An Advent story about a childless couple who gets ready to become parents
(From the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, verses 5-25)
About 2000 years ago, there was a Jewish priest whose name was Zachariah. He and his wife Elizabeth loved each other very much and they also loved God very much and tried to live the way God wanted them to live. They knew that God loved them and they felt blessed by that divine love. There was only one problem: in all the years they'd been married, they hadn't been able to have any children. Over and over again they had prayed to God about this, but they had not been able to have a baby. This made them very sad, because both of them were getting on in years, making it more and more difficult to become parents.
One day, Zachariah was working in the holiest place in the Temple, getting ready for worship, when suddenly an angel of God appeared. Zachariah was terrified!
But the angel reassured him, "Don't be afraid, Zachariah. God has heard your prayers. Elizabeth, your wife, is going to have a son! You are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many other people will be glad about his birth, too, for he will be great in the sight of God. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit and turn many people back to God. He will get the people ready in new ways for God to be part of their lives."
Zachariah said to the angel, "Do you expect me to believe all this? I'm an old man and my wife is an old woman."
The angel replied, "I am Gabriel. God has sent me to bring you this good news. But because you don't believe me, you won't be able to say anything until your son is born."
While all this was happening, people who had gathered to worship in the Temple with Zachariah were beginning to get restless. What was he doing back there in the holiest of places? Why was he taking so long? When he came out and couldn't speak, they knew right away that something extraordinary had happened to him.
Zachariah went home and soon afterwards Elizabeth discovered that she was pregnant. She was so happy that she decided to go off by herself for five months to savor the news that soon she would be a mother! "What a wonderful thing God has done for me! God has looked favorably on me! Thank you, God! Thank you!"
Questions to ponder:
I wonder what the angel Gabriel looked like.
Why do you think Zachariah was scared of Gabriel?
Why do you think Gabriel made Zachariah unable to speak for nine months?
I wonder how you would feel if an angel from God came to visit you.
I wonder what you would say to that angel.