Mark was more about the foretelling of the coming of Jesus Christ, talking about the preparations leading up to His coming. John was something along those lines, but strongly declaring that Jesus was the Word. Luke starts off by telling the story of John the Baptist.

I tried looking around different sermons to see if there was any significance to these differences. And there was one that I thought was very interesting. The reason Luke could be telling the story of John is to make a comparison with John and Jesus. The two have very similar births in that their mothers (Elizabeth and Mary respectively) conceived them in very improbable conditions. Their births were also foretold by angels of God, who told them the many great things they will do. God chooses His people and makes things work the way He wants. The difficulty I had was trying to draw up differences. Other than the fact that Elizabeth (like Sarah) was barren and Mary was a virgin, could there be any more significant differences? Perhaps the way the message was received? Maybe I'm trying to dig in too much.

The important part of the reading comes from the reaction of Zechariah. He questioned the validity of the angel's foretelling and even questioned his identity. The angel immediately identifies himself as Gabriel, one of the greater angels that Zechariah surely knows of, and punishes him for his doubt by silencing him.

What's the significance here? Is it the lack of faith that Zechariah had? I think it has to do with the way he responded. When Mary heard the word about Jesus, she questioned as well. However, her approach was more of "how can this happen?" Zechariah was more "I need proof!" Rather than seeking an explanation, Zechariah denied the possibility and then seeked for proof.

The conclusion I can draw from this story is that it isn't wrong to question God. In fact we should question and seek explanations. But it is important to believe as well, as Luke taught us in the first four verses of the book. There's a difference between being skeptical and seeking answers. The moral of this story is to seek answers. We should be thirsty for the truth, not deny it till we see something happen.