The promise of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias is now to be fulfilled (1:13-17). John, to be called “the Baptist,” is to be born. “He will be great in the sight of the Lord . . . filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother’s womb. And . . . he will go as a forerunner” before Messiah (1:15-17). This is a great event, in itself, and in what it foreshadows. Luke describes for us the circumstances of John’s birth and naming, and the various responses, encouraging us to see how we too should respond to John, and more importantly, how we should respond to the One to whom John points.

Rejoicing

And Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her home. (Lk 1:56)

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months, by so doing strengthening her own faith in the promises of God. Remember, Elizabeth’s conception was presented to Mary as a confirming sign that “nothing will be impossible with God” (1:35,37).[1] As Elizabeth grew great with child, Mary’s faith was encouraged.

Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she brought forth a son. (Lk 1:57)

Verse 57 announces the fulfillment of the promise of God to Zacharias and Elizabeth. She rejoices (as verse 58 tells us) because God has been true to His word. She (and the child) were able to navigate the dangers of late-in-life childbirth and she gave birth to a son (not merely a “babe” or a “child” as in 1:41,44). She rejoices because her son will do great things in connection with the plan of redemption. She rejoices because his birth points to the birth of the Redeemer Himself.

And her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her. (Lk 1:58)

Luke describes John’s birth as a “great mercy.” “Neighbors” and “relatives,” seem not to know of the promises of God to Zacharias and Elizabeth, or the eternal significance of this son as foretold by Gabriel (though they know something significant is going on). Nonetheless, they were “rejoicing with her.” While Zacharias and Elizabeth might focus on the promise of God and its fulfillment, the others are able to see a “great mercy.” How so? In Elizabeth’s conception at an advanced age, in a safe pregnancy, a safe delivery, in the well-being of both mother and child, none of which could be taken for granted in the ancient world with its high infant and maternal mortality rates in childbirth. In addition, they rejoiced in the child being a son, especially appreciated in a first century middle eastern home.

The neighbors and relatives are rejoicing in the blessing of God and teaching us how to respond to positive events in our lives and the lives of others. Every success, every triumph, every opportunity, every increase of prosperity, every honor, indeed all that is good that comes our way should be seen as a mercy of God that is to be magnified. Every breath taken, every meal eaten, every day of good health enjoyed, every night spent in a warm bed with a roof over our heads is a gift of God’s mercy. He gets the credit. He gets the honor. He gets the glory, praise, and thanks. Nowhere is this more true than in the realm of redemption. Has God not sent a Redeemer? Did Jesus not live for us and die for us? Have we not been forgiven for our sins, reconciled with God, and given eternal life through Him? How, then, can we not rejoice? 

They also are teaching us how to respond to the blessings enjoyed by others. Human nature being what it is, it is not unusual for us to respond to our neighbor’s success with envy. If our neighbor, even our Christian neighbor, suddenly becomes rich, or is honored, or his/her children are recognized for outstanding achievement, look out. Cynical, bitter whisperings often will follow. Few will be “excited” for those who prosper and succeed in this world. Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives are. The Apostle Paul says we are to “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15). We are to share in our neighbor’s joys and their sorrows. Jesus rejoiced with those celebrating a wedding (Jn 2:1ff) and wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus (Jn 11:1ff). The proverbs say “it is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich” (Prov 10:22). This brings together both of our thoughts. Rejoice in those whom the Lord blesses, and rejoice in the blessing that they have received. Don’t indulge resentment. Don’t nurse bitterness. Don’t ask, “Why them and not me?” Don’t complain, “But I’m a more sincere Christian than they are.” Trust the purposes of God and rejoice with them. Then when life turns south, weep with them. Don’t secretly relish their downfall. Weep with them in the hardships and rejoice with them in their successes. Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives “rejoiced with her,” “shared her joy” (NIV), though not fully understanding the extent of God’s mercy to her.

Trust

And it came about that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father. (Lk 1:59)

Zacharias and Elizabeth respond to the blessing of God by doing what they’re supposed to do.

