Bible Study Notes: St Luke’s Gospel
Session 3 - Chapter 1 vv 5-25
During the rule of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest
assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His
wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth.
Together they lived honourably before God, careful in keeping to the ways
of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. But they
were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and now they were
quite old.
It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties
before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, it came his one
turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. The congregation
was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense
offering. Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the
altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in fear.
But the angel reassured him, "Don't fear, Zachariah. Your prayer
has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are
to name him John. You're going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not
only you - many will delight in his birth. He'll achieve great stature
with God.
"He'll drink neither wine nor beer. He'll be filled with the Holy
Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother's womb. He will turn many
sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God's arrival
in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children,
and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics - he'll get the
people ready for God."
Zachariah said to the angel, "Do you expect me to believe this? I'm
an old man and my wife is an old woman."
But the angel said, "I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially
to bring you this glad news. But because you won't believe me, you'll
be unable to say a word until the day of your son's birth. Every word
I've spoken to you will come true on time - God's time."
Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting restless,
wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he came
out and couldn't speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless
and had to use sign language with the people.
When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, he went back
home. It wasn't long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off
by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. "So, this is
how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!" she said.
© The
Message
The uniqueness of Luke’s gospel is really highlighted in the opening 2 chapters and this is really emphasised in the use of music and song.
On earth Zechariah, Mary and Simeon sing songs of praise. From heaven comes the song of angels announcing the birth of Christ.
From the music of his gospel comes an extraordinary array of artwork encompassing Luke’s birth narrative. He paints word pictures to carry his story. Throughout history artists have taken Luke’s ‘hymns’ and made pictures of them.
Our meditation begins in the temple where the priest Zechariah offered incense. The Jews believed that incense made their sacrifices more pleasing to God. They certainly would have made them smell nicer!
He and his wife, Elizabeth belonged to the prestigious priestly family of Aaron. They had a big problem. They endured private grief and public shame because they had no children, living in a society that prized fertility and offspring.
Advanced in years they had no prospect of producing a child. At the same time, they were a devout couple, full of faith and leading good lives.
God chose an environment of prayer and worship to fulfil their long-held desire for a baby. As Zechariah approached the altar of incense he meets an angel standing to the right of the altar. He was understandably spooked by this, as I suspect we all might be. We too might be filled with fear and apprehension.
At the same time – as is clear from all of scripture – Heaven’s messengers swiftly act to dispel fear. ‘Do not be afraid’ is their constant opening line. God does not intend to scare us, the God of love wishes only to save us, not frighten us.
So the angel asks ZECHARIAH to let go of his fear. Fear though constricted the heart and closed the mind to the revelation of love that was about to be given. The angel’s reassuring presence, however, did relax ZECHARIAH and opened him to the message he brought.
‘OK, ZECHARIAH’, says the angel, ‘God has heard your prayers and Elizabeth will have a baby and you will call him John’. (John is an old Hebrew name meaning?? ‘God is Gracious’).
He then goes on to tell him what sort of chap he would be. A fiery prophet like Elijah was. He would be the one to call people to moral and spiritual conversion to prepare them for the Lord’s coming. What is the significance of comparing him to Elijah? See Malachi 4:5-6
ZECHARIAH was a man of faith, but he, like us, needed to grow well beyond what he was used to. From his reading of the scripture, he knew that this had happened before. When? He knew God had given a child to Abraham and Sarah in their old age.
Whilst, I suspect, he was sufficiently humble not to put himself in the same league as Abraham & Sarah he knew that they had sufficient faith to accept God’s remarkable gift. Theoretically, he knew the same could happen to him and his wife, but practically, and not surprisingly, he had his doubts.
ZECHARIAH questioned the angel about the how. The angel tells ZECHARIAH that his name was Gabriel who stood in the presence of God. Surely the fact that he was telling him, a man of faith, that God had willed this should be enough explanation. But like us ZECHARIAH had lots of doubts and misgivings and so the angel says he would remain in the darkness of faith.
He would remain speechless until the child was born. This holy silence symbolises how faith sometimes must act in the face of divine mystery; sometimes we just have to shut up and let God get on with it in and through us. Or as the Christmas hymn puts it, “O hush your noise ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing”.
So when ZECHARIAH appears out in front of the worshippers who are waiting for him to start the service they perceive immediatley that he has seen a vision. But notice what happened next. He gets on with his work v 23. He did not abandon what he had already been called to in favour of something more exciting; he finishes his original task God had given him.
So Elizabeth gives birth and goes off into seclusion, praising God for this wonderful gift. And so we learn from ZECHARIAH’s experience that there are times when our faith faces God hidden in a thick darkness. We put our own understanding to rest in silence until god’s light shows us what it all means.
© Fr Michael Fuller: October 2007