In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah . . . his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. (Luke 1:5)

If we were writing an account of Jesus’ life, we would probably start with who his parents were and then move on to his birth. Luke’s Gospel begins by interweaving the accounts of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. John the Baptist plays a significant part. He is the prologue to the play – he walks on to the stage, gets everyone’s attention and then quietly steps into the shadows as Jesus takes centre stage.

At the start of his Gospel, Luke introduces John’s parents, a priest called Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. They are described as being ‘righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly’ (Luke 1:6). Not many of us would warrant that description! Yet they are childless, a serious matter in a culture where children indicated God’s blessing and provided security for old age. We are told that Elizabeth was barren and, as they are both ‘well advanced in years’, they would have presumed that this sad situation was permanent.

Three things are striking here.

The first is that Elizabeth and Zechariah are good people, yet something bad has happened to them. Throughout history people have assumed that, if you are good, God will be so pleased with you that only good things will happen to you. Of course, it doesn’t work like that. We all deserve nothing and it is only because of God’s grace that we get anything good at all. What is really surprising is not why bad things happen to good people but why good things happen to any of us.

The second thing is that they have been childless for a long time. We are told that they are elderly and therefore must have been praying for a child for years. Imagine how, month by month, their hopes had been dashed.

The final thing is that in the end they are blessed. Indeed, they are blessed more than they can imagine: not just a son, but an important son.

Advent is when God breaks into the world with blessing. And he can break into ours, if we will let him.

J.John
Revd Canon
www.canonjjohn.com