Zechariah was the father of John the Baptist. He was born into the clan of temple priests who served in the temple in Jerusalem according to shifts. He and his wife, Elizabeth, did not have a son. This was a disaster for a family during that time in Israel – no one to inherit family property and business. Surely Zechariah felt abandoned or even punished by God. An angel appears to him to announce the Word of God, the birth of a son and his son’s place in God’s salvation plan:
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit and
he will bring back many of the Israelites to the Lord their God.
With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to reconcile fathers to their children and the disobedient to the good sense of the upright, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him
Faced with the possibility of becoming a father at his advanced age, that his son would be a great prophet, and the huge responsibility of raising a great prophet, a new Elijah, Zechariah can only laugh in disbelief and maybe even scoff at the Word of God. As a result, he is unable to speak for the nine months of his wife’s pregnancy, right up to the time of his son’s circumcision.
After that time of silence and reflection, Zechariah’s voice breaks out in the song of blessing as we just heard in the Gospel. I don’t know about you, but after over nine months of punishment in silence, I might let a few curses slip out of my lips. Zachariah blesses God and proclaims that God is present among his people fulfilling his promises. Zachariah delineates a basic point in the vocation of all Christians. We are all called to go before the Lord to prepare a way for him, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the faithful love of our God in which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us. This is the mission of all the baptized, not just prophets or religious or priests.
Tonight, Pope Francis will open the Jubilee doors to begin the Holy Year and call us to be pilgrims of hope. Zechariah saw the action of God in his life and openly proclaimed that hope and joy to others.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited his people, he has set them free.
Image: https://drawingontheword.com/songs-in-lukes-gospel-birth-of-jesus/