I am Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah and mother of John the Baptist. I am also the cousin to Mary, mother of Jesus, my Lord. My husband and I were both descendants of Aaron the first Priest of our Hebrew people. I was named after Aaron's wife; namely, Elisheba. It meant that God was an "oath" and that He kept His promises. In time, my name became Elizabeth. There were three hidden meanings in my name. Eli stood for "the Lord is exalted," zabad meant "a gift." In this sense a gift from the Lord or Yahweh. The ending "beth" meant a house or a home. Together, my name meant that God's promise would come through and my house or family would exalt or praise Him. And indeed I became a miracle woman. Like Sarah and Hanna of old, I too was barren and the Lord blessed me with a son in my old age. And like the angel promised Abraham that his son Isaac would continue his seed, the angel promised my husband Zechariah that our son John would usher in the age of the New Israel. That, in itself, would have been the highest honor any mother could have. My son was to be the long-predicted forerunner of the Anointed One of God. What a thrill that was to be the mother of the one that would introduce the Savior to the world!

One day, in the winter of the year, I was interrupted doing my household chores. I had many things to do. My parents had made arrangements for me to marry Joseph, the carpenter. He was quite a bid older than I. He was mature, well established and liked. His wheels, carts and wagons were in great demand. I was considered very fortunate. In my young head, I did not realize how valuable Joseph was until strange things began to happen to me. These things were difficult to explain because I could do nothing to encourage or prevent them. I had been chosen of the Lord for a very special purpose. It was a task that lay outside the realm of human possibility. I was not imagining this. It came right out of the mouth of a being that called himself Gabriel, angel of the Lord Most High. Who would believe me that he said I was to be a mother without a husband? My greatest fear was, "How would Joseph take the news?" I did not have to explain to him, the Lord did that for me. He, too, was chosen to be a father to my Son.

My name is Zechariah. It means, "The Lord has remembered me." Indeed, He has heard my prayers. Among my people, it was disgraceful not to have children. No one would be around to take care of us when we no longer could function. It was particularly painful for my wife. In my world, only women were barren. They were guilty of not bearing children. It was believed that they must have done something that displeased the Lord. Being a priest, without a male heir, made my future look even bleaker. I belonged to a long and reputable line of priests. I dated back to Abijah and Aaron and so did my wife Elizabeth. We were God-fearing and law-abiding Levites. We tried to lead a blameless life before God and men. I was faithful to my priestly duties. And without a son, my chain link, in the priesthood, was about to end.

We do, quite often, insist that we are not like Jesus; namely, divine and human. Jesus distinctly lived and acted in every way as a human being (Heb.4: 15). Until His departure time He referred to Himself as the Son of Man and not as the Son of God. He did not want to be publicized as the Son of the living God (Mt.16: 20). On His last day, He still left it up to His accusers to tell Him who He was and why He was guilty (Greek text, Mt.26: 64). They regarded Jesus as a friend of publicans and sinners, but could not uncover a single disgression. Jesus proved that man was not born a sinner; rather, he became one by choice. For instance, I did not sin in my mother's womb. I did, when I became aware of what is right and what is wrong. Unlike Jesus, I was not as keen on doing what was right. When I did try to do the right thing, it troubled those that did not. Jesus proved that a man could do what is right, even if it costs him his life. Most of the time He went beyond the call of duty. To make it in this world, we too must go the extra mile.

Mark, the Evangelist, tells us that it was Jesus who was amazed at the people's lack of faith (Mk.6: 6). Jesus went home to share with His people the marvelous things God was going to do for them through one of their own and they rejected Him (Jn.1: 11). Yes, some marveled at Jesus' wisdom and healing ability; but, they could not connect because Jesus was one of their own and they knew His family. Jesus had so much to offer and could do very little because they could not believe that God was using one of their own (Mt.13: 53-58). The hometown's people were too familiar with Jesus and His family to accept Him as God's Prophet, rather as God's mouthpiece (Mk.6: 1-6).

The people in Jesus' day were living in the presence of Immanuel and refused to believe it. What God was doing for them was far greater than what happened to David, Jonah and to Solomon. Four times Jesus used the phrase "One greater than," once for John the Baptist and three times about Himself. All four had to do with the arrival of God's Son, as the "Messiah." In spite of the miracles, Jesus was performing, the leaders demanded more evidence that He had a mission from God. Jesus was not playing the role of Moses or of David. Instead, He was proclaiming a kingdom and a way of life that did not engage in hatred or in war. The concepts of freedom and deliverance that Jesus offered bore no similarity to the Exodus and to David's exploits. His own followers began to doubt and demanded to know, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

News is disturbing and so are the interpretations regarding of our time. Every generation has faced difficulties that wished that Christ were on his way back. In Jesus' own days, He had to correct His followers, "At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it" (Mt.24: 23). The reason being that these occurrences shall be counter messianic. False leaders with falsified performances would confuse and mislead the people. Every generation has had such leaders and their accomplishments history verifies. They also had religious interpreters that turned guesswork into unfulfilled promises that the Lord would return in their generation. They neglect to warn their contemporaries that death actually fulfills that promise.

The assumption that Proverbs 29: 18 was about a vision is incorrect. What the people needed was a leader that understood the law of God. The King James Bible has: "Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keeps the law, happy is he." The translator cross-referenced the vision with the Seer Samuel (I Sam.3: 1). The INV supplies us with the word "revelation," the RSV used "prophecy" and the NEB has "no one in authority." What was Solomon trying to tell his readers or listeners?

Moses complained, "But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear" (Deut.29: 4). This was after the miraculous deliverance from Egyptian slavery. Moses came to the conclusion that unless the Lord opens a mind, it stays shut. Isaiah went a step farther. The Lord does not interfere with the person that deliberately closes his/her mind: "Loiter and be dazed, enjoy yourselves and be blinded, be drunk but not with wine, reel but not with strong drink; for the Lord has poured upon you a spirit of deep stupor (sleep); he has closed your eyes, the prophets, and muffled your heads, the seers" (Isa.29: 9-10, NEB). Mental blindness resulted in the dissolution of the Ten Tribes or Northern Israel.

We were about to receive communion, when our pastor reminded us that we had to be right with the Lord in order to be worthy participants. He stressed a personal relationship with Jesus. When I was an active pastor, I, too, used a similar approach and stressed Paul's caution (I Cor.11: 17-34). On our way home, the question hit me, "How can I be right with God who cannot be reached physically?" I was challenged to re-examine my relationship with Christ and there was a missing link between us. Yes, Christ stands between God and man; but, who stands between Christ and me? Is there someone that can hinder my relationship with Christ? The answer is a "Big Yes!"