Context No. 3474 of 4322 · Luke
Context · Reflection
Luke 1:56-60: in context
56Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house. 57Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son. 58Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. 59On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 60His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”
When Elizabeth's son is born, her neighbors and relatives rejoice, for they hear that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, giving a child to a woman long barren and past hope. Their joy is a shared joy: when God shows mercy to one, the whole community celebrates together.
And then a small but significant moment. At the child's circumcision, everyone assumes the boy will bear his father's name, Zechariah, but Elizabeth insists, no; he shall be called John, the name the angel had given before his birth. She holds to God's word over social custom and family expectation. There is quiet obedience in it: God had named the child, and Elizabeth would honor that name even against everyone's assumptions and pressure. Sometimes faithfulness to what God has said means going against convention and expectation, even in small things, holding to his word rather than bending to what people around us take for granted.
Am I willing to hold to what God has said even when it goes against convention or others' expectations, honoring his word in the small choices as well as the large?