It All Begins With…

Reading: Luke 1:5-25

5 It all begins with a Jewish priest, Zechariah, who lived when Herod was king of Judea, Zechariah was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old. (Luke 1:5-7 NLT)

Things don’t always begin where we think they do! As Luke sees it, the wonderful, amazing, world-changing Gospel story doesn’t begin in a manger in Bethlehem, or in a visit by an angel to Mary, or in a dream given to Joseph, it begins with an old Jewish priest named Zechariah! He and his wife Elizabeth were good people, righteous in God’s eyes and carefully faithful to God’s ways.

In God’s plan of redemption there was to be a “preparer of the way”, a prophet whose message and ministry would get the people ready for God’s Messiah, the Savior, to come. Zechariah and Elizabeth were just the right people to bring John the Baptizer into the world and to prepare him for his role!

My story of faith didn’t begin when I was baptized at age seven, or when I had an encounter with God one night in a muddy Vietnamese jungle (link to story here). It began when Joe, the oldest son of a rancher in Eastern Oregon, met Alice, who had traveled from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression migration, at a Bible College in Portland Oregon. They were my parents to be!

For each of us, our faith story, our Gospel Story, begins with someone(s), just as Luke’s Gospel story begins with an old priest named Zechariah!

Who does your Gospel Story begin with? Is it a friend, a parent, a family member, or a church leader? Is it someone you still have contact with? Is it someone you can thank for their role in the beginning of your Gospel Story?

Prayer:

Father, Thank you for faithful Zechariah and Elizabeth! Thank you for Joe and Alice! Thank you for all the people who prepared the way for each of us to come to faith in Jesus. May we each be thankful for the preparers of our way and may we each be preparers of the way for others to find faith and freedom in the way of Jesus Christ! Amen.