By John A. Huffman, Jr.
In the meantime, Elizabeth realized the fulfillment of the promise. She began to feel life within her. She gave God the credit. She cried out, “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people” (Luke 1:25).
Six months later, Gabriel appeared to a teenager in Nazareth named Mary and told her that, although a virgin, she would conceive a child whose name would be Jesus. Then the angel told Mary about her older cousin Elizabeth being six months pregnant. Mary went to visit Elizabeth and the two women compared notes. Luke records Mary’s great prayer glorifying God, which we have come to know as the Magnificat.The two women understood quickly the respective roles they had to play in what would be the relative positions of their children.
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We don’t know exactly how much Elizabeth knew. We have the advantage of hindsight and are able to read into the story the words addressed by the Angel Gabriel to Zechariah in the temple. However, there must have been enough to suggest to Zechariah that the work of a preparatory nature would be the destiny of his future son.
In any case, Elizabeth had no hesitation in joyfully accepting the minor role for her son and so establishing, even before their birth, the position of John the Baptist as the one who would be the “forerunner” and of Jesus who would be the Messiah.
Finally, the little baby was born. On the eighth day, they came to the temple to circumcise the child. They were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but Elizabeth spoke up and said, “No, he is to be called John.” The priest argued with her; none of his relatives had that name. They made signs to Zechariah to find out what he would like to name his child. Zechariah asked for a writing tablet. To everyone’s astonishment, he wrote, “His name is John.”
Immediately, Zechariah’s mouth was opened, and his tongue was loosed. He began to speak, praising God. All the people there were filled with awe. After nine months plus of being mute, Zechariah broke forth in one of the most beautiful statements of praise recorded in all the Bible, declaring in prophetic utterance coming not just of his son John but that of the Messiah Jesus.
So now you’ve been introduced to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Perhaps for you it’s a first-time meeting. You have heard the names before, but you really didn’t know much about them. But let’s not leave this story there. As helpful as it is for us to be aware of stories of these biblical characters, it is just as important for us to discover truths from their lives that fit into our existence today. Let’s reflect and see if there’s anything that can help the quality of our lives as we look at these two first-century people.