When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."
They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."
Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him.
-Luke 1:57-66
This rather amusing story about the birth of John the Baptist is often skimmed over. I am guilty of this as well, but reading it this time around, I find this story to be actually really amusing. This story Luke tells us builds on the humble nature of Elizabeth. She does not forget why the child was given to her and keeps her end of the deal. She remembers that this is a gift from God and not something that she would have been able to do on her own will.
This story also happens to be another test for Zechariah. Remember how Zechariah failed his test the first time by doubting Gabriel's words? Well this was a chance to redeem himself. He could have easily been swayed with excitement and named his son, his only son, after himself. Yet, he remembered what the Lord has said. He, like Elizabeth, kept his end of the deal and named his son John. In fact he wrote it on a tablet, showing that there was to be no doubt about it.
On top of the humbleness of both Zechariah and Elizabeth, I think this passage tells us that we all ultimately belong to God. We seem to lose focus of that a lot. We have to remember that whatever we do, we're just running around on the palms of God. We belong to Him. Just like John belonged to God. That's not a bad thing. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Like God had great things for John to do, He has great things for us to do as well.
