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The ornaments to print out for the Jesse Tree
Understanding the Jesse Tree

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
Zachariah, father of John the Baptist
Luke 1:5-23 (NRSV)

In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years. Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.  But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur. ”Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

When I think of Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, I see a man who grew up in the faith and did all the right things that would characterize him as a good person according to the faith.  The reading starts out by describing him as of the priestly order who married someone who is a descendant of Aaron.  It says that they are both righteous before God, living blamelessly and according to the commandments and regulation of the Lord.  Yet, they find that they are unable to have children.  Many would ask what is the purpose of doing all the right things, if bad things can still happen to you.  There is this basic working impression being good is an insurance policy, in that good things happen to those who are faithful and bad things happen to those who are not.  Yet, good practicing Catholics still have cancer, heart attacks, car accidents, and childhood diseases.  As faithful as they are, Zachariah and Elizabeth realize that they are not able to have a family.  This is something that many good Catholics have to face and question why.  It seems that God also had a plan for them that they could not realize at the beginning.  Even as they were righteous, when the time came for the Angel Gabriel to speak to them of God’s plan, Zachariah could not accept it or understand it.  It was hard for him to believe that God would work in such a way and outside the norm of how He always worked in the many years he and his wife were faithful, practicing Jews.  It would be difficult to believe because he is an old man and his wife is getting on in years but God had a plan.  There are many unexpected things that happen in this world, things that we could never have dreamed of like a pandemic, economic swings, surprise elections and more.  Some events be of God and some may not be of Him,  but what is sure is that all that does happen is under God providence.  He allows it to happen for some reason, and it is our work to seek the good, the true and the beautiful among it all for we know that these will always be present where God is.  Things happen and they can happen to anyone.  Under God care, we accept what comes our way and watch how God works in the midst of it all and we join Him in the work that he has planned.

Zachariah was a priest who went to the temple to pray to God and offer sacrifice.  He was the father of John the Baptist, who is Jesus’ cousin.  The Bible says that Zachariah was a faithful and holy man who followed all the right ways of his faith and always did the right things he was called to do.   When the Angel Gabriel came to tell him God’s plan for Jesus coming, he did not believe that it could happen.  God can do amazing things and we should always be ready for God to work in mysterious ways.

Talk together as a family what it must have been like for Zachariah to be visited by an angel and told of a plan of God that totally surprised him.  Given his life with this wife, he could not believe that God would work in such a way.  Discuss how it might be hard to accept that God may have a plan even with the things that seem difficult to accept and may even be a cross.  The coming of Jesus as the Messiah was not at all in their plans.  Explore what we are called to do and how we are to respond when God does that in our lives.