Student Devotional: Advent and waiting
The Christmas season is one where we are constantly waiting. We are waiting for classes to finish, waiting for our grades, waiting for to open our presents, waiting for the relaxation that comes with Christmas break. It seems all we do is wait when Christmas roles around.
However, before Christmas, we actually celebrate the season of Advent. This season is what prepares us for Christmas, or really Christ's coming. During Advent, we wait with hope for Jesus to arrive. Now waiting is not a simple or easy task for most people. Zacharias is a man where waiting became a forced state of being. Zacharias was silenced for nine months by an angel of God because he stalled after receiving word of his wife's pregnancy.
Luke 1:18-25
18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in [n]years.” 19 The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who [o]stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”
21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept [p]making signs to them, and remained mute. 23 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.
24 After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she [q]kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, 25 “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”
Footnotes:
Luke 1:7 Lit days
Luke 1:12 Or fell upon
Luke 1:13 Lit call his name
Luke 1:15 Lit from
Luke 1:18 Lit days
Luke 1:19 Lit stand beside
Luke 1:22 Or beckoning to or nodding to
Luke 1:24 Lit was hidden
In the first chapter of Luke, Zacharias is a priest who is silence for nine months. The silence was caused by his reaction to the news of his wife, Elizabeth's, pregnancy. Now Elizabeth's pregnancy was a miracle because they had been told she could not conceive. Yet, one day when Zacharias is chosen to be the one to go into the holy of holies of the temple, an angel visits him. The angel brings the news of Elizabeth, that their child is paving the way for the Messiah. Zacharias questions the news he is given. His reward is nine months of silence.
Now some may read this passage and wonder how silencing a man for a simple question is fair. Both Zacharias and his wife are advanced in age. It is natural to question this. Yet, consider this. Perhaps God wished Zacharias to spend the next nine months listening. Listening to the words spoken around him, listening and then thinking about what he heard. Just like the holidays, which are bustling with activity, we can get caught up in our lives going, going, going. Slowing down doesn't seem like a possibility. Instead it is a hindrance and, in our rushing, we often times don't always listen intently on what is being said to us.
Zacharias is an example of where we didn't listen to the message God was sharing. Now Zacharias heard the words, but instead of listening and thinking about what he was told. He quickly responds with a question. So how does this tie back to Advent, the season of waiting? Well, usually when you are waiting for something, there is something you are waiting to hear to tell you that your waiting is over. That's what we are doing right now. We are waiting and we will know our waiting is over when we hear the good news of Christ. Advent though shouldn't be only a season of the church's calendar. It should be a way of life. If we live our lives waiting with active hearts, listening (vs. hearing) for the news. We may be waiting, but Christ has already come, so our Advent is now a "wait and see." It is a time where we can slow down to listen, so that we can hear that good news and see Christ come again. Zacharias was made to slow down, to listen, and with this came the birth of his son, John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Christ. If we prepare our hearts for a life of Advent, we can hopefully slow ourselves down with listening ears to hear the good news and see Christ come again.
