Characters of Advent - Zechariah

Zechariah, do not be afraid, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you shall name him John. He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must drink no wine, no strong drink; even from his mother's womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the Israelites to the Lord their God (Luke 1:13-16).

One feels an immediate sympathy for Zechariah and Elizabeth. Something about the portraits that Luke sketches in just a few verses in the first chapter of his Gospel immediately resonates with our own experience. It has an authentic feel to it. Zechariah and Elizabeth are depicted as an upright and pious couple that long for a child, yet none has come. It seems like their faithfulness and devotion has been in vain.

Yet God bursts into Zechariah's life at this time when he has given up all hope. The angel Gabriel announces that Elizabeth will bear a son, and that this child will prepare Israel for the coming of God. Contained within this declaration is Zechariah's vocation. His task is to facilitate the action of God in the world by preparing his son from birth to be a mouthpiece of God.

Unfortunately Zechariah, perhaps ground down by a lifetime of disappointments, does not quite have the faith necessary to accept Gabriel's words. Consequently, in contrast to his son the prophet, Zechariah is silenced. His unbelief leaves him dumb. Only when, in obedience to God, he names his child John at the infant's circumcision did his voice return. At that instant Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit and utters that great hymn of praise which the Church sings every morning at Lauds: 'Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, he has visited his people and set them free' (Luke 1:68).

There is much in the life of Zechariah for us to reflect upon. His perseverance in his faith despite the disappointment of remaining childless for example, or the immense importance of his vocation simply to be a good father to his child. I am most struck by the silence that stemmed from his doubting the message of God, and the prophetic words that flowed from a later act of faith. If our words are to have potency, if they are to be life giving, they must come from Christ. Perhaps, in order to better hear the particular word that Christ has for us, we should take the opportunity this advent of returning to the Gospels with a new attentiveness.