Better Late Than Never

It is easy to get discouraged in spiritual life because of lost opportunities. Perhaps God put someone in your life who needed to hear the Gospel message, but for one reason or another, you were too afraid to share it with them. We must fight against this because discouragement can paralyze us. Know that God will give us another opportunity to follow him and do his will just as he did with Zechariah.

Zacharias Writes John's Name by Domenico Ghirlandaio

Gospel - Luke 1:57-66

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child

she gave birth to a son.

Her neighbors and relatives heard

that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,

and they rejoiced with her.

When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,

they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,

but his mother said in reply,

"No. He will be called John."

But they answered her,

"There is no one among your relatives who has this name."

So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.

He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name,"

and all were amazed.

Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,

and he spoke blessing God.

Then fear came upon all their neighbors,

and all these matters were discussed

throughout the hill country of Judea.

All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,

"What, then, will this child be?

For surely the hand of the Lord was with him."

Scriptural Analysis

Luke built his Gospel, thus telling parallel stories of John the Baptist and Jesus. The first was the announcement of their conception: John and then Jesus. Now, Luke turns to the birth narratives again, starting with John.

Luke opens the story of John’s birth in a very similar way to the story of Rebekah, who was also barren, giving birth to Esau and Jacob “ when her days to be delivered were fulfilled” (Genesis 25:24). Luke recounts in Zechariah’s visitation by Gabriel that “many will rejoice” at John’s birth (Luke 1:14). Now that the birth has come, we hear that indeed Elizabeth’s relatives and neighbors are rejoicing with her.

The Abrahamic Covenant dictated that boys were to be circumcised on the eighth day of their life. It is during this bris that the baby will also be named. A dispute ensues over what this child will be named. Gabriel instructed Zechariah to name the child John; of course, this is the name that Elizabeth gives him. However, the people are unsatisfied as this name has no meaning to her family. There are no relatives with this name.

Zechariah, who is still unable to talk, is asked what the child’s name should be. He asks for a table, and upon the table, he writes the name John. In this act of obedience, in belief in what was spoken to him, his mouth was open, and he spoke blessings to the Lord.

This strikes fear in the neighbors, who realize that they have seen a sign from God. They recognize that the Lord is with John just as he was with the great prophets like Elijah, “And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.” (1 Kings 18:46) The people wonder what John’s future has in store.

Daily Application

When Gabriel first visited Zechariah in the Temple, his initial response was to doubt the word of God. That resulted in him losing his ability to speak. Now, doubting God is never a good thing, but note how, in this story, God gives Zechariah a chance to atone for his past mistake: an opportunity to make things right. Gabriel had revealed to Zechariah the name he was supposed to give this child, and when the time came to name him, he did not waiver. Even when his relatives pressed him, he remained insistent on the name. With that act of faith and obedience, God restored Zechariah’s ability to speak.

There are times when we are Zechariah in the temple, and there are times when we doubt God. Despite that, God never gives up on us and gives us opportunities to trust him. While we certainly need to confess and atone for those times we doubted God, we must never let those times define us. Rather, we must look to the next opportunity that God presents to us and strive to do his will in that moment. While it would be great if we were perfect all of the time, it is better that we are late than to never follow God at all.