All of which, for some reason, made me think of Mary and Zacheriah (go figure!) After the appearance of the angel, I'm sure Mary needed lots and lots of processing time to fully realize all that she had experienced, and all that she had heard about the coming Messiah. Evidently, Mary had spent her childhood and early adolescence in the Temple, where she was sure to hear Scriptures -- and may even have had access to the prophetic scrolls if she had been taught to read. Luke tells us that upon hearing the news of Elizabeth's pregnancy, "she rose and went with haste into the hill country." During her journey, she probably had much time to ponder --and I'm also sure that she would have wanted to tell Elizabeth what was happening to her. But how on earth does one say, "An angel appeared to me, and you'll never believe what he told me!"?
Fortunately, God spared Mary the agony of having to proclaim news that any reasonable person would surely doubt. Zacheriah had had his own angel; he and Elizabeth already knew their son was to herald the coming Messiah -- and the Holy Spirit so moved both John and Elizabeth to recognize Mary as the mother of the Promised One. Imagine Mary's great joy and thanksgiving when she knew that Elizabeth already knew! Her long period of enforced silence was broken with the Magnificat--the result of a long period of processing all that she had experienced and heard. And now, she and Elizabeth could freely speak together of secrets they could share with no one else.
And Zacheriah-- it seems that he was being punished for doubting the angel when he was struck mute until after the birth of John. But his muteness was absolutely necessary for a number of reasons. First, he had to keep his mouth shut about the coming Messiah -- imagine if he had gone about telling what the angel had told him! Panic in all of Jerusalem and in the surrounding areas! Then, he also needed processing time to think things through. How was this child to be raised? He and Elizabeth were both very old. And now, he had three months to begin researching what the Scriptures had to say about the Messiah's arrival. By the time Mary arrived at the house, it may be that the three of them could together look into the prophecies of old.
And when Zacheriah was finally able to speak, his "Canticle," like Mary's, was the fruit of a long period of silence and processing the meaning of what he had experienced:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.....(Luke 1:68-79).
Could it be that long periods of silence and reflection would also change the things we have to say?
No comments:
Post a Comment