Male children were to be circumcised on the eighth day (Gen 17:12; Lev 12:3). They comply with the command. They bring their son to be circumcised on the eighth day, just as Scripture said they should. They obey. Scripture says circumcise on the eighth day, and so they show up not on the seventh day and not on the ninth day, but on the eighth day. Confused voices sometimes identify precise obedience with legalism. It is not. At its best it’s about pleasing God. It is just doing what the Bible says. It is not legalism to obey God, to trust His word and to conform one’s life to it. Likewise should we aim to please God by complying with His commands.

Apparently it had become customary to name boys at the time of their circumcision, as sometimes has been the practice in connection with Christian baptism, which in some places (e.g. Calvin’s Geneva), also took place on the eighth day. The expectation seems to have been that a son would be named for his father, as is indeed the case in most of the world. Verse 59 literally says, “they were calling him,” that is, already calling him, “by the name of his father.”

And his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.” (Lk 1:60)

Elizabeth “answered” their expectation, or “spoke up” (NIV). Her “No” is emphatic. She insists that “he shall be called John.” John is the shortened form of Jehohanan, which means “Jehovah’s gift” or “God is gracious,” appropriate with respect to his birth, and prophetic with respect to his role as forerunner of the gospel of grace. There is no hint that Elizabeth knew the child’s name by means of special revelation. The “writing tablet” (NIV) referred to in verse 63 no doubt had been given considerable use in the previous nine months, especially in communicating the message of the angel. The neighbors and relatives offer their rebuttal:

And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.” (Lk 1:61)

This is a very human scene. Neighbors and relatives don’t like the name that Elizabeth has chosen, and are voicing their opinions. This kind of controversy has been repeated a thousand times in families all through the ages. I offered the names “Phoebe” and later “Geneva” for our daughters, and family members did not hesitate to make their disapproval known. I surrendered. Elizabeth, however, was unyielding. So they even sought to enlist Zacharias in their cause.

And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. And he asked for a tablet, and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished. (Lk 1:62,63)

Zacharias responds that “His name is John.” The angel had already named the child (Lk 1:13) and Zacharias accepted this as an accomplished fact. No more need be said. John is his name. One is impressed that Zacharias, who was banished from our narrative after his expression of skepticism and subsequent punishment, is now compliant (he was absent from vv 26-58). Circumcision, like baptism, is a means by which a child is dedicated, even given to God. It was commanded. Zacharias obeys.

With respect to naming, he and Elizabeth are bucking up against societal norms and society’s expectations.[2] Their response is to trust God and obey. They are flesh and blood like we are. Societal pressure can be enormous and rarely is it conducive to serious Christian discipleship. This is why we are warned about being conformed to this world (Rom 12:1,2). The world exerts a  conforming pressure that is difficult and hard to resist. “Religion,” as socialites call it, may be given a place, but not a significant place. This is true whether one’s social circle is the country club or the bowling alley or both. “Take up your cross” Christianity is rarely respected. John 3:16 Christianity is rarely honored. In fact, it’s an embarrassment. Pressure mounts to spend, consume, and play, and then fit in a bit of religion, of course, like the proverbial Joneses. Add to the tension family pressure, family disapproval, and we can see what Elizabeth and Zacharias were up against. Yet they stood firm.

Zacharias’ submission to God shows the value of God’s discipline. Closing his ears and mouth for 9 months has borne fruit. He has learned his lesson. This is the point of all of God’s discipline, indeed of all of life’s hardships. They are designed for our growth in grace. “Whom the Lord loves he disciplines,” and though “for the moment” it seems “sorrowful,” yet it trains us and bears in us the “peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Heb 12:6,11). “He disciplines us for our good that we may share His holiness” (Heb 12:10). Zacharias required 9 months of frustration and humiliation, but he learned. Pray that we might learn so easily!

The depth of his learning can be seen in verse 64:

And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God. (Lk 1:64)

He emerges from his silent world not furious with God, not shaking his fist at the heavens, not comparing his minor infraction with the severity and longevity of his punishment, but praising God! This is when we know that we truly have submitted to the word and will of God. Perhaps the greatest example of this found in our hymnal is that of Horatio Spafford, who following the deaths in 1873 of his four daughters Annie (11), Margaret Lee (9), Bessie (5), and Tanetta (2) in a maritime tragedy, wrote a hymn of praise to God, “It Is Well with My Soul.”

