December 14: Gabriel Strikes Zacharias Mute
♫ Music:
WEEK THREE
Dec 14 – Dec 20
SIGNS, DREAMS AND ANGELIC VISITATIONS
Day 15—Sunday, December 14
Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. 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 he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.” The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”
Luke 1:8-20
GABRIEL STRIKES ZACHARIAS MUTE
He wanted a son. When it was all said and done, he wanted a son. And so he asked.
He had lived a holy, blameless life; he had husbanded his holy wife and fulfilled his priestly duties in a time of barrenness. No word from his God for 400 years! Malachi’s was the last prophetic word spoken. Yet, as a priest of God Most High, Zachariah had been faithful in his duties, believing still. And now he was an old man, chosen from his priestly cohort to be the one priest who entered the Holy Place this year, to offer prayers and incense on behalf of the people, to pray to this silent God. A multitude of faithful countrymen prayed in the courtyard behind him, persevering in the dark.
Faith is always in the dark, you know. Faith is, by definition: not walking by sight, not seeing the desired thing in the light. “We walk by faith, not by sight,” the Book will tell us later. And so, Zachariah prayed in unseeing faith, asking God to remember His people, asking God to send the Deliverer, asking for the promised Messiah. The incense clouded the room and it rose to God along with the prayers from a barren people, and from a childless old holy man with a barren wife.
The asking was for two sons, you see: “Please send us the promised Redeemer, a mighty Savior, born of the House of David,” that was the proper professional priestly petition, echoed by the crowd of worshippers outside in the Temple; and then there was the personal prayer of his heart, “And please Lord, a son for me and Elizabeth? A son who will be for me and for You?”
Well, you know what happened, we see it in the picture: an angel appeared to this old man, interrupting his priestly ministry, and giving him a terrific fright. Answers to prayers are like that, you know—God breaks in and interrupts us. And this happens even in, maybe especially in, ministry situations. The angel Gabriel tells Zachariah to not be afraid (angels often start with that) and then he links the answers to these two prayers. He says that Zachariah’s son John will be the last prophet of the old covenant, like the great Elijah (a man also known for his prayers, see James 5:17-18) and that John will prepare the people for the coming Lord!
At this point, saintly Zachariah’s personal prayer overtakes his professional prayer and he falls headlong into doubt based on facts, not faith: “Are you sure? Because I am an old man, married to an old woman” (… and in all these years of marriage, there have been no children, not one!) And those are the last words Zachariah uttered for nearly a year! He was made mute, silenced by the no-longer-silent God. Whatever else Zachariah did, Luke tells us that he finished up his ministry responsibilities in the Temple and went home to his wife who conceived. Just think of old Zachariah for the next few months, feeling that strong child growing and kicking in old Elizabeth’s stretching belly, contemplating the goodness and steadfast mercy of a promise-keeping, prayer-answering God. When at last he can speak again, after naming the child “John,” the words of praise and adoration grown within him are given birth, bursting out in the glorious ‘Benedictus’ prayer. Luke tells us that Zachariah is filled with the Holy Spirit here (v. 67) which means he has gone from working in the temple to being a temple of God, a pre-figuring of what the coming Messiah will bring to all His people as the Old Covenant makes way for the New Covenant.
Consider Zachariah this Advent and remember that answers to your prayers may interrupt your ministry and your ‘to-do’ lists with un-expected visitors or even un-expected babies. And then pray anyway. And listen.
God, grace us with the capacity to recognize You, to discern what You are about and to fall in with Your plans when You interrupt our lives with answers to prayer. Increase our faith, give us eyes to see and ears to hear You.
Amen.
Betsy Barber, Talbot School of Theology, Institute for Spiritual Formation, & Center for Spiritual Renewal
Archangel Gabriel amazes Zachariah with dumbness
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov
1840
The Tretykov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Watercolor on paper
About the Artist and Art
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (1806 – 1858) was a Russian painter who was born and died in St. Petersburg, though he spent most of his life in Rome. He painted in the Neoclassical tradition, but as it was going out of style, support for his work during his life was minimal. In the 1850s he developed a plan for a series of large frescoes to illustrate the Bible. Though the project was never completed, he painted a great many watercolor sketches for the frescoes.
About the Music
Song of Zechariah Lyrics
Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel;
quia visitavit et fecit redemptionem plebi suae
et erexit cornu salutis nobis, in domo David pueri sui,
sicut locutus est per os sanctorum, qui a saeculo sunt, prophetarum eius,
salutem ex inimicis nostris, et de manu omnium, qui oderunt nos;
ad faciendam misericordiam cum patribus nostris, et memorari testamenti sui sancti,
iusiurandum, quod iuravit ad Abraham patrem nostrum, daturum se nobis,
ut sine timore, de manu inimicorum liberati, serviamus illi
in sanctitate et iustitia coram ipso omnibus diebus nostris.
Et tu, puer, propheta Altissimi vocaberis:
praeibis enim ante faciem Domini parare vias eius,
ad dandam scientiam salutis plebi eius in remissionem peccatorum eorum,
per viscera misericordiae Dei nostri, in quibus visitabit nos oriens ex alto,
illuminare his, qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent,
ad dirigendos pedes nostros in viam pacis.
English:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel
He has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior
born of the house of his servant David.
Through His holy prophets he promised of old,
that He would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant.
This was the oath He swore to our father Abraham
to set us free from the hands of our enemies.
Free to worship Him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare His way.
To give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us
To shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
About the Performers
The Diocese of St. Benedict Old Catholic Missionaries are a group of missionaries which exist to serve the poor and needy. As a part of the Old Catholic Church in the United States, their beliefs are deeply rooted in Scripture, the historic creeds and traditions of the Early Church. They have churches across the world.
http://oldcatholic.us/
About the Song of Zechariah
The Song of Zechariah (also commonly known as The Benedictus or Canticle of Zachary), takes its text from the Gospel of Luke 1:68-79. It was the song of thanksgiving uttered by Zechariah on the occasion of the birth of his son, John the Baptist. The canticle received its name from its first words in Latin (Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel”). The whole canticle naturally falls into two parts. The first (verses 68-75) is a song of thanksgiving for the realization of the Messianic hopes of the Jewish nation; the second part of the canticle is an address by Zechariah to his own son. This canticle is traditionally an early morning prayer, and also features in funerals, at the moment of interment, or when words of thanksgiving for the Redemption are required.