Lectio Divina – 37

Fr Martin Kallunkal

Reading
“In the days of King Herod of Judaea there lived a priest called Zechariah who belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood, and he had a wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendant of Aaron. Both were upright in the sight of God and impeccably carried out all the commandments and observances of the Lord. But they were childless: Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years. Now it happened that it was the turn of his section to serve, and he was exercising his priestly office before God when it fell to him by lot, as the priestly custom was, to enter the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense there. And at the hour of incense all the people were outside, praying. Then there appeared to him the angel of the Lord, standing on the right of the altar of incense. The sight disturbed Zechariah and he was overcome with fear. But the angel said to him, ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you shall name him John. He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will bring back many of the Israelites to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to reconcile fathers to their children and the disobedient to the good sense of the upright, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him” (Lk 1:5-17).

Reflection
It seems that most of us believe in a secular dogma, which states, ‘to err is human.’ Still worse, this uncritical belief even leads many to think that one has to err, at last occasionally, in order to be a human. Can we live an impeccable life? Look, what the Holy Spirit testifies about Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth: “Both were upright in the sight of God and impeccably carried out all the commandments and observances of the Lord.” That they were just does not mean that they never sinned; on the contrary, it means that they stopped sinning at some point of time thanks to the sanctifying grace of God. In a similar wise, although we are not innately innocent, it is possible for every one of us to live without sinning. An important detail that we need to take note in this connection is that they “were upright in the sight of God,” and not necessarily in the eyes of the world. Being a childless father, Zechariah might have raised his pain in his personal prayers. But, God decided to answer the prayer when Zachariah himself seems to have lost his hope of getting a child. Despite Zechariah’s disbelief, God gave him without measure. Zechariah prayed for a child, and God gave him the greatest child born of woman (Mt 11:11). That John, as the angel tells, is great in the sight of the Lord also implies that there are petty souls in the sight of God. What makes a soul great in the sight of God? Leading other souls to God is the way to greatness in the sight of God. John did this through preaching the gospel of repentance and administering baptism.

Prayer
Lord, I am truly surprised to learn that Zechariah and Elizabeth could lead a sinless life. Lord, I belong to a generation, which venerates saints, on the one hand, and believes, on the other hand, that sinless life is a simple impossibility. Help me, Lord, to outgrow the faults of my thoughtless childhood, to leave the slippery paths of my eventful adolescence, and, thus, to move towards spiritual maturity.

Contemplation
Zechariah entered the Lord’s sanctuary all alone; all the people were outside. In the sanctuary, he burnt incense. Leave everyone and everything in your life behind, and stay with the Lord all alone. Let all your plans and pains hover like the aroma of incense.

Action
Recall the secular sayings, which you have believed uncritically; for instance: “no one is perfect; therefore, celebrate your flaws.” Check if such “great sayings” will stand in the light of the Word of God.