Mellowing Zeal

Zechariah, the father of John we know as the Baptist, shows up only in the first chapter of Luke. Already old, Zechariah likely does not live to see his son’s day in the sun down by the River Jordan. He is proper, good, reliable and faithful, a priest who has just done his dead level best all his life. You get the idea that he was ordinary, nothing stellar, boring almost, thus making the birth of a child late in life all the more dramatic for the neighbors and kin.

And yet God deems him a good father for John. Something steadfast about him. Just good solid stock.

Luke writes that Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were both descended from appropriate lineage for the priesthood (v5). Both were also “upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.”

It is this sixth verse that cues us in on why they may have been singled out to be John’s parents. As a prophet, John has a special mission. He is to go beyond doing right and to take on special vows. Specifically he is never to touch wine or fermented drink. The contrast between Jesus and John is painted as stark later by the Pharisees who call Jesus a glutton and a winebibber compared with the austerity of John.

It is this discipline, this focus that is so important to John’s mission – a mission of calling the house of Israel to repentance (v17) – which shows up first in his parents. Whether or not they refrained from strong drink before the birth of John, they were the kind of people who could be counted on to adhere to whatever regimen was required of John as he grew into the man of steel who faced down the worldly powers of his day from out in the wilderness.

I wonder if this austerity was better placed in the hands of old parents like this couple as opposed to younger ones. Faith ripened with age can have a mellowing, wholesome affect. John didn’t need a father to outdo him in intensity, especially not the type that comes with untested youthfulness. His fire didn’t come from his earthly father, but from his heavenly Father. As I read Luke’s descriptions of Zechariah, I see a very human man, a man given to doubts and fears, a man more like myself.

Here was a man who knew he was not God, who lived his disciplined life with humility. And much of that humility probably came from his wife’s barren womb, a pronounced stigma of the day. What sins had they committed to leave her womb cold? What lack of faith produced no seed? There was little mercy for couples with no children. Such adversity can either destroy you or produce in you a humble spirit. Zechariah and Elizabeth were not destroyed.

Zeal without humility is dangerous, especially when couched in the language of faith. Fundamentalism has come to be a four-letter word in our modern world in no small part due to this hazardous mix of faith, zeal and arrogance. In Zechariah’s day, there were enough such religious fanatics around in the form of Pharisees and Zealots. What was needed was a prophet who heeded the words of Micah to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God (6:8). Such was the son that Zechariah raised. John was the fruit of his disciplined, weathered and wisened old age.