Christmas Songs (2)

Christmas in Singapore. 2009.

How Can It Be?

Sometime things are so good that we find it hard to believe. It’s like this, we may be longing for something for a long period of time, and as we do so we get accustomed to not having it, to the point that when the good thing comes about we look with suspicious eyes to see if it’s real. I don’t know if it ever happened to you, it sure did happen to this guy by the name of Zacharias.

You really can be forgiven if you act funny when an angel appears before you. But if you’ve recovered from the shock enough to carry on a conversation with the esteemed extra territorial being, I suppose you are obliged to talk sensibly. Talk Zacharias did, but whether sensibly or not, it’s really your judgement and mine. In fact, if you don’t mind my language, I find him not just a bit dense. His story went like this. Zacharias, a priest serving in the Temple, had a visitation from angel Gabriel, last seen on planet earth some 500 years ago, and was told by this messenger from God that the LORD had heard his prayer for a baby, and in answer will dispatch an excellent package to him and his wife soon enough. This is how Zacharias answered the angel: “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.” (Luke 1:18, MSG)

How can it be? It all sounded reasonable and sensible enough, a sincere question void of malice bearing in mind the circumstances: I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman. But look here, didn’t he pray for a baby? If he did, why was he surprised when told he’s going to have a baby? Even though Johnny come lately. What’s God supposed to say to him? Maybe he was thinking something like this is more in line with reality: “Hey Zachy, sorry for you and your old goat, you two are too old to do it. It’s a pity you don’t live in the twenty-first century AD, they would have something called Viagra that might be of some help to you. Just accept things as they are now, you’ll still be blessed although you don’t have a child.” Now, old Gabby had lived long enough (I know it’s an understatement) to realize what oddity the human race is capable of, but I submit to you that even he was taken aback by Zacharias’ words, hence his swift and drastic action. He had to put Zacharias in silent mode for a while, because he didn’t want any faithless words from Zacharias’ mouth to jeopardize the conception and birth of the forerunner of Jesus Christ. Maybe because it had been such a long time that Zacharias had lost all hope, he was only going through the motion when praying, not particularly expecting an answer. To be fair, the messenger didn’t bring the answer to his prayer, but promise of an answer. Still, it’s because he had dwelt in the darkness of his circumstances so long that he couldn’t see the light in the promise.  When he kept staring at the crippling reality of the facts surrounding him, he couldn’t believe the promise to be true. How can it be? It’s too good to be true.      

Let’s not be too hard on Zacharias, although I still think he’s a bit dense. The fact is we’ve all been Zacharias. We look at the promises in the Word of God, and we look at the facts surrounding us. When they don’t agree with one another, what are we to believe? The Bible is full of promises, and I bet you can easily find half a dozen that’s incongruent with the reality surrounding you right at this moment. Are you going to say to the Lord, “Do you expect me to believe this?”   We should learn a thing or two from Zacharias’ story.