Awkward Family Christmas: Zachariah’s Awkward Silence

The story of Jesus in the book of Luke begins in an unexpected place. Instead of Mary and Joseph, it begins with Mary's second-cousin-in-law, Zachariah, son-to-be father of John the Baptist. Zachariah and Elizabeth are a much older couple with no children of their own, a story that mirrors what we've seen before in our Scripture library (think Abraham and Sarah), but instead of the usual patriarchal point of view where the man gets to make the big speeches and tell the story, Zachariah's voice is taken from him by the angel Gabriel, and it's Elizabeth who gets to speak. What happens in this story flips the old script—just as Jesus' arrival changed everything. So maybe it's a perfect beginning to the Christmas story after all.