Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1
God meets us where we are. The Risen Lord found Mary Magdalene mourning outside His empty tomb, and Jesus met Thomas, one of the 12 apostles, at the wit’s end of doubt.1
When Jesus first appeared and stood among His disciples after the resurrection, Thomas was conspicuously absent, as if the Lord chose the moment purposefully so He could touch Thomas’ heart with more grace. For Thomas could not accept the good news he heard from his fellow disciples; unless I touch and see the nail marks in His hands, Thomas said, “I will not believe.”
A week later, Jesus returned and came to Thomas with outstretched hands, safe for skeptical prodding.
“Stop doubting and believe,” Jesus said.
And Thomas all but fell to his knees, “My Lord and my God!”
God meets our mustard seeds of faith and nourishes them with His mercy, yet Jesus is very specific about the power of doubt to uproot the miracle before it’s fully grown.
“Have faith in God,” Jesus said. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”2
The tension between belief and doubt is a common theme in the walk of faith. In the first chapter of Luke’s gospel, we see how these opposing forces are at work in the stories of Zechariah and Mary – and how God’s providence always prevails.
Both Zechariah and Mary were visited by the angel Gabriel, who foretold miraculous births, but Zechariah questioned with doubt and Mary questioned with faith. Zechariah wanted confirmation, while Mary said tell me more about God’s plans.
Zechariah was a priest and married to Elizabeth. Together, they blamelessly walked before God and were a righteous couple in His sight; however, they were childless, a mark of disgrace among the people that Elizabeth’s womb was barren.
An angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah while he was serving in the temple. He was alarmed and “gripped with fear.”
“Do not be afraid; your prayer has been heard,” the angel Gabriel said.
Gabriel further explained that Elizabeth would give birth to a son; they were to call him John, who would be filled with the Holy Spirit and grow up to prepare the way for the Lord.
“How can I be sure of this?” Zechariah questioned. “I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
Zechariah saw the facts; God looks for our faith.
“I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you,” Gabriel said. “… And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
Zechariah concluded his temple service, in silence, and returned home, at which time Elizabeth became pregnant. “The Lord has done this for me,” Elizabeth believed, and she stayed in seclusion for five months, which seems to be a protective measure for the fragile new life inside her.
Perhaps Zechariah’s divinely-imposed silence was also a mark of protection – to preserve the fruit of Elizabeth’s womb and the purpose of the birth.
With Zechariah unable to speak or question, and Elizabeth otherwise isolated, no words of doubt would enter anyone’s heart; they would simply believe in what God was growing. And the only voices baby John could hear in the womb were likely Elizabeth’s prayers, affections, and the word of the Lord.
Until Mary’s providential visit.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Gabriel appeared to Mary and said, “The Lord is with you.”
She was greatly troubled and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. Indeed, the wording is a peculiar parallel to Immanuel, God with us.3
Gabriel’s next message to Mary was similar to what was explained to Zechariah. “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus,” the Son of the Most High.
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” Instead of saying, basically, ‘prove it,’ Mary wondered aloud about God’s power. And Gabriel obliged.
“The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,” Gabriel told Mary.
Then Gabriel referenced the miracle currently at work in Elizabeth: “For no word from God will ever fail.”
Was this a heavenly nudge to go, a divine clue to follow?
For Mary went quickly to visit Elizabeth and Zechariah, and upon Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb. And Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, perceived the power of Christ among them: “Why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth and Zechariah for three months, and then Elizabeth gave birth. Zechariah, still mute, confirmed the baby’s name as John by writing it on a tablet, and immediately he could speak and praised God.
We could pursue proof or confirmation that Mary’s impromptu visit was the act of providence that touched John with the Holy Spirit, as the angel said, or we can witness with wonder and ponder – which was exactly the invitation given to Zechariah during those nine miraculous months.
He was a silent observer to the incomprehensible possibility of God at work in the lives of His faithful children. What could Zechariah do but listen, seek the Lord, and fill his heart with so much praise there was no room for doubt?
And when his voice returned, the Holy Spirit gave Zechariah a song.
