The Hearts of Fathers Turned to Their Children

Advent Weekday – December 23

Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24 / Psalm 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14 / Luke 1:57-66

The Hearts of Fathers Turned to Their Children

When Zechariah expressed his incredulity at the message the angel delivered to him while on duty in the temple of the Lord, it may have been a matter of considering the message too good to be true. There were obvious odds of age and infertility that had to be overcome. Considering the situation who could fail to understand Zechariah being slow to believe? 

As a consequence of Zechariah’s disbelief he was mute until the birth of his son. In this time of silence, what might he have reflected on? Was he dumbfounded for the whole nine months? Did he alternate between skepticism and belief daily or weekly? Did the first sign of pregnancy turn his heart back to the angel’s message in a nine-month long silent “Amen”? Or did his response to the angel echo in his heart until the first cry of his son, or the quarrel over his name? And did Zechariah feel so embarrassed by his unbelief that he was confused about his feelings regarding coming into fatherhood for the first time when his peers were grandparents or great grandparents?

And what was Zechariah’s disposition toward his son? Was he looking forward to this bouncing baby boy? Was he awed by the responsibilities of fatherhood at an advanced age? Had he begun to hope and dream about the boy’s future? And, if he had, were these dreams shaped my by his long-standing traditional hopes, or by the message of the angel? 

Whatever the interior life of Zechariah was like in those nine months, his heart turned to his son at his circumcision and he gave him the name John, as the angel had told him, despite the protestations of friends and family. Zechariah may have been the first to fulfill the prophecy we hear in Malachi today:

Lo, I will send you

Elijah, the prophet,

Before the day of the Lord comes…

To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,

and the hearts of the children to their fathers…

·        What will turn our hearts to our children today? Will it be something more than the items on their Christmas lists? Will it be a sense of duty? A sense of love? What do we need to do in order to assure that our children fulfill their mission today?