Benny Nalkara, CMI

God never forgets the people who wait for His promises with hope. The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist is a great reminder of this truth of life. The meaning of the name Zechariah is “the Lord has remembered” and the meaning of the name Elizabeth is “my God is an oath.” It’s interesting to see that the combination of their names reminds the mercies of God- “The Lord has remembered His oath.”

Zechariah was a priest in the priestly order of Abijah. The first book of Chronicle chapters 23 and 24 give the details about the priests and the Levites. The priests were from the order of Aaron in the tribe of Levi. There were 24,000 priests and they were divided into 24 groups. In each group there were around 1000 priests. Zechariah belonged to the eighth group which was led by Abijah. Zechariah was a common name among the Jews and there are at least 27 persons with the name Zechariah in the bible. God remembered to chose him to enter into the sanctuary and to offer incense, a lifelong dream of a priest. When Zechariah entered into the sanctuary of God, God remembered him and entered into his life by giving him a son. Zechariah’s story is the history of God’s remembrance of him and making his name literally meaningful. Elizabeth was also from the lineage of Aaron and she resembled the OT characters like Sarah (Gen 16:1), Rebecca (Gen 25:21), Rachel (Gen 30:1), Hannah( 1 Sam 1:2) and the mother of Samson (Jud 13:3) in her barrenness. She is pictured as a faithful and enduring believer who never failed to praise the mercies of God by saying, “thus the Lord has done to me in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among men” (Lk 1:25-26). She joins Mary in proclaiming the graces of God by acknowledging His marvelous works in their lives (Lk 1:42-45).

Zechariah and Elizabeth were the couple who had no serious reasons to hope against hope. They were suffering from incessant enquiries, embarrassments from people and laughed at by many as they were childless. They belonged to a time when childbearing was considered as a blessing and barrenness as punishment from God. The Jewish rabbis of the times said that seven people were excommunicated from God and the list began, “A Jew who has no wife, or a Jew who has a wife and who has no child.” Barrenness created shame and disgrace during the lifetime, lack of support during old age and extinct of heirs after death. This state might have created emptiness, sorrow and ignominy in the life of Zechariah and Elizabeth, But amidst these discouraging and disheartening feelings, they waited for the intervention of God. They are distinct and unique among the people who curse God after continuous praise of him when they realize that their wishes are not fulfilled. They never abandon the thought of God. They always remembered the mercies of God and God too remembered them in an unimaginable way. They continued to be “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luke 1:6). Zechariah and Elizabeth are challenging models for those who deny God and all goodness because of despair and hopelessness amidst the failures and fruitlessness of life. They are constant reminders of the truth that God remembers his oath.

In fact this grace-filled couple with their remarkable trust in the promises of God and through their unparalleled endurance, made God to act for them. They were never in a haste to judge that their own emptiness in life was the result of their own sins or the punishment of God. Zechariah, the priest never showed the arrogance by reacting to God or thought of ceasing his priestly service to God in protest. In all humility he continued his ministry in the temple through incessant prayer and incensing with devotion. Elizabeth never complained about the “failure of God” in remembering His oath. As a couple, their life is a testimony to the world by telling that God remembers everyone especially those who suffer and are in distress. God remembered them by fulfilling His promise (oath). He remembered not only their deficiencies but also their goodness and faithfulness. God remembered His oath by giving them one of the greatest prophets of Israel as their son and made them partakers in the salvation history.

Whatever is considered as deficient, a lacking, a punishment or a curse in human understanding may be opportunities for God to intervene. God’s remembrance and His intervention can transform our personal history or the history of our family or community into “salvation history.” What we find in the lives of Zechariah and Elizabeth is the work of God’s grace that transforms the human impossibilities to divine possibilities. God ever remembers His oath to the ones who never renounces the hope in him.