Joel M Bradshaw

18And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

34And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”–Luke 1:1-38

My Great-Grandfather Koven years ago crafted a scale model for the biblical Tabernacle. Pictured above is the model incense altar which stood in the ancient Holy Place. I continued the pastoral legacy in the family from him and my mom gave me Great-Grandpa’s tabernacle. Zechariah stood before the Temple’s version of that incense altar in our text today.

I highlighted two responses. Gabriel punished the first and didn’t punish the second. Why the difference?

Zechariah’s response literally reads in Greek, “By what shall I know this?” He’s looking for a sign. We understand his position. Much older man. He and his wife had been trying for so long and eventually gave up. But Gabriel responds the way he does for a reason. This was a priest going as much before God as he was allowed to do, to stand in the Holy Place and light incense (representing the prayers of the people), and an angel literally was also standing there and said, YOUR PRAYER HAS BEEN HEARD. All of that was a sign. He shouldn’t have needed more. In the midst of his greatest prayer moment, he showed hesitation and doubt. Like, he just couldn’t believe it and needed to know a further sign.

Then take Mary. Her Greek phrase literally reads “How will this be?” She has certainty and faith, but needed to know how if this was going to be a miracle or not. Zechariah and Elisabeth could technically have intercourse and God could make conception happen. Mary as an unmarried virgin could not. So in faith, she was just asking what came next in her story. It was a fair question and still full of faith and not doubt. She just hadn’t done what needed to happen for babies to happen.

I personally understand Zechariah’s bitterness and depression. Yeah, I’m reading that in there. You pray a prayer for decades and God seems to answer NO. Then an angel shows up and says that THAT prayer would be answered. Maybe he had incense on his brain. This angel couldn’t have meant THAT. Although he would leave punished, no doubt, it would be the greatest moment of Z’s life. His faith would have been emboldened to the max. He learned that his prayers were heard by God, who is still faithful.

You are probably more like Z than you know. I know I am. It takes a profound faith not to sarcastically think in your heart, “Yeah, right, God.” The bitter disappointment month after month and year after year. The strain on the marriage. The comparisons and contrasts with other priestly families. No, our hearts go out to them.

It takes a profound faith to stare at what seems impossible and say HOW WILL versus, CAN I HAVE ONE MORE SIGN.–JMB