Keeping the Faith

Scripture – Luke 1:5-10: 5In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. 7But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years. 8Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

Reflection: Luke’s story begins with the introduction of two people – Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were both “upright in the sight of God.” What a great way to be remembered! He also tells us they had no children. In those days that would have been not just a disappointment to them, but it would also have carried some sort of stigma – as though they’d done something wrong.

In the face of that, they stayed faithful – “observing all the Lord’s commandments.” Even as life did not turn out the way they envisioned and hoped for, they did not turn away from God. They kept themselves actively engaged with Him. That’s a pretty powerful lesson in itself.

Without going into a lot of details regarding the priesthood, Luke tells us on this particular day Zechariah was in the temple by himself doing his priestly duty. His life was about to change in a way he never dreamed. Indeed, that can happen to any of us at any time – perhaps even today.