"How can I be sure of this? My
wife and I are very old." -Luke 1:18
Zechariah didn’t believe what Gabriel
told him. Surprise, surprise. Who could blame him? What he was being told
seemed impossible. “How can I be sure of this?” That is his question. It almost
seems like a challenge, though: "My wife and I are going to have a baby after
all these years? Even though we’re old and grey? How can I be sure? Prove it."
What happens next is a curiosity to
me. For not believing, Zechariah is made silent. To me, that seems like a weird
punishment for unbelief. Couldn’t he do community service or something? Maybe
he could serve those for whom miracles were happening so that he might see God
make the impossible possible every day. But that’s not what God does (through
Gabriel).
Admittedly, God is much better at
teaching than I am. Instead of witnessing the miracles of others, Zechariah is
forced to witness the miracle that is right in front of him. Zechariah is made
not to be able to speak so that God can get a word in edgewise.
When we can’t speak, we do a lot of
listening. Really, we don’t have much of a choice. Have you ever had laryngitis?
Loosing your voice is the WORST part. It forces you to shut up for a while and
listen to everything else – TV, other people, books. It’s easier to take a walk
alone than it is to try and communicate with someone else, especially if you
don’t have a pen and paper or a cell phone or a tablet on which to write. It’s
hell for an extrovert. But when you can’t speak, it’s just easier to listen. Actually,
I take that back, it’s not easier to listen. In fact it’s harder because listening
is the last thing you want to do. You desperately want to say something, anything. But you can’t. So you’re
forced to listen to the people around you. And you learn interesting things
about your friends and family that you never knew before because you never took
the time to hear them. My parents would tell me stories when I was sick,
stories of their childhood, stories of their parents, stories of where they came
from, stories of where I came from. Things I had never heard before, because I
had been talking instead of listening, became very real for me, became a part
of who I am.
Zechariah is forced to listen since
he’s so intent on talking. Gabriel as much as says, “look, idiot, I came from
God to tell you the good news. If you won’t listen, if you insist on
disbelieving what I tell you, I’ll force you to listen and witness what’s going
on around you.” And Zechariah comes down with laryngitis (ok, maybe not laryngitis,
but you get the point) and finally hears and sees what’s going on around him.
He stops talking and starts listening. The angel’s message, God’s good news
becomes real for him, becomes a part of him.
What might our lives look like if we
took a little more time to listen instead of talking so much? What if we took
an hour out of our day to read scripture and listen to God’s good news? What if
we asked our friends and family to talk while we listened? How would our lives
change? Might the good news become a little more real for us? Might we be
transformed? Might we witness miracles? If we don't stop talking, we might never know.
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