December 6 2009 -"A Visit with Elizabeth" -Rev. Vicky Ney

December 6 2009 “A Visit with Elizabeth” Rev. Vicky Ney Text: Luke 1:2-25, 39-46 Shalom, everyone! Oh, I can see you’re decorating the church in honor of the birthday of my great-nephew, Jesus—the Messiah. Oh, excuse me. You don’t know who I am! Let me introduce myself. My name is Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah. My son was John the Baptist. I’m also the aunt of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Your pastor asked me to speak to you about the months before the birth of my son and Mary’s. What an exciting time it was! If it hadn’t happened to me, I could almost think it was a dream. It was unbelievable! Well let me start at the beginning so that you know what I mean. I had a wonderful family. Good parents. We were a religious family because my father was a priest. We were a respectable, well-connected family. In fact, my family could trace itself back thousands of years, all the way back to Aaron, Moses’ brother. I also married a priest—Zechariah. He was also a part of the tribe of Levi. Zechariah was a good man—a wonderful husband. And so good to me. Never once in all the years we were married did he berate me for not having a child—a son. But I was ashamed and humiliated. I felt I had disappointed him. Women in my day were considered failures if they didn’t have a child. I certainly felt like a failure. Zechariah and I were married a long time. I was getting along in years—so was Zechariah. We were no “spring chickens,” as you say. I had given up a long time ago on ever having a child. But I could never understand why. Why in God’s good plan did I not have a child? One day, all the priests gathered to choose the one priest who would make the incense offering at the Temple. You need to know that there were thousands of priests. All the men of the tribe of Levi were priests. As old as my husband was, in all those years, he had never been chosen to offer the incense. The priests felt that if they cast lots for the honor of making the offering—drew straws or left it to chance—then God himself picked the priest God wanted. That day, the lot fell to Zechariah. He nearly fainted. He had been chosen to go into the holy of holies before God to pray for the people. What an honor! God had chosen him! Zechariah got everything ready for his great moment. All of us stood outside the Temple to wait. Then Zechariah alone carried the incense and the prayers of the people into the presence of God. I found out later that he nearly had a heart attack in there! While he was quietly praying, he thought he noticed something move, out of the corner of his eye. When he looked over, there was an angel staring back at him –over by the right side of the incense altar! Zechariah told me he didn’t know what to do. He started trembling all over. Then the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah. God has heard your prayer. Your wife is going to have a baby boy and his name will be John. You and your whole family are going to be so happy. This boy will grow up to be a great godly man. Before he is born, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will not live as an ordinary man. He will actually be more like Elijah. God has a great plan for him. He will prepare the people for their Messiah.” I wonder if Zechariah had to close his mouth. Or if he had to pick himself up off the floor! Or I wonder if he almost laughed. He asked the angel, “How is this going to happen? I’m old and so is my wife.” The angel seemed a little indignant at his question and said, “I am Gabriel. God sent me with this wonderful message for you. Don’t you believe me? Since you don’t seem to think this can happen, you will not be able to speak or hear until all of it comes true.” In the meantime, we had all been waiting and waiting outside the Temple. What was Zechariah doing in there? What was going on? Finally, after a long time, the doors of the Temple burst open. My husband came out—white as a ghost, wild eyes, making crazy gestures with his hands—and he couldn’t speak a word! He couldn’t seem to calm down, so I just took him home. It was a few days before he calmed down. One day, he wrote in the dirt with a stick and tried to tell me about the angel and the amazing news about what was going to happen to us. Riiiight…..! Wouldn’t you know, a few months after that, I found out I was going to have a baby! Me! Elizabeth! Finally having a child in my old age! I’ve heard that most women in your time wouldn’t necessarily take kindly to having a baby after they’re already on medicare. In fact, I think I heard your pastor say something about finding a train to run her down if it happened to her! But you have to remember this was my life’s dream to have a baby! A few months later, my little niece Mary, came to tell me that an angel had visited her and that she was pregnant with God’s child! The minute she told me, my baby kicked me for the first time and I felt a warmth through my whole body. I knew then that my son and her son were somehow connected in God’s plan. I just knew it. I blurted out, “Blessed are you, Mary, and blessed is your little baby. You are going to be the mother of the Messiah.” I believed every word she said. For whatever reason, somehow, we were part of God’s great plan. Time passed quickly, and soon I held my son in my arms. But on the eighth day, the day he was to be given a name at his circumcision, my family decided he should be named Zechariah. You need to know that in my day, it was the custom to name a first son after a grandfather. But I guess they figured anyone who had been visited by an angel deserved to give his name to his own son. The family kept arguing over the name. Now you have to remember, Zechariah hadn’t spoken a word in all those months—not since the angel appeared in the Temple. Finally, I was so frustrated with my relatives, I just stepped forward and shouted, “No. The baby’s name is going to be John.” You could see their faces—they were very upset. No one in the family was named John. They probably thought I had Alzheimers and was hallucinating or something. They all turned to Zechariah. He was shaking his head “no.” He started motioning with his hands to get him something to write with. He scratched a single sentence, and everyone gathered around to see what he had written. Imagine their surprise when they saw these words: “His name is John.” And at that same moment, Zechariah regained his speech. His first words praised God. The sound of his voice silenced everyone. You could have heard a pin drop. They were definitely a little frightened by what they were witnessing! You know, people haven’t changed much over the centuries. They love to talk. My family—Zechariah and little John and I—were quite the topic of conversation for a long time. They passed on our amazing story and its meaning. Our son was destined for greatness. They said, “The hand of God is with him.” He would be different and unique. Now the name of John seemed so appropriate, since without any family precedent, it gave him an identity of his own that had nothing to do with the past. God was doing a new thing. This little child would one day be a prophet of the Most High, to prepare the way for the Messiah. It just goes to show you, as you go through life, you don’t know the whole story: It’s not over till it’s over. Think about me. Years and years of disappointment, dashed hopes, what I thought were unanswered prayers. But I never gave up. I kept on praying. Have you stopped praying for something in your life because there doesn’t seem to be an answer? Don’t. Why are we so surprised when God answers our prayers? God gives us more than we can ever ask or imagine. The miracle my husband and I experienced is a reminder that God remembers His promises. And God not only remembers His promises—He keeps them. Maybe you think the Lord has forgotten you in your hopeless situation. He hasn’t. God does impossible things for people every day and you may be next. So don’t feel so irritated and worried with your burdens. Trust in God. Keep on living faithfully. Try to be patient and wait for Him to work. Have faith in God’s promises. Remember what the angel told Mary: “With God nothing is impossible.”

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