‘Looking a gift horse in the mouth”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, December 20, 2002
Luke 1:5-25 (Forward, p. 52) CEV p. 1054
Sometimes we don’t acknowledge, much less, value certain gifts when we receive them, hence the expression that I began this meditation with. I must say that this was certainly true of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, in today’s passage.
We are told right at the onset of our passage that he was a priest, from the order of Abijah, and from what we are told, he was still called upon to function in that capacity, even though he was of advanced years. The highest honour, the most singular honour, that any priest, other than the High Priest, could have was to burn incense at the golden altar of incense located just outside the Holy of Holies. However, this singular honour was such that many priests never enjoyed it even once during their lifetimes. This was for two reasons. Firstly, there were many, many priests of this lower order (one estimate says that there were some 20,000 of them), and each priestly group functioned only when its turn came up, which was only once or twice a year. And secondly, the choice of who was ‘on’ came only by lot. In other words, it was the luck of the draw. So, for Zechariah, this was a once in a lifetime honour and privilege, a day he could look back on with pride for the rest of his life. What a splendid and incredible gift this was!
But that was not all of what happened there. He also met up with an angel, Gabriel by name. Naturally, he was quite intimidated, quite fearful, and for good reason. Angels, as supernatural creatures, had a certain splendour and awesomeness to them, and weren’t, it must be admitted, always the bringers of good news. As a result, we find almost uniformly that angels in the Bible have to begin by reassuring their listeners of their good intentions (see Judges 13:22; Daniel 10:7-9; Ezekiel 1:28; Mark 16:8; Luke 1:30; and Revelation 1:17). Furthermore, it was not just anyone or everyone that received such a visitation!
If Zechariah was unprepared for this gift, he was even less ready for what was to come. The angel goes on to tell him that God had heard his prayers. Now, what those prayers were about we are never told explicitly, but from what follows, it can be reasonably guessed that they were prayers for a son. However, it would seem that these prayers, if of that sort, were much like much of our own prayer lives. We start out with much ardour and faith and expectation, but after a while, all of these begin to wane and our prayers begin to be something of rote, something of mere form. In other words, we no longer take them quite so seriously, or really believe that they will come to pass. Such, it would seem, was Zechariah’s state. Here was a gift from God and he had trouble accepting it.
Indeed, he immediately quizzes the angel on how this could ever be possible. After all, both he and Elizabeth are of advanced years and she is certainly well beyond the age of childbearing. (‘Besides’, he might have added, ‘nothing ever came of trying all these years, so why should I think that this will happen now?’) So, Zechariah was rather full of doubt about this entire promise from God, and as a result, he was struck dumb, unable to speak at all, until this very thing would come to pass. Talk about ‘not accepting a gift horse’!
Indeed, this was not all: this son that he and Elizabeth would have in their old age would be none other than the forebearer, the forerunner, the messenger of God to prepare the way for the Messiah. He would be the one prophesied in Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3-5) and Malachi (Malachi 3:1). What kind of gift that was! And, he couldn’t say a word about it for nine whole months: talk about agony! Having such a secret and only being able to jot it down on some chalk board or slate.
All this put me in mind of the various and sundry gifts all of us receive from God, many of which we don’t even acknowledge, and tons of which we never use, or never use fully and properly—and certainly, very seldomly to the glory of God or the upbuilding of His kingdom. So, I think that the story of Zechariah is a good lesson to all of us to make better use of those gifts. Amen.
Forward notes: “The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur’” (verses 19-20).
“Being asked to mute ourselves during Zoom meetings is commonplace. Most everyone complies, yet usually one or two people fail to hit the button on their computers, and we hear pots and pans rattling, dogs barking, and snippets of personal conversation. Conversely, we’ve all heard the words, ‘You’re muted.’
“Taking away the ability to communicate can be frustrating at best, and I wonder how many Zoom conversations have left participants with no voice. How many unfinished conversations, missed ideas, or important inputs have been lost to the mute button?
“Once Elizabeth delivers John the Baptist, Zechariah can speak. I look forward to the day when no one is muted, and we can sing and pray together with one voice.”
MOVING FORWARD: “The next time you’re on a Zoom call—or in a group conversation—pay close attention to who is speaking and who seems to be ‘muted.’ How can you invite everyone to the conversation?”