Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.” Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”
Luke 1:18-20
THE silence of Joseph was a picture of submission and hunger for God, while the silence of Zechariah is somehow scary because it came as a discipline from God because he doubted borderline of unbelief the message of Gabriel (Luke 1:18-20).
Frankly, Zechariah was not silent like Joseph he was silenced by God! God subtracted his ability to speak for a while until the birth of John the Baptizer. Such instant taking away of a long-time privilege to speak God’s truth delivered a big blow to Zechariah’s pride.
This time no message from God will come from your mouth. I can only imagine the struggle and the anger and the many mixed emotions from Zechariah, and the scandal that it brought to the people of God who by now has many different interpretations of his predicament. In an instant how life can drastically change when hope visits us in the most unpredictable way.
Perhaps God has tailored the thrill of hope to its recipient. Just the right size and the right way delivered in the right time hope came. Those months of silence are actually the thrills of hope deliverance for Priest Zechariah. How so? Silence taught him to respect God, invited him to value privileges that come from God. I can only imagine the tortures of having a lot to say but now you’re being denied a platform of saying it.
Being silenced by God, hope found a way to purged Zechariah from a lot of religious talk without the spiritual substance of faith. Hope dressed in the calamity of being silenced by God subtracted a lot of speaking engagement where it’s the priest bread and butter so to speak only to introduce Zechariah to see life through a greater lens of faith, seeing the larger picture of what God is doing. To somehow see life beyond just survival and preservation of personal agenda into being humbled by the gracious purpose of God’s love.
This trill of hope that dressed itself into a tragic event is actually a Divine deliverance for a Priest from being consumed by spiritual numbness. I presume that after these months of silence Priest Zechariah now knows how to Praise and probably how to preach (Luke 1:64) hope found its way! Could it be that what’s happening to you and me in this Covid tragedy, is something necessary that we might learn the basics of faith? For me I still cherish the words of the song “The reason is live is to worship You” and in silence, the more is a wonder at its depth!
Sometimes the truth and thrills of hope come to us like a threat of reality, if you can only in silence give it a little bit more time, you and I will see that God can dress hope in any way He wants. Zechariah silenced by God resulted in a transformation of a man of God who was almost consumed by the subtle hopelessness called the numbness of the heart.
In this celebration of Christmas, Covid captivity has somehow silenced us. Believe me, only a heart of silence can see that life is sandwiched between thrills and tragedies. Only a silenced heart can see the difference and in humility still see the thrills of hope amidst life’s tragic blows. As one Jesuit priest would say “don’t deny your doubts, also don’t stop at your doubts.” In this season of Christmas savor the song in your heart “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices.” Like Zechariah, we are silenced so we can silently be thrilled by the hope of God’s love and redemption through Christ our Lord.