When Two Old People Got a Surprise

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The story of Jesus’ birth is a wonderful story, packed with one surprise after another. Just imagine what it would be like to hear it for the first time.

The first surprise happened to a righteous priest married to a woman who was descended from the daughters of Moses’ brother Aaron. His name was Zacharias; hers Elizabeth.

Zacharias and Elizabeth were the kind of people you would want to have as friends. Both were righteous in God’s sight. Both walked blamelessly in the Lord’s commandments. They had a wide circle of people who knew them and who cared about them in their sorrows and joys.

Luke tells us something else about Zacharias and Elizabeth:

. . . and they were both advanced in years.
Luke 1:7

There was one special joy that Zacharias and Elizabeth had never experienced in their marriage. Though Zacharias had prayed that they would have a child, Elizabeth was barren.

One day Zacharias was chosen by lot to go into the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and burn incense. Lots of people were waiting for him outside. As Zacharias stood to the right of the altar of incense, an angel of the Lord appeared to him. I suppose that Zacharias could have gotten excited, screamed for joy, and run outside to tell everyone the amazing thing that had just happened to him. But that wasn’t his reaction at all. Zacharias reacted by being gripped with fear. That is one thing in this story that is not surprising.

We know what the angel was about to say, but Zacharias didn’t. He didn’t know that the angel had a wonderful message to tell him. The angel’s first words were:

“Do not be afraid, Zacharias,
for your petition has been heard,
and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you will give him the name John.
Luke 1:14

I like using cartoons with emotions to teach children how people in the Bible may have felt when they experienced something amazing. Last night I drew Zacharias and Elizabeth. What do you think? You think they might have looked something like this on the way back home?

Zacharias must have been waiting a long time for those petitions to be answered. He didn’t know when just the right time would come for an answer, but God did. And that’s when God answered it. It was surprising for God to answer this prayer when Zacharias and Elizabeth were both advanced in years, but God knew that that time was exactly right.

I don’t know what prayer you are waiting for God to answer. He does and He knows when to answer it, too.

Now He was telling them a parable
to show that at all times they ought to pray
and not to lose heart.
Luke 18:1

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