Zachariah and Mary - An Advent Meditation

ZACHARIAH AND MARY – AN ADVENT MEDITATION

Introduction

According to my diary, there are 24 days left before Christmas. Perhaps, more importantly, there are twenty one shopping days left.

Amidst all the rush of these coming days, it is appropriate that we come aside for a time of quiet reflection in order to prepare ourselves.

After all, we are not just remembering an event of the past, but an event which can deepen our spiritual life of today.

Over the past few days, my thoughts have focused upon two people who appear in St Luke's telling of the story of Christmas. I refer to Zachariah and Mary.

As I prepared this service, I drew up two parallel columns on a piece of paper and was amazed at their similarities and differences as they encountered and responded to God. So tonight I want to share with you those thoughts in the hope, they may help you to deepen your spiritual commitment.

The form of the service is very simple so that we can relax and be open to the spirit of the living God.

The service consists of four sections divided into two parts. The first part will look at Zachariah and Mary's encounter with God and the second part examine their response to that encounter.

Each section will consist of a piece of narrative from the Bible after which I shall say a few words to assist you in focusing your thoughts. This will then be followed by silence in which we allow God to bring to our attention anything he may wish us to hear, either in the reading or in the homily. We shall then collect our thoughts with a Collect and sing a suitable hymn.

God Speaks to Zachariah (Luke 1.5-25)

Zachariah was speechless, or as we would say today, gobsmacked.

I am not surprised.

There he was, going about his daily chores in the Temple, as he had done for many years, whenever his allotted tour of duty came round. He had left the worshipping pilgrims and entered into the sanctuary - the holiest of holies. He was offering the incense . The rising smoke symbolizing the prayers of the pilgrims rising from earth to the throne of God in heaven. The sweet smelling fragrance filling his nostrils and carrying him away as he became caught up and lost in the eternal worship of heaven.

He was completely alone when suddenly he becomes aware of the presence of God. St Luke expresses this in the imagery of an angel called Gabriel.

I'm not surprised he was "shattered and overcome with fear" I would have been scared out of my wits. But God assures him that there is nothing of which to be afraid.

Just as he began to gain his senses and pull himself together, he receives a message which knocks him for six. He and his wife are to have a son!

As far as Zachariah is concerned, this is too funny for words. After all, he and his wife were getting on in years. A grandchild or even a great grandchild he could have accepted, except that he and his wife were childless. For years they had longed for a child but to no avail. As the years rolled by, they had learned to live with their personal disappointment and the consequent shame it brought them, in the eyes of their friends.

Being a practical sort of person, who thinks with his head rather than with his heart, his immediate reaction is to ask "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well on in years". No wonder his immediate response is one of disbelief.

But the angel Gabriel goes on to give him a glimpse of the future concerning the child. He gives Zachariah a preview of what is in store. "He will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He is never to touch wine and strong drink. From his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit: he will bring back many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will go before him as a forerunner, possessed by the Spirit of Elijah, to reconcile father and child, to correct the rebellious to the ways of righteousness, to prepare a people that shall be fit to the Lord.”

Little wonder Zachariah was speechless. It is one thing to learn you are to have a child late in life; it is quite another to learn of the important role your son is going to fill. So he leaves the sanctuary and returns to the pilgrims in the Temple, unable to speak.

I have found myself dreaming dreams and seeing visions whilst engaged in the worship of God, which have left me speechless because they are so unbelievable.

It's not that I don't believe in the power of God, but that I am a down-to-earth, practical sort of person. I prefer to live by sight rather than by faith. I prefer to think things through in a clear logical fashion rather than rush blindly into the unknown.

I too often find myself speechless as I contemplate what often appears the impossible and beyond my capabilities.

And what of you? When did you last find yourselves speechless at the audacity of God? When did you last try and tum your back upon the vision of what can be?

God Speaks to Mary (Luke 1.26-38)

Our scene has changed. The experience is the same but the reaction is different.

We have moved from the sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem. We are now in a darkened room in a house in the village of Nazareth. This time it is a young girl going about her daily chores of cleaning, sweeping and cooking.

Suddenly she stops. She is aware of a presence. Again St Luke uses the imagery of an angel called Gabriel to convey the presence of God.

A cold shiver goes down her back. She is suddenly aware that she is not alone in the room. Like Zachariah, she too is caught offguard and is "greatly troubled".

But the angel answers her that this is nothing to worry about.

Nothing to worry about! You must be joking.

She is told that she is to have a son. True she is of child-bearing age, but she is not pregnant.

Once again the angel Gabriel goes on to give her a glimpse of the future concerning her son. Mary too is given a preview of what is in store. "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give to him the throne of his ancestor David, and he will be king over Israel for ever. His reign shall never end".

This sounds more like a Mills and Boon romantic story rather than the life of an ordinary peasant girl. It has the ring of a fairy story about it. The sort of thing we always dream about concerning our children, but which we know can never be. It is a story which appeals to the heart and not to the mind.

