5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 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 before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel said to him, “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. 20 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 appointed time.”
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Luke 1:5-25 (NIV)
Science is a wonderful gift which the Lord has given to us. There are some who try to pit science against faith. I do not understand this assumed conflict. Since all things come from God, science has its origin in God. God gave us the abilities to think, explore, discover and rationalize.There is no reason that the Lord would give these abilities to us and then expect us not to use them. Faith tells us that God created and interacts daily with all of creation, science attempts to tell us how. However, science does not limit God’s ability to act in any manner. The passage for today brings before us what Zechariah’s knowledge tells him ispossible and what the Lord actually does.
Zechariah was serving as a priest before God. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were older and childless. While he was alone in the temple burning incense, the angel Gabriel came to him and said Elizabeth would bear a son, John. He told Zechariah that John would be filled with the Spirit and would lead people back to God while making them ready for the Lord. Zechariah questioned this because they were both old. Because of his doubt, Gabriel said Zechariah would not be able to speak until the child was born. When Zechariah returned home, his wife became pregnant.
We can be like Zechariah in some situations. With our advancements in biology and medicine, as well as other scientific discoveries, we can claim something is impossible. God is not bound by our discoveries or the rules we claim exist in creation. There are times when the Lord acts in ways which we cannot explain now, or maybe ever. John had a very specific purpose and God chose to utilize two of the Lord’s servants to place this service into motion. The important message which Zechariah and Elizabeth provide us is that those things which we determine as impossible are possible with the Lord in fulfillment of a purpose. Also, the story reminds us that we still do not possess all knowledge.
A Faith Understanding 