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.
May our spiritual ears and eyes be open to the leading of the Lord to do something for Him that may seem unexpected or surprising to us!
I appreciate the gentle way that our Lord dealt with Zacharias' unbelief, when brought a message from God. He prevented him from speaking until this moment when he could confirm that the name of the child should be John.
Thank you Lord for the how you deal with us in our doubt, as you did with Thomas and you call us to stop doubting and believe, because when we believe we have such joy and peace. Holy Spirit live your life through me today so that I may trust you with all the circumstances that this day brings me. In Christ name I pray.
As Ken wrote, John was not after his father because his ministry was very unlikes father priest. John was to baptize thousands and announce Jesus as Lord. “John “ means God is gracious.
Than you for your insight Ken.
I was reading about why there was such amazement that they didn't name the child after his father. I learned that to name him after the father was not only tradition, but included the assumption that he would follow in his father's footsteps (in this case, to be trained to be a priest... in Jesus' case, if named after Joseph, a carpenter). The fact that he is given a different name, in fact a name that no other family member had, implied that he would go down a very different and unknown path.
Marty mentioned in his sermon that both children in the Christmas narrative (Jesus and John) were given their name by God's messenger angel. We ALL have a…