Nevertheless, Mary is prepared to put her money on her heart and replies, "I am the Lord's servant, may it be as you have said".

Yes, there are times when I allow my heart to respond to the suggestions God puts before me, either in dreams or in visions.

There are times when I throw caution aside. Times when I know what he is wanting me to do may appear ridiculous, stupid and naive and yet I still try and do it because in the end, I live by faith and not by sight.

I know it does not make sense. I know I may appear to be irresponsible. I know others may accuse me of wishful thinking. Nevertheless, I abandon all sense of reasonableness and do what I know is right. I cannot explain it: I just know I am doing the right thing.

The minute I do this, all anxiety falls away, and I walk tall because I am at peace with myself and with God. I experience a quiet confidence which no one can disturb and no one can destroy.

And what of yourselves? Can you recall the last time you allowed your heart to overrule your mind? Is there a dream you are still trying to make a reality? Do you allow other people’s thinking to blunt your response to God's voice in your life?

Mary Responds (St Luke 1.39-49)

Mary's response to the news is one of spontaneous joy and happiness which she immediately shares with a close relative.

So she dashes off to her cousin. She is not ashamed that she is to have a child outside wedlock. She is not afraid of what other people might say or think. She is not embarrassed by her childlike simplistic faith in the power of God. Without a thought for herself she just wants to share the good news.

On arriving at Elizabeth's house, she bursts into song, recalling the Song of Hannah in the Old Testament which expresses so fully what she is now feeling.

"My soul tells out the greatness of the Lord;

My spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour

for he has looked with favour on this servant lowly as she is.

From this day forward all generations will call me blessed

for the mighty God has done great things for me€.

His name is holy"

Yes, the mighty God has done great things for me as well.

To some they may appear rather mundane and ordinary. To others they may appear to be the results of my own efforts. But to me, when I consider my lowly origins, they are nothing short of being the great things God has done for me.

Yes, me. Little me, Little, insignificant me.

When I look back over the past half century, plus - and only just plus - I can see very clearly the grain of God's action in my life. God's action in good times and in bad. You may call them coincidences but I prefer to call them God-incidents.

I know there is a rational explanation for what has happened to me. But I live by faith and not just by sight. So I interpret the facts in the light of my experience of God.

And what is more, I am proud and not ashamed of telling others about this.

My soul, too, tells out the greatness of the Lord.

My spirit rejoices in God my saviour.

And does your soul tell out the greatness of the Lord? Look back over your life - both the troughs and the peaks - and try and see how God has been at work in your life. If you are overjoyed about what you find why not tell others, especially those nearest and dearest.

Zachariah Responds (St Luke 1.57-67)

What a pity Zachariah was not like Mary. But then we are all made differently and no two people behave in the same way. We can only be the person God has created us to be, and to try and be otherwise, is to deny God's image within us.

The news of his imminent fatherhood and of his son's future life has left Zachariah in a state of shock. In short, he has been speechless.

For the past nine months, Zachariah has been coming to terms with the message of the angel as he watched his wife becoming increasingly pregnant in appearance.

Contrary to what his mind had told him initially, his eyes are now telling him that it is true. And if it is true as regards her pregnancy, in spite of her advanced years, might not it also be true as regards his son's future life.

He has laid awake at night, trying to fathom out the mysteries of God. It is not that he did not believe in God. Nor that he did not long for a leader to be born to free his nation from servitude. He had prayed for years for this to happen. But he never expected it to happen like this. It is beyond his wildest dreams.

Zachariah's response to God is not instant flash, as in the case of Mary, but a long drawn-out inner struggle as he comes to terms with the implications of the message of the angel.

At last, he can keep his innermost thoughts to himself no longer. So he blurts out, over the cooing lips of his friends and relations as they look down upon the child, that his name is to be "John".

The floodgates have finally burst. His speech has returned and like Mary, he bursts into song:

"Praise to the Lord, the God of Israel,

For he has turned to his people and set them free"

His prayer has been answered.

Not in the way he had expected, but then God seldom answers our prayers in the way we want them to be answered. But answer them he does. Of that there can be no doubt.

And so sometimes, it takes me a long time to respond to the voice of God. I just cannot believe what he is saying because it does not fit into my master plan.

I shut myself in my study and cut myself off from other people. In my solitude I try to fathom out what God is saying to me.

Sometimes I hide away in a flurry of activity only to find that at the end of the day, he is still there with the same message.

I resist. I procrastinate. I object. Yet deep down I know there is no escape and so I give in and my power of speech returns.

And what of yourselves? Can you recall a time when it took a long time for the "penny to drop?" Are you working out a particular problem at this present moment? Don't worry and don't feel guilty. We are all made differently and we all respond differently to the voice of the spirit of God within us.