Re-run #2 ~ Beyond Belief

(Advent stories are replete with angels ~ have you noticed? We find it easy to believe that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that Magi came, etc. Why do we find it hard to believe that angels show up...really show up and talk to people? Hmmmmm)

There was a couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth. He was a high priest ... one of the very select few who could enter the Holy of Holies. The Bible tells us that Zechariah and Elizabeth were "well advanced" in years. One translation, in fact, says they were "well stricken with age". 

What a way to say "old"!!

Also, Elizabeth, we are told, was barren.                      

NO hope for a child. This was beyond sad.     

It was tragic for a couple ~

especially one in the family of the High Priest. 

There would be no son to follow in his line. 

Then one fate-full day, Zachariah is serving in the Holy of Holies and an angel shows up. The angel tells 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." (Luke 1:13-17)

There is quite a bit there, in this message. First, Zechariah had been praying for a child. This seems so obvious -- why mention it? OF COURSE Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed. To be unable to have a child was such shame ~  
Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. (Ps 127:3) 
No child = no blessing from God, no reward. Of course they prayed, but by this time in their life, they were beyond hope. 

Then...an angel shows up. Do you suppose Zechariah wanted to say,

 "Thanks, but no thanks. I am OLD now. How can we have a baby?  ... When he is 10, will I even be alive?"

Listen to Zechariah's answer, "Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." (Luke 1:18) It is like he didn't even hear the rest of the message. Sometimes our reality eclipses all faith and all hope. This was true, it seems, for this old priest. He was talking to an ANGEL. The ANGEL was telling him that he and Elizabeth would have a son, that he was to name the baby John, that the boy would be a joy and a delight to him, and that this child would be great in the LORD's sight. 

It is like Zechariah doesn't hear it -- he has become petrified by the erosion of his hope         . . .hardened in his reality . . .  beyond belief. He was a priest -- he of all people knew the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekkah. Had they become to him just stories?

It seems so. 

He doesn't even respond to the rest of the angel's message:

   ~ the baby must be a Nazirite (Numbers 6:1-12)

   ~ he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth ~ oh my goodness, who wouldn't want a child like that?

   ~ he will fulfill the promise of Malachi the prophet  "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers 

 (Mal 4:5-6)

All Zechariah can say is, "I am an old man . . . ."

He did not realize that God had woven him into a much much bigger story than his own life and reality. God was making him part of the BIGGEST story ever. Unfortunately Zachariah had given up hope and become deaf and blind to anything beyond his disappointment. 

See, when you know God, don't ever give up. You never know when God has a much bigger plan than you do ... OK, really God ALWAYS has a much bigger plan than any of us do.  

Zechariah says, "How can I be sure of this?"  Really? If you accept that it really is an angel, don't you accept that what he says is true? That is what makes this story so vivid to me ~ so shocking ~ and such a warning.  Now, Zechariah's lack of faith did not stop God's plan. Elizabeth DID get pregnant, John WAS born, and he DID go on to do all that the angel had foretold. But while Zachariah stood in the middle of a miracle -- talking to an ANGEL -- he questioned!? 

The angel responds, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this 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."  (Luke 1:19-20)

I can hear some of you saying, "Of course I WOULD HAVE believed!!!" 

I hope I would have too. 

But I want to be very careful. 

When I am lost in disappointment, when God is late ~ beyond the limits of the boundaries of the time that I have set for hope ~ I want to hold on to faith and hope tightly especially then. 

I want to remember that God ALWAYS tells a bigger story, and ~ well, you never know!