June 24

Zechariah’s Son

            Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.  Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him.  He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

Luke 1:57-66

    

            Zechariah spent nine months thinking over his interaction with the angel Gabriel.  The angel told him that he and his wife would have a son and the priest had refused to believe.  His hardness of heart had cost him his voice as he was struck mute until this passage.  It was not until Zechariah had the opportunity to show his belief through making a choice that he regained his speech.

            The baby had come, Zechariah and Elizabeth’s own child of promise.  Eight days had passed and the time to circumcise and name the boy had come.  Everyone assumed that the boy would be named after his father.  Zechariah was a good, honorable and holy man.  He was more than worthy to be honored by having his son share his name.  The boy would be his legacy and giving the father’s name to the baby would ensure that the older man would not be forgotten.             

            Elizabeth protested and wanted to name the baby John in order to be faithful to the call of God.  The final decision was Zechariah’s however.  He could have chosen to invest in his legacy and to honor himself by naming the boy after himself; we could have had a “Zechariah the Baptist” prominently featured in Scripture.  He could have insisted that his son follow his career path and join the priesthood as he grew.  He could have pushed the boy to put family and honor and legacy above all else.  Instead the priest chose to be faithful and believe God.  He named the baby John and believed the angel’s words that this boy would grow into a prophet that would change the world.  John would follow the path that was laid out for him by his Heavenly Father, not his Earthly Father.

            God has a path laid out for our children to transform this world.  For some of our kids, the scope of their transformation will be with the aides and medical staff that support them.  If you have not already, read some of Henri Nouwen’s writings about his time serving in the L’Arche community.  One of the greatest theologians of the modern world was deeply impacted and influenced by a young man who was severely disabled.

            Some of our kids will transform our communities.  Several members of our IDD center held jobs across our city.  They lived and worked and ate in the community and whatever room they would walk into automatically changed as people called out their names and greeted them warmly.  They made their workplaces better and their banks better and their churches better.

            Some of our kids will bring transformation on a larger level.  They will be ambassadors for the IDD community, participating in shaping policy and advocating with a message that resonates with people who have no experience with disability.

            None of this will happen for my son unless I allow him to walk on the path that God has laid out for him.  I so desperately want to keep him safe and keep him healthy and keep his life under my control.  I want to orchestrate what education he gets and what employment he gets and what living situations he gets so that he can have a good life and I can avoid the pain of seeing my child struggle.  I do not want to have my legacy be that I failed.

            What if God’s call for our children is beyond what we have planned?  What if He has uniquely equipped them to transform their world in ways that we have not imagined yet?  What if we are to become less in their life so that their Heavenly Father can become more?  I find myself both excited and terrified, with a jumble of other emotions, at the prospect.

            I imagine that Zechariah felt the same way.  But when he chose the baby’s name out of faith instead of fear, his tongue was freed and all that flew out of his mouth were praises of God’s goodness.

A moment to reflect:

The next time you pray, spend a little time releasing your child into God’s hands and see what happens.