(Audio)
Zechariah's voice had been silenced when he doubted the angel's word to him. He became emblematic of all of Israel, thinking he had toiled in vain and for nothing, uselessly spent his strength.
It wasn't meant for Zechariah to remain mute, nor for the voice of prophecy in Israel to remain silent as it had for so long. Nor is it meant for our own tongues to remain silent. Our doubts, though, must come to silence so that the LORD's word can be heard more clearly. When they happens we can decide to speak in accord with that word.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Israel doubted, Zechariah doubted, and we doubt. When we won't speak in accord with God's word we find our words lack substance and power. They are vapor that dissipates as quickly as we release them. We find ourselves frustrated and eventually, hopefully, quiet. In quietness we discover the words which God had given us. We discover words which have in themselves the power to break our silence, which have the substance and meaning to be worth speaking.
Our doubts and distractions limit the plans that the LORD has for us. That is why he desires to silence those doubts so that his own plans may come to fruition.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
The LORD wants each of us to grow and become like Isaiah, strong in the Spirit. We are each anointed priest, king, and yes, prophet at our baptism.
Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and established as priest, prophet, and king. The whole People of God participates in these three offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for mission and service that flow from them.
(see CCC 783)We learn from Zechariah to trust God even when his word seems to good to be true, to impossible to believe. This trust gives birth to spirits that have the humility of John the Baptist. With him, we say "He must increase, but I must decrease" (see John 3:30). With him we can readily point to and trust in the one who came after John, whose sandals we are not worthy to unfasten.
Fear and doubt have kept the people of God silent for too long. God does abandon us to such straits. His plans for us are too big to let us pridefully stand in the way of those plans. On our own we would accept only what we could understand, undertake only what we thought we could accomplish. We must decrease that he may increase through us. When we are tempted to rely on ourselves or to trust our judgment over and against God's word we must remember, "I am not he." When we do our tongues are loosed and the plan of salvation, seeming stuck for so long, moves forward.
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
It is not primarily through self-abasement that we discover this spirit of obedience and faith in us. Self-abasement and humility must be grounded in the truth of who we are in God. It is this revelation that gives us the trust that makes all else possible.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
No comments:
Post a Comment