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NOTES for Luk 1:57-80

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57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
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In this episode there is one circumstance that appears strange if ethnographic details are taken into account. The point is that among Jews a son can receive his father's name only if the father died during the mother's pregnancy. It is hard to say when this custom arose, but if it already existed by the time of John's birth, then the position of Zechariah, who was forced for a long time to remain silent, looks tragic: he is not taken into account; he is equated with the dead. The neighbors and relatives, rejoicing at the infant's birth and proposing to name him Zechariah, are in essence disposing of things in a house that is not theirs.

But Zechariah, despite the humiliations he endured, kept faithfulness to God. We hear his inspired speech, containing prophecy, and the evangelist notes that he spoke under the action of the Holy Spirit. But in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah had to pass patiently through the trial of rejection.

Other notes

 
For Luk 1:57-80
57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
Hide
Today's reading completes the evangelist's account of the birth of John the Baptist. It is notable that Luke's conclusion of the account of this event follows immediately after...  Read more

Today's reading completes the evangelist's account of the birth of John the Baptist. It is notable that Luke's conclusion of the account of this event follows immediately after the account of the Annunciation, which turns out to be included within the account of John's miraculous conception and birth. This composition of the first chapter of the Gospel is clearly not accidental. Each of the evangelists describes in his own way the reality of what theologians today call the Incarnation. For Luke, as we can see, it has first of all a historical, or more precisely, a philosophy-of-history dimension.

This approach was not something completely new: the sacred texts that existed in early Christian times (the Pentateuch, the Former Prophets, and the Latter Prophets) were likewise works concerned with the meaning of history. They presented the history of the people of God as the history of Revelation. And the history of Revelation was, naturally, above all the history of God's relationship with the human being. It is no surprise that it was chiefly the history of prophets and righteous people: one can learn about revelation only through the testimony of those who hear God and are not afraid to testify to what they have heard.

For Luke, who knew how Jesus evaluated the ministry of John the Baptist (Luke 7:28), this prophet clearly became a symbol of prophetic ministry as such, a kind of quintessence of the entire prophetic tradition. It is no accident that the evangelist describes his miraculous birth in such detail, as if making it clear that God Himself points to John as the one who will complete what the prophets of former times had begun. And Luke describes the birth of the Messiah-Christ as an event that proves to be the center and meaning of the whole history of Revelation.

In this respect the composition of the first chapter partly resembles the composition of an Eastern icon, where what is shown in the center and in the foreground is usually not what three-dimensional perspective requires, but what is the center of meaning in what is depicted. In Luke, this composition has an additional meaning: the Nativity of Christ is woven into the fabric of history, even if it is portrayed symbolically, and yet it is entirely real. In this way Luke expressed the truth of what today is usually called the Incarnation, without which the whole history of Revelation would have remained incomplete.

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For Luk 1:57-80
57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
Hide
Zechariah pronounces a true hymn to the future Messiah. He expresses hopes that can be placed only in God...  Read more

Zechariah pronounces a true hymn to the future Messiah. He expresses hopes that can be placed only in God: that peace will finally come on earth, that God's people will be delivered from their enemies, and that people will receive forgiveness for everything wrong they have done before God...

But here there is not only passive expectation of the triumph of justice and peace. Everyone who becomes a participant in the Message contributes to its fulfillment: Zechariah helps fulfill the prophecy about the last prophet, Mary receives the power of the Spirit in order to give birth to the coming Messiah, and John will have to prepare the people for his coming. What mission rests on us, living two millennia after the Nativity?

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For Luk 1:57-66
57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
Hide
On the day of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Church offers us readings that tell of the relationship between God and His chosen people. And although John is first mentioned only in the New Testament, he has the most direct connection with all the preceding history of Israel. Sometimes he is spoken of as...  Read more

On the day of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Church offers us readings that tell of the relationship between God and His chosen people. And although John is first mentioned only in the New Testament, he has the most direct connection with all the preceding history of Israel. Sometimes he is spoken of as the last prophet of the Old Testament, and this is truly so. Being the son of one of the priests of the Jerusalem Temple, he became heir to all the piety of the Old Testament, and not only by origin. He experienced an encounter with the Lord even before his birth into the world, and the Lord called him "from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel might be gathered to Him" (Isa. 49:5).

