I’m going to jump the lectionary track again this week. We would have had another reading about John the Baptist, full of good and worthy things to explore. But I’d like us to examine instead the rich stories about Zechariah and Elizabeth, John’s parents, and their own encounters with the miraculous. The theme of our Advent series at Christ Church this week is “Live Expectantly,” and these two are exemplars of doing that – and not.
Having already taken up the stories of John the Baptist and Mary of Nazareth, we’re out of sequence here. But when the angel Gabriel came to announce the miracle birth to Mary, he had already had some practice with Zechariah. Zechariah was a priest at the temple, and happened to have been chosen by lot to make the incense offering in the inner sanctuary. He was alone – and then suddenly most profoundly not alone. Luke tells us he was “terrified, and fear overwhelmed him.”
But the angel brought him good news – news all of us would love to hear, I imagine:
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.”
If God sent an angel to tell me my prayer had been heard, I would be terrified too, not just by the angelic presence, but by the knowledge that God had heard my prayer. We believe God does; I tell people God does; but when years pass and some of our deepest felt prayers seem to go unanswered, it can be hard to believe. Sometimes we’ve given up on our prayers, and aren’t so sure that’s what we want now. Surely Zechariah and Elizabeth had long since come to accept their childlessness, despite the stigma and sorrowful glances of their friends. They were aged now – were they to begin parenting at this stage of life?
Have you carried a prayer in your heart for a long time? What is it? Recall it to your mind. Do you feel God has heard it? Have you discerned any answer to that prayer, or are you still waiting? What happens when you talk to God about that? Are you being invited to wait, to let go, to pray something else?
Sometimes I’m afraid to let go of my long-held desires, as though if I let go they’ll definitely never come to pass. But somehow the letting go just seems to create more space for God to bring in blessing. That’s a lesson I seem to have to keep learning, over and over again.
Part of prayer is making our desires known to the God who knows us and loves us. And part of prayer is letting go of our desires, and trusting in that God who knows us and loves us. And sometimes those desires come back to us in the strangest way imaginable, as Zechariah and Elizabeth found out.
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