Jewish culture regarded this as a sign of divine disfavor (cf. Gen 30.23; 1 Sam 1), often as punishment for sin. But this is not the case with this couple; they were "righteous" (1.6); some- thing is going to happen.
Sure enough an angel appears to the husband and tells him that his wife is going to have a son. He asks, "How is this possible!? We are too old to have children" (1.19).
To which the angel responds, "I stand in the very presence of God and have been sent specifically to tell you this - you think I'm kidding? On that note, how about you don't talk for the entire duration of the pregnancy" (1.20).
The woman ends up conceiving, releasing her from the disgrace that had plagued her for so many years. God set something amazing in motion, and even the disbelief of those involved could not stop it.
The Gospel of Luke has just begun, and already barrenness is turned to fertility, disgrace to favor, and hope is brought to circumstances that seemed hopeless. This is the gospel in its purest form and we are just getting started!
2 comments:
I never thought about this until you brought it up. It's unfortunate that Zechariah and Elizabeth didn't believe Gabriel even though Abraham and Sarah had the same issue back in Genesis...
Yeah, it's kind of wild. Makes one think angels were more commonplace than they are today! I think Elizabeth pry responded favorably (assuming Z "charaded" out what he had been told) fitting with Luke's theme of highlighting women and reversing the societal stereotypes against them.
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