67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
Thoughts: Zechariah was the father of John the Baptist and of a priestly line. He lived in Hebron in the Hill country of Judea when Mary visited him and Elizabeth. He and his wife were called "blameless" and "keepers of the Law." Zechariah was given the special (one man, once a year) gift of bringing incense before God in the Holy Place in the Temple. There the angel Gabriel appeared to him, and gave him the great news that he would have a son in his old age (Muslim tradition says he was 92). Though Zechariah was a believer, he did not believe the angel's message and was made mute until the child was born. His prophecy above perhaps was well thought out for nine months!
In the passage above we have recorded Zechariah's amazing prophecy of his son and his son's ministry. Strong tradition (Origen et al.)has it that Zechariah was killed by Herod at about the time of the searching for the children under two in Bethlehem. Perhaps this helped John the Baptist speak out against Herod's atrocities, though it meant his own death.
Perhaps Zechariah would say about advent's coming of the Messiah:
As a priest who tries to please God, I am very concerned about my people. They are in a dark place with paganism of the Romans and Greeks influencing them on the one hand, and a drifting away into a legalism that forgets the importance of knowing God on the other. The people need to repent and come back. If only God would raise up in the next generation prophets to draw people back to God!
The angel Gabriel came to me to announce that I would have a Son who would bring people back to God. He said my Son would bring many back to the Lord and prepare the way for the coming Messiah. What a blessing! How I would love to see it all! May God give my Son fearlessness in the face of his enemies. May he be a soldier of God- not with the sword of the hilt, but the sword of the Spirit! Holy Spirit- you have answered our prayers to come anew. Give us listening ears to respond to you- whenever you come and speak to us.
Prayer: Lord, give us ears to hear and hearts to believe your message. Use us and raise up the next generation for your glory!
(Ghirlandaio Dominico- 1486-90- wikimedia)
