Gospel: Luke 1: 57-66
Consider the irony of today's Gospel scene. People gather at the home of Zechariah for the circumcision of his son born eight days earlier. Zechariah has been mute for months, unable to speak because of his lack of faith in the angel's message to him. It come to the point in the program when the child is to be named. Elizabeth states his name will be John. Despite protests from family and friends, she continues to insist that John will be his name, in obedience to the angel who gave the name to her.
Of course the crowd cannot possibly believe the woman, so they turn to Zechariah, the one who had not believed, in order to see if he would overrule his wife. To his credit, Zechariah supports Elizabeth and obeys the angel's command this time, whereupon the curse of muteness is lifted from him. However, if it had not been for the fact that Elizabeth persisted in her determination to obey the angel and name their child John, the entire arc of the story would not have transpired as it did.
The entire Christmas story does not take place without the faith of two women, Elizabeth and Mary. Their determination to maintain this unlikely faith in spite of opposition and severe hardship is the bedrock of our faith tradition. The menfolk - Zechariah and Joseph - require continued interventions in order for them to confirm the faith of these women who persisted with great strength and virtue, bringing forth Christ in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment