57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
One thing that I think most parents are guilty of is wanting to raise a "mini-me". Dr. Evil in Austin Powers brought us this concept of mini-me. He had a son, Scott, that was nothing like him so he had to create a little version of himself to love while he rejected Scott. I see this in me with my four kids. Growing up I wanted them to play sports, especially baseball, go to my college, become Doctors, play the guitar, go to conservative churches, believe in a young earth, fish, listen exclusively to Christian music, etc. I didn't name any after me except one's middle name. My wife wanted them to have her attributes which I will just sum up as type A. We just returned from a weeks vacation at the beach where we took our niece Shelby and was amazed at how she is a mini-me of her mom. I'm not saying it is bad to want our kids to be just like us, but it is something we need to be aware of that we are doing because if we aren't, our kids can get very frustrated and rebel against their lack of freedom to be who God created them to be. I am so guilty of this that God had to give me a dream that my youngest son wasn't going to be a doctor to help me cope with the next day he told me that he was going into business.
We see this going on in this passage. After waiting all these years for a son, certainly Zechariah would name him after himself. Certainly he would want him to be a great temple priest just like himself. Certainly, because of the miraculous nature of his birth, he would expect him to be one that would lead the Israelites. Yet when we see the birth of his son we see that he gives him his own name. We see that he doesn't live at the temple but goes into the wilderness. He doesn't wear a white robe with tassels and phylacteries but dresses like a wild man. He doesn't eat the traditional food of a priest but scavenges off the land. He doesn't lead the Israelites but directs them to their leader. Was John great? Yes, Jesus refers to him as the greatest man who ever lived. Was John a spiritual leader? Yes, people came from all over to hear him speak. Did his son make him proud? You bet, but just not in the way that he could have imagined.
What is the secret we see in child rearing here? One is Godly parents. As opposed to Eli in the Old testament who raised terrible sons, Zechariah loved his job as a priest. It was not a burden. It was not a job. Worshipping God was a "get to" not a "have to" and John would have seen that.
( "and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days") Secondly, he let John become who God wanted him to be, not who he wanted him to be. Third, his goal for John was not fame, wealth, long life, ease, comfort, but to be one who spreads the gospel and brings revival and loves and serves God. Unfortunately most Christian parents are into their child being popular, well adjusted, and live a comfortable self-sufficient life raising grandkids for them near their home. Lastly, Zechariah was glad his son was number 2. We want our kids to be number 1. We want our kids to win all the medals, trophies, scholarships, and be good winners as they give a sympathetic nod to the kids they beat out. Zechariah doesn't care that his nephew, Mary's son, is going to garner all the attention and his son is going to serve Mary's son. That's OK with him. As long as he was doing all God planned for him, Zechariah was content.
What are your parental goals? It's not too late to reevaluate, redirect, refocus.
Thank you Lord that my kids are like me in the fact that they love you. Help me point my grandkids to You and help that to be my number one priority as we get to be involved in their lives. Help me to continue to accept the differences in my kids lives, temperments, way they raise children, beliefs in non-essentials. Amen
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