Good Morning friends,
After Elizabeth found out that she was pregnant with John the Baptist she secluded herself for 5 months … and that got me thinking all sorts of things. Oh. And when Zachariah found out, he couldn’t believe it and so the angel who told him made him unable to talk for 9 months!
One at a time, though.
We’ll ponder Elizabeth this morning and maybe Zachariah tomorrow, too many thoughts for one day, HA!
Much love and more ☕️,
Glenn || PATREON / BUY ME A COFFEE
Luke chapter 1 says that after Zachariah and Elizabeth found out out that they were pregnant with John, Elizabeth "remained in seclusion for 5 months".
This is a small piece of information, but it has my wheels spinning this morning.
You might remember from a few days ago, the book of Luke was written to the Messianic Jews who had recently been outcasted and shunned and cursed by their larger Jewish tribe. The Temple had been demolished, the entire religion was spiraling, and in an effort to put the broken pieces back together Jewish leadership declared that any Jewish sect that believed the Messiah had already come was no longer welcome, was no longer part of the tribe.
Since the Messianic Jews believed that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah and that he had brought salvation for all people (not just the Jews), they were one of the first groups to be shown the door.
Literal curses were dropped on their heads.
They were slandered.
They were shunned.
They were pushed out.
And so Luke writes his Gospel to them to encourage them to be bold, to continue speaking their truth about Jesus The Christ, and to remain void of self-righteousness.
In his book "Radical Transformation" Alexander John Shaia says that the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth and Elizabeth's 5 month seclusion would have challenged his readers or reminded them of the importance of being silent for a time, that "no matter what joy is in your heart, be silent for a time. Gather wisdom before you speak."
Oooooooh.
Luke is preaching to me this morning, friends.
Do you feel this?
I'm sure the Messianic Jews of Luke's day wanted to shoot off their mouths a time or two, no? I mean, they were human beings just like you and me and so I have to imagine that at times they wanted to let people from their former tribe have it.
Like, absolutely UNLOAD.
"What did you say about me?"
"I'm not really Jewish?"
"My beliefs are toxic?"
"I've abandoned my faith?"
"Well, let me tell YOU a thing or two ..."
Luke, however (through the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth) reminds them that when something new is growing inside of you and change is being birthed ... sometimes the wisest and very best thing you can do is close your mouth and let wisdom gather itself together inside of you so that when you do open your mouth to speak, you don't overflow with emotion ... but are able to overflow from a place of stillness and wisdom, able to speak your truth with confidence, courage, wisdom, and strength.
I can't even count the amount of battles I've gotten into online when someone from my old tribe rode into my comment section or my inbox on their golden high horse to shame me, tell me how terrible I am, or remind me that I'm cast out, that the bridges are burned, that God is beyond disappointed in me, and that I'm clearly not who I used to be.
My response?
Like most parents, I want to protect the growing thing inside of me. Right? As the new things that the Spirit is birthing in me kick and move and grow and evolve and try to find the energy and strength and best words to express themselves, my response has almost always been to come to the defense of my new ideas and engage in the conversation in an effort to protect those unborn/newborn ideas, thoughts, and faith only to be met (99% of the time) with more resistance, which then (I fully admit) activates my sarcasm and turns my words into knives.
Sigh.
This morning while reflecting on the story of Elizabeth's seclusion and Alexander John's perspective on it all ... Spirit reminded me that it's OK to pull away from those conversations, it's OK to not answer every critic, it's OK to really not care what others think, it's OK to delete the text message, to ignore the email, to block the longtime friend or family member on Facebook, it's OK to just be quiet so that instead of pouring energy into external battles where I try to change people's minds about me, I can have significant energy left to focus on developing and pouring into what's growing and developing internally ... inside of my heart, my mind, the deepest parts of myself.
It's a process, friends, and I'm learning - we're learning together.