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| Share Agape for the week of September 8, 2003 |
| Faith & Hope " 'Do not be afraid, Zacharias�your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John�he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he� will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God...' 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�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.' "� 'And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.' Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I am a virgin?' The angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God�For nothing will be impossible with God.' And Mary said, 'Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.'" Luke 1:13-38 Earlier this week, as I was reading this section of Luke, I was greatly struck by the difference between Zacharias and Mary. Zacharias lead a blessed life with his wife Elizabeth, but longed deeply for a child. Since the couple felt their lives were nearing their close, they'd given up hope that they'd ever have a family. On the other hand, Mary was a teenager, engaged to be married. She was just beginning her life. And while I'm sure she expected to have children with Joseph, that time was still some time away. Neither Zacharias or Mary expected to have a child any time soon--and they certainly did not expect to parent a prophet or the Messiah! Yet God promised them both miracle births. First, God sent an angel to Zacharias as he was serving as priest in the temple. After years of praying and hoping for a child, the angel's words probably seemed too good to be true; Zacharias had trouble believing what he heard. "How will I know this for certain?" Zacharias said, "For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years." Despite the fact that he was a priest serving the Lord, he'd lost some of his faith, and most of his hope. And so the angel struck Zacharias mute, impressing upon him that his prayers were being answered, and that God always keeps his promises. Although this may seem harsh, mutness was a perfect gift. With it came time to ponder and trust the Lord. By the time John the Baptist was born and Zacharias was able to speak again, I'll bet he was much better prepared to be the father of a great prophet. Mary, on the other hand, although naturally curious about how a virgin could become pregnant, responds almost instantly in the affirmative. Okay, Lord, she says, if that's what you want, I'll comply. In essense, Zacharias replies with a NO, while Mary responds with a YES. (And not just a simple yes; while she could have been worrying about what she was going to tell her finance, her parents, her friends�instead, she celebrated!) Now, I have to ask myself: Would I be more like Mary or Zacharias? While I'd like to think I'd reply like Mary and say yes without hesitation, if I'm honest with myself, I wonder if I'd be more like Zacharias. If the Lord came to me and told me I was part of some great plan of his, would I hesitate? "Ah no, Lord, you don't really want me. Besides, that sounds like a lot of work and it might end up being kinda awful. Can't you find somebody else for the job? I'm sure so-and-so over there would be much better at this." I think there's an underlying reason Zacharias (and most of us) resists and Mary does not. Mary ("merely" a poor teenager) still has child-like faith and hope, while Zarcharias (the older and "wiser" priest) has weak faith and little hope. And, from a worldly perspective, can't you understand his lack of hope? He and his wife were old, and yet now they were promised a child they so longed for. Sounds nuts! But from a spiritual point of view, Zacharias needed to learn that with God, everything is possible. In fact, there's a common thread among the Biblical stories, apart from the coming of Christ: God likes to work miracles in the most unexpected places. That's part of what makes him God and his miracles, miracles. MORE ~~~> |
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