Daily Devotion for Lent - Day 1, Ash Wednesday

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:1-25

As we begin our journey in Luke, I want to remind us that Luke originally wrote for a Gentile Christian audience.  But he begins the Gospel with a Jewish witness - the parents of John the Baptist.

John, of course, did not have the breakthrough into the larger Gentile world - his influence remained largely in Palestine.

His father, Zechariah was a Levite - of the priestly order.  And his mother, Elizabeth was descended from Aaron - the high priest and brother of Moses.  John's pedigree was ripe for a new witness to the Jewish people.

It is interesting that we see John tied to Moses (through Aaron in verse 5) and Elijah - through power of the Holy Spirit in verse 17.  We'll see this duo re-emerge later in the Gospel.  We also remember that Elijah was rumored to come prior to the Messiah which Luke will reveal to be Jesus.

As I read this story again, I'm struck by Gabriel muting Zechariah's voice.  The rationale is a lack of faith when the angel tells him the plan.  I must admit that I would also have some incredulity about a birth during my old age.  

The punishment is especially difficult in that the job of the priest liturgically is to speak on behalf of God to the people.  Gabriel may be saying that if you don't have the proper faith in this instance, you may need to listen more and speak less while you consider how you share faith with God's people.

I wonder how many times our own sense of doubt gets in the way of our witness to God?  

Have you ever known the right response but failed to speak because you didn't know how it would be received?   In essence, our own doubts and fears can silence who we are and how we share.

As we walk with Jesus during these 40 days, my hope is that we can speak to our faith while we prepare for Easter.  We certainly want to do so in a way that won't turn people off, but this reasoning shouldn't make us think that faith sharing is off limits either.  Maybe our prayer needs to be, "Lord, help me find my voice in a way that can be heard."

Prayer for the day:

Ever-present God, you have shaped our lives in ways that we do not fully comprehend.  Help us to understand more fully who we are in you.  And as we understand more of who you have made us to be, help us to be vulnerable enough to share ourselves with the world.  We pray this in the name of the Christ.  Amen.

Photo by Simon Johansson via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.