Bible Study Series: Luke 1:21-25. After Zechariah was extra-skeptical, he was struck mute. But the good news: his wife gets pregnant. Trial and blessings often go together.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 1:21-25
21 The people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed at the time he spent in the sanctuary. 22 When he exited, he was unable to speak to them. They recognized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was motioning to them and remained mute throughout. 23 And so it happened that when the days of his service were completed, he went back home. 24 After those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived and secluded herself for five months. 25 She said, “And thus the Lord acted for me in the days when he looked with favor and removed my shame among the people.”
Comments:
21-24:
“Zechariah’s encounter with Gabriel takes place at the center of the Jewish world, the Holy Place, only a veiled doorway from the presence of God’s glory. But Gabriel travels to Mary, faraway from the temple mount in Jerusalem to Nazareth in Galilee—insignificant, despised, unclean” (Green, p. 84). Mary, though only a young girl, embraces God’s plan. Zechariah has difficulties at first.
Apparently the offering of incense did not take so long in normal circumstances; the conversation with the angel added to his time.
The angel’s disciplinary action was still in effect—no speech. The people did not completely understand, because he saw a vision of sorts, but Gabriel really did appear to him. It was no mere vision.
Much more often than not, it is best just to go home after a mighty experience with God. People who wander around from church to church are unstable. And Zechariah’s going home solved the practical problem of conceiving. John’s birth was going to happen the normal way between husband and wife (unlike Mary’s pregnancy).
So nature took its course, and Elizabeth conceived.
25:
The phrase “looked with favor” comes from one Greek verb ephoraō (pronounced eh-fohr-ah-oh), and it means to “gaze upon”; “with favor” is implied.
“shame”: Elizabeth lived in an honor and shame culture, which was expressed in public. No doubt the people in the Judean hill country alternated between pity and contempt for her. “Poor Elizabeth! She has no child! What did she do wrong that God closed her womb? It is God’s will! It’s his punishment. Poor little thing.” She called it “my shame.” So she was really, really grateful when God lifted or removed shame or reproach from her.
To conclude ….
His Gospel is super-charged with the charismatic and supernatural atmosphere of God through his Spirit. From the first chapter to the last one, Chapter 24, his work must be read in that context. In this pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or unit or section, Zechariah experienced the miracle of restoring his speech. God is already intervening into human affairs.
Grow App for Luke 1:21-25
1. How do you think Elizabeth felt when Zechariah returned home and motioned to her about the angel he saw and the promise of a child, if she could understand him? (He did have access to a writing tablet [see v. 63]).
2. How about you, when God has not answered your prayers? Are you jaded or full of praise, no matter what?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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