Fear Not The Impossible

 

Luke 1: 57-66, 80

The Birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷ When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰ but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

⁶¹ They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

⁶² Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵ All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

As we often struggle with "the impossible," as in the rising cost of living, more and more people straying from the practice of religion, or from God himself,' scandal after scandal in and out of the Church, and then look at the faith of Zechariah, strengthened by his 9 month period of muteness, we can take heart.  Yes if an Elizabeth in her old age could bear a son, a prophet, and the last prophet at that, then I can muddle through my "mess" and find the purpose and meaning I thought I had lost forever. John the Baptist set the stage for Jesus, and even today,  his birth and his preaching can move us, as they did to his listeners,  to recognize and accept Jesus as the Messiah and God 'plan for us.  "I know the plans I have for you" says the Lord., "plans of fullness, not of harm, to give you a future, and a hope." (Jer 29: 11). .Let us not waste time in fear, for indeed, "nothing is impossible with God."

Bro. Rene