With these simple words, three inter-related points arise. First, Elizabeth is beginning to shift the momentum of original sin. Eve was tempted by the serpent to eat of the fruit that God had told her and Adam not to eat of, yet she did. Adam did not support her nor step in to protect Eve during her dialogue but remained silent in the face of the temptation Eve was experiencing. Both of them slipped into sin by disobeying the will of God and grasping for what God would have given to them freely if they were willing to receive their fulfillment of participating in his divinity.
At the time of the birth of Elizabeth’s son, there was even more cause for celebration, for Elizabeth had not born a child and was past child-bearing years. The eighth day had come in which following the Abrahamic law the boy was to be circumcised and named. Her relatives and neighbors gathered around with great excitement and there appeared to be a unanimous decision to name the boy after his father. Elizabeth chose not to. Nor did she, like Eve, cave to the pressure and temptation surrounding her. Unlike Adam who lost his voice at the time he needed to speak up, Zechariah found his voice, and had Elizabeth’s back. Both Elizabeth and Zechariah knew what God wanted them to do and were faithful to follow through.
Elizabeth and Zechariah were faithful to God even while facing the familial and social pressure placed upon them. Some today may be removed by such familial pressure when naming a child, but for this time, names were important ways to continue family continuity. Elizabeth, despite the pressure, held her ground and stood firm to the will of God that the boy would be named John. John was a common name during the time of Elisabeth which from the Hebrew, Yochanan, which means God is gracious.
Sounds like a pretty good name to name a son to me! Yet, Elisabeth’s family was exasperated with her and deferred to Zechariah, the boy’s father, thinking he would have more sense. Without hesitation Zechariah supported Elizabeth. The point here is not so much the name, but the following of God’s will in the face of pressure to do the opposite.
We can see in this short account a powerful lesson: when we trust in God, we grow. We begin to feel safe and secure and so begin to the mature and are able to move from finding our security in our identity to instead finding it in our faithfulness to God. Culture and traditions are not sacred, but God is. Elizabeth and Zechariah faced a lot of familial and social pressure to conform, yet they chose to be true to God, to be true to themselves, and they chose integrity over their identity.
The very simple account of Elizabeth and Zechariah naming their child John in opposition to the pressure offers for us a way to counteract the rising tide of polarization and conflicts that we face in our families, communities, and country today. Identity provides safety, support, and security and when properly ordered, health and good. It fuels one of our deepest pangs of hunger to belong, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We can find our identity in family, friendships, our religious traditions, culture, political affiliations, common interests, clubs, activities, hobbies, and sports. watch a World Cup game of soccer and you will see national identity and pride on full display!
Our identity when tied to these cultural norms, provides us with security and stability, which is good, but doing so can also be a trap. We want to belong so much, the drive is so strong, that we may feel the pressure to make decisions, act in certain ways, and support others who go against who we are, just so that we can belong. We may have known what God wants from us in a particular situation, heard the whispers of his voice in our conscience, yet were pulled by the louder voices of the group. We are sometimes so ingrained by our identity that we can be strangled and suffocated by it.
Elizabeth and Zechariah were true to the will of God and won over those placing pressure on them by their family and neighbors. “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him (Luke 1:66). Often though, being faithful to God, being a person of integrity, does not go so well. Their own son who would grow up to be John the Baptist, would lose his life by speaking truth to power.
John also showed his faithfulness and humility as his own popularity grew and people looked to him as the messiah. He could have easily donned the mantle, and yet his response to the popular acclaim was, “He must increase; I must decrease” (cf. John 3:30). John, like his parents, knew the role God had called him to play. He was the forerunner to prepare the way for Jesus. John embodied the moral courage that we all need today and he points us as he did two of his own disciples to behold the Lamb of God.
More than another wonderful role model, more than words on the page, Jesus is the Word of God incarnate. Allowing ourselves, like John the Baptist did, to become less so that Jesus can become more in our lives is the way of discipleship. We can also have the courage to even face familial pressures against our faith when we daily read, meditate, and pray with Jesus’ teachings and put them into practice. As we are more intentional with our choices and align them to God’s will, our relationship with Jesus will grow. Slowly we will resist internal as well as the external temptations and like Elizabeth and Zechariah, stand up for the truth no matter the pressure.
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Painting: “The naming of John the Baptist” by Fra. Angelico
Spiritual Stepping Stones 