John continued to carry out his service to God, calling people to repentance, even after the beginning of Christ's preaching. But by his actions he "fulfilled," that is, brought to fullness, what the whole people of Israel had been called to do during the Old Testament period: to live before God and bear witness to the world about the coming Savior. He shows the fullest possible holiness for God's people: the closest possible approach to God by human strength. But as the Lord Himself said, "among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he" (Matt. 11:11), because our efforts alone are not enough. And the Lord wants us to make efforts, to try as much as possible to draw near to Him, and He will fill up the rest by coming to us.

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For Luk 1:57-66
57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
Hide
It is striking that all the miraculous works of God turn out to be surprises for us...  Read more

It is striking that all the miraculous works of God turn out to be surprises for us. After all, God in fact never undertakes anything serious without warning people about it (Amos 3:7). So before the coming of the Messiah, which God had been preparing for several centuries, the greatest of the prophets is sent into the world: John. His task is to be the herald announcing the appearing of Christ, to recognize Him, and to point people to Him. Yes, the Lord called him to his ministry while he was still in his mother's womb. But each of us, too, was created by the same God and is precious in His eyes; this is what is said in Psalm 138(139).

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For Luk 1:67-79
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Hide
Christmas Eve is one of the most difficult days of the year. The texts read this morning and evening convey all the tension that has built up in us by this day...  Read more

Christmas Eve is one of the most difficult days of the year. The texts read this morning and evening convey all the tension that has built up in us by this day. It seems that the prophecy exists, it is known that it was fulfilled, and we already know why and how God came to us as a Man. But while waiting for Christmas, we all live through the day when He has not yet been born, and yet there is no strength left to wait. What if everything is not so? What if this is a mistake, a fantasy, the eternal desire to pass off what we want as reality? We wait for Him, we are afraid of being mistaken, and we gather together to live through these few hours remaining before His birth.

And when we see Him, the Child given to us for salvation, together with Zechariah we will laugh at our fears and at the fact that He has once again led us out of the "shadow of death."

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For Luk 1:79
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Hide
Zechariah, one of those "waiting for the consolation of Israel," the very consolation associated with the coming of the Messiah, says that the coming Messiah will, among other things, "give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, guiding us into the way of peace." Here we see the image of the Messiah as enlightener, an enlightener in the most literal...  Read more

Zechariah, one of those "waiting for the consolation of Israel," the very consolation associated with the coming of the Messiah, says that the coming Messiah will, among other things, "give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, guiding us into the way of peace." Here we see the image of the Messiah as enlightener, an enlightener in the most literal sense of the word. In later centuries, "enlightenment" was often understood as something entirely different: knowledge of the world and of the human person, a correct worldview, in short, something connected in one way or another with the intellectual sphere. People thought that the more a person knew, the more correctly he would live and the happier he would become. Zechariah, however, speaks of enlightenment in the most literal, spiritual sense.

He means that light of God's presence which faithful Yahwists of his time and of earlier ages knew well enough, because this Presence as light had been revealed to them already in the days of Moses. That is the kind of light that was now to enlighten people. And the world as well: the Kingdom was to enter the world, and the world was to become the Kingdom, entirely permeated with light. It would be the same light that permeated the world on the first day of creation and that later grew dim because of the evil and sin that entered the world. The darkness of which Zechariah speaks is not physical; this darkness appears where there is no room for God's presence. After the fall, the whole world found itself in the shadow of death, which had taken it captive.

And now the time is coming when the Messiah's arrival will leave no place for darkness in the world, will free it from captivity, making the world part of the Kingdom and restoring its fullness. Peace is what is given to a person in the Kingdom. This is not only peace between people who cease being enemies of one another; it is also peace with God, and that is already a new reality for fallen humanity: God's presence opening itself to a person from within as part of his own inner life. Peace is the same Kingdom, but inside, in the heart. Peace within and light without - this is how the Kingdom entering the world with the Messiah is revealed to Zechariah.

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