Today we will reflect on the Gospel of Luke 1:57 – Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.” 

Elizabeth and Zechariah were in their old age. Humanly speaking, it was impossible for her to bear a child in her old age. Elizabeth and Zechariah always prayed for a child. She was barren and both were getting old. At the end when they realised that they are old and it is impossible for them to get a child, they stopped praying. But God remembered their prayer.

One day when Zechariah was serving in the temple, Angel Gabriel appeared to him and promised him a son. Zechariah was not ready to believe. He said, “How is that possible? I am an old man and Elizabeth is barren”. He forgot the prayer he had made, but the Angel remembered.

Zechariah thought that what is possible on earth is fulfilled by God. He never thought that what is impossible for man is possible for God. Through this Bible passage, God gives us a message: There are times we tend to believe that certain things are impossible; some things are impossible. Where impossibility raises its head, there God’s possibility comes. 

If something is possible, we can easily imagine and expect something. But when something is impossible, we normally give up. But God says do not worry and do not give up. Even the impossible things are possible for God. Zechariah was a priest and he used to serve God in the temple. He knew the Scriptures very well. He used to pray a lot. He used to thirst for the gift of a child. But there came a time, when he was completely disappointed and in sorrow. He gave up everything. He gave up his dream about a child. He gave up the dream of the possibility of having a family. 

That is when God intervened in his life; when he was completely broken, when he was totally helpless. That is when God entered into his family and his life. Sometimes God permits this. We start depending on God, when we are completely gone or completely broken; completely shattered. 

The prodigal son returned to his father, when he was completely broken. Until then he was holding onto something. He did not return to his father. When he was unable to do anything, then he started depending on God. That time God came to his help.

When you are ready to surrender yourself totally in God’s hands, God will do something for you. But many a times, we do not surrender totally. We still hold onto something, some capacity, some ability. We think, we have money, we will do it. We have a family, we will do it. We have some influence, we will do it. We have intellect, we will do it. We think God will not do it. God is not needed there. We directly declare to the Lord that you are not required, we can do it as we are capable. 

But there will be a day when we are not able to do anything. We become totally helpless. That is when we will depend on God and God will intervene in our life. God can intervene before that, but provided we surrender ourselves totally to God. You should say “God unless you help me, Jesus unless you help me, I cannot do anything.” 

John 15:5: I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Jesus says apart from me you can do nothing. Maybe we are intelligent, capable and have a lot of influence and power, but still apart from God, we can do nothing. This type of attitude we should have.

Zechariah knew what God meant, that is why at the end he believed and accepted the truth. Initially, he did not obey God, but was obedient to his mind. Because of his disbelief, he could not speak for almost 9 months.

When Elizabeth gave birth to a baby boy, they were supposed to name the child. It is the father’s duty to name the child. Someone asked Zechariah what name should be given but at that time Zechariah could not speak. Elizabeth had already given the name ‘John’. It was the name the Angel had given.

Everyone told Zechariah that nobody from his family had got that name. They asked him if he was sure, to want to keep this name. Then Zechariah asked for a writing tablet and he wrote down the name as John. That means he was obedient to the Angel. After a long time he decided to obey God. When he was obedient, he got back his speech. Immediately his mouth opened and his tongue was freed and he began to speak. He lost his speech when he was disobedient to God. He was questioning God and he lost his speech. When he was obedient, he got back his speech. 

This also shows a very important point. When we are obedient to God, our faculties will work properly. When we are disobedient to God our faculties, which God himself has given us, will not work properly. Many a times when we have hidden agendas, hidden plans, hidden weaknesses, our intellect, our brain, our functionality, our faculties, which God has given us, will not function properly.

If you are a student and you do not obey the Lord, your capacity as a student will not work properly. If you are a teacher and you are not obedient to God, you cannot work properly. If you are a doctor and if you are not obedient to God – the teachings of Jesus, knowingly or unknowingly, directly or indirectly – then you cannot use all your faculties properly. If you are a priest or a Cardinal or a Bishop, and you are preparing a document and if you are not obedient to the teachings of Jesus or the command of Jesus, then whatever you prepare will not be proper. There will be a lot of confusion, tension and scandal. You may be somebody great, a very important person, or even a so called holy part of the hierarchy, if you are not obedient to the Church, obedient to the Bible, obedient to the Lord, your faculties will not work properly. Your intellect, your writings, your ideas, your ideologies will not work according to the plans of God. Wrong ideologies will rise up. It will bring a lot of confusion in the family, community, society, church, and everywhere. That is what happened with Zechariah. When he was obedient, he was released. When he was disobedient, he could not speak. His faculties did not work. 

Let us examine our conscience and see whether we are obedient to the Lord, the Bible teachings and to the Word of God. Then God will make all our faculties work properly. 

If not, something or the other thing will block our faculties and it will not function properly. It will create confusion, scandal and division.

Transcribed by Greta Furtado