Devotions
Rev Gav
Sign
Luke 1:57-64
The Birth of John the Baptist
57 When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.
59 When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony. They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. 60 But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!”
61 “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.” 62 So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.
Reflect
I love this scene of domestic chaos! The angel had told Zechariah that he was to name his child John, and Zechariah had communicated this to his wife Elizabeth — presumably by writing it down. Because Zechariah had refused to believe the message from the angel, the angel had made Zechariah mute.
It then came to the time when they were going to name the baby, and the family all wanted to name him after Zechariah. Liz stepped in and told them that the baby’s name should be John (which means ‘God’s favoured one’), but because John was not a family name, they ignored her! Dad, however, had the final word, and so they asked Zechariah to write down what the baby’s name should be. Zechariah wrote down, “His name is John,” and in doing so he acted in faith and trusted what the angel had said. As soon as he wrote the words he was able to speak again.
This whole situation was a sign, and signs pointed to things. This sign — Zechariah being unable to speak — was a mini version of the much bigger silence that had been going on for hundreds of years. Everyone knew of the promises declared by the prophets, that God’s ‘anointed one’ or Messiah or Christ would one day come. However, there had been no new prophecies for the past few hundred years. Then, all of a sudden, God had broken into the world. In the same way that Zechariah was able to speak again, God had broken the prophetic silence with the announcement of Jesus.
God worked through the situations of ordinary people leading ordinary lives and like Liz and Zechariah, he can work though our lives too.
Do
Think of a circumstance or situation in your own life — something you’re dealing with or going through. Give this over to God and ask that God might work through it.
Pray
Holy God
Help me see what you are doing in my life
and where your Spirit is at work.
Help me also see where you’re at work in the world
that I might join in with what you’re doing.
This day and for ever.
Amen.
Think
Why do you think God uses smaller signs to point to the bigger picture of what he’s doing in the world?
and then