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll:

Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say,

“It is well, it is well with my soul.”

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And has shed his own blood for my soul.

How ought we to respond to the joys and sorrows of life? Trusting, praising, and obeying God.

Fear

And fear came on all those living around them; (Lk 1:65a)

The restoring of Zacharias’ speech was deferred, as Calvin points out, “deliberately and purposely to that day in order to draw men’s attention upon John.”[3] This was certainly the effect, as the loosening of Zacharias’ tongue results in “fear” (phobos), or “awe” (NIV) from the neighbors. This “sprang from a sense of divine power,” Calvin explains.[4]

and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. (Lk 1:65b)

The neighbors were not merely gossiping. They see in the events of John’s birth the hand of God. “Plainly the events that had just occurred,” Morris explains, “portended some mighty action of God.”[5]

And all who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him. (Lk 1:66)

The people “kept them in mind.”[6] They pondered the events that had taken place: the unusual conception, the silencing of Zacharias, the naming of John, the loosening of Zacharias’ tongue. For the common people, these events together mean this child was special. “What then will this child turn out to be?” they asked. They could see that “the hand of the Lord” was upon him. Events conspired “to show openly that he would be no man of the herd,” observes Calvin.[7]

Fear or reverential awe is the regular and appropriate response to an encounter with God, whether by Isaiah in the Old Testament or John in the New (Isa 6; Rev 1). It is also the typical response. to the clear working of the hand of God in providence. We see this when confronted with what still are called “acts of God,” like giant storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and tidal waves. We see this when God suddenly visits a judgment on the enemies of the gospel, removing them and their obstructions quickly from the scene. When an unlikely person is converted, a skeptic like a Malcolm Muggeridge; or a particularly remote circumstance, like Solzhenitsyn in a Russian Gulag hospital through the witness of a Jewish doctor; or a particularly degraded sinner, a drunk who is delivered from alcohol or a prostitute who is saved from her disgrace and soundly converted and cleansed, it causes awe and wonder! Even fear! They gasp. “Whoa,” they say to each other. They can see the hand of God!

When God begins to work, it can be unsettling, even frightening. It means that the normal, established ways will be overthrown. Routines will be upset. The early Christians were accused of turning the world upside down (Acts 17:6)! When one encounters the true and living God, one’s world is turned upside down. One looks at life differently. One gains a new set of convictions. One embraces new and different priorities. One may be rejected by those within one’s social circle because one no longer loves what they love; and they do not love what we love.

Let us not forget the larger point. John’s ministry is to point to Jesus. The birth of John is a cause of rejoicing because his birth points to the birth of the Messiah who will save his people from their sin (cf. 1:14,44,47). John’s birth is the occasion of soul-searching leading to trust, obedience, and complete submission because he points to Jesus, who calls us not only to repentance (as does John) but to Himself. “Come unto Me,” He says (Mt 11:28-30). The fear expressed at John’s birth finds its ultimate reference point in the birth of the Messiah of whom he is the forerunner. Fear is a common response to Jesus and ministry done in Jesus’ name. When Jesus healed the paralytic the people were “filled with astonishment and . . . with fear” (Lk 5:26; cf. Acts 5:11; 19:17). When Jesus calmed the seas “they became very much afraid” and said, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mk 4:41). Jesus upsets everything. He shatters all categories and expectations. He evokes fear: fear of change, fear of loss of control, fear of hardship and suffering if we follow Him; fear in the presence of the almighty and the all holy.

Of course He ought not to evoke fear. Why? Because He can be trusted. He is the Good Shepherd, kind and gentle (Jn 10:11,14). He will not break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax (Mt 12:20,21; cf. Isa 42:3). While He promises tribulation (Jn 16:33), the greater reality, the predominant experience, that which overshadows all others, is rest. Rest for the soul. Peace. “My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you” (Jn 14:27). All our sorrows will be “turned to joy,” a joy “made full” (Jn 16:20,24). We have nothing to fear and nothing to lose in coming to Jesus. Our fear is primarily of our own creation, arising from our unwillingness to surrender our autonomy. The change Jesus brings is needed change, healthy change, change we need not fear, but embrace. We only need respond to His invitation and come, and find with Him rest for our souls (Mt 11:29).