Zechariah: When Joy Met Doubt and Hope
Daily Scripture
Luke 1:5-25
5 During the rule of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. 6 They were both righteous before God, blameless in their observance of all the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to become pregnant and they both were very old. 8 One day Zechariah was serving as a priest before God because his priestly division was on duty. 9 Following the customs of priestly service, he was chosen by lottery to go into the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense. 10 All the people who gathered to worship were praying outside during this hour of incense offering. 11 An angel from the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw the angel, he was startled and overcome with fear.
13 The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many people will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the Lord’s eyes. He must not drink wine and liquor. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. 16 He will bring many Israelites back to the Lord their God. 17 He will go forth before the Lord, equipped with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will turn the hearts of fathers [or parents] back to their children, and he will turn the disobedient to righteous patterns of thinking. He will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? My wife and I are very old.”
19 The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in God’s presence. I was sent to speak to you and to bring this good news to you. 20 Know this: What I have spoken will come true at the proper time. But because you didn’t believe, you will remain silent, unable to speak until the day when these things happen.”
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they wondered why he was in the sanctuary for such a long time. 22 When he came out, he was unable to speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he gestured to them and couldn’t speak. 23 When he completed the days of his priestly service, he returned home. 24 Afterward, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant. She kept to herself for five months, saying, 25 “This is the Lord’s doing. He has shown his favor to me by removing my disgrace among other people.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
DID YOU KNOW?
Gabriel was “One of the two angels whom the Bible names: the other is Michael.” (R. J. Bauckham, article “Gabriel” in The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, USA, 1996, p. 389.)
Because there were so many priests—an estimated 18,000—special duties had to be assigned by lottery. “This was likely Zechariah’s only opportunity to perform this service during his lifetime.” * Zechariah likely thought he’d remember the day all his life even before the angel appeared. Gabriel’s arrival was a complete surprise. Gabriel’s message echoed the ancient prophet Malachi, who had predicted that God would send a messenger to prepare the way (cf. Malachi 3:1, 4:5).
- Had Zechariah and Elizabeth given up hoping for a child? Gabriel’s words (‘Your prayers have been heard’) suggested they hadn’t stopped praying. Like Abraham and Sarah centuries before, they received God’s promise of a long-awaited child. Yet Zechariah resisted the joy this “good news” offered. When has fear or doubt made it hard for you to accept good news? Do you see hope as naïve and foolish, or as a solid foundation for facing life?
- Throughout the Advent story, fear appears again and again. Fear kept Zechariah from rejoicing in Gabriel’s “good news.” Yet the angel’s first words were, “Don’t be afraid”—the command God gave most often in the Bible. This Advent season, where do you most need to hear God’s message: “Do not be afraid”?
Prayer
A daily reminder from Pastor Hamilton: Our hope is that tonight or tomorrow morning, continuing through Christmas, each of you will, either in the morning or at night, take the time to write down three things you are thankful for. You might write these in the form of a thank you letter to God or simply write down a journal entry.
Prayer: Lord God, you know how often doubt and fear tug at my heart. Help me internalize your message of hope and promise, reminding me to replace fear with your gift of joy. Amen.
GPS Insights
Melanie Hill
Melanie Hill, who serves as the Director of Operations at Resurrection's West location, wrote today’s Insights. She is a Navy mom and mom of three teen daughters, a wife of 24 years, and an avid fan of nachos.
I had to laugh today when I received a text message from my oldest daughter. She messaged me that she had walked into a bookstore to get a Christmas gift for her sister and walked out with a massive book for quilting. In her own words, “What is wrong with me, I don’t even have time to quilt?”
It would seem that even between working, being a full-time college student, and all her other hobbies, she hasn’t given up hope of fitting in one more improbable pursuit.
I think she comes by that improbable hope honestly. As her mom, I can think of too many times I have held onto hope when it’s more likely that ship has long since sailed. Often these are small, silly things, like trying to tackle the stack of books on my nightstand even as I place one more on top. Or pinning another ambitious recipe on my Pinterest board that I am sure I will get to make for my family soon—and by “soon,” I mean in a month or two. Maybe.
Sometimes though, the hope is for something far more important, like a relationship that I longed to heal. I can remember early in my ministry career working with a volunteer whom I genuinely liked but who I always seemed to butt heads with. I worked hard to make our professional relationship smoother. I shared pieces of myself and my story in an attempt to create common ground, but no matter what I tried, we never got to a point where we worked well together, although I had always hoped we could.
When I moved from that ministry role to working at Resurrection, I confess I gave up hope that it would ever be fixed. So, when I received a message from her some years later, I was surprised to say the least. I don’t know what led her to write to me in an attempt to heal the relationship, but I have to think that maybe she too had been holding out hope.
Holding Hope Against the Odds
In reading today’s Scripture passage, it would seem my daughter and I are in good company with Zechariah and Elizabeth. It appears that no matter how improbable, they still held hope that God would bless them with a family. Maybe they still held hope by clinging to the ancient story of Sarah and Abraham. Maybe they had simply begun to envision that “family” might look different for them as they moved into old age. Who is to say?
What I do know is that God is always at work, even when our hope is fading or when the odds seem completely improbable. I don’t believe that God works like a vending machine, where we put in our specific hopes and out comes the exact miracle we want. I think God is much bigger, and His ways are far more mysterious than that. I can’t begin to understand why some hopes He helps realize for us and others remain just that—a hope. But I trust this: The same God who surprised Zechariah in the temple is quietly working within the fabric of your life, even in the space between the books you buy and the quiet prayer you offer.
Hold onto your improbable hope. God is bigger than our timelines and our expectations.
© 2026 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Craig Keener, comment on Luke 1:9 in NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Kindle Locations 232326-232329). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
