Sunday of Abraham (GA)

Luke 1:57-66

⁵⁷ Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸ And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹ And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, ⁶⁰ but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” ⁶¹ And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” ⁶² And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. ⁶³ And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. ⁶⁴ And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. ⁶⁵ And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, ⁶⁶ and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.

At the birth of a child or even at his Baptism there is much discussion over the naming of a child. There are many different names given to children and even strange spellings. Some people choose a name because of how it sounds or what it means. Other people choose family names as indicated by the crowd. But Elizabeth and Zechariah name John because the Angel Gabriel says so.

It is often difficult to stand up to the crowd. The mob tells us to accept everything, and tolerate anything. It is not right to call something wrong. It is wrong to cause offense. The crowd can tell us very contradictory things, but they want them all to be true. They even desire for God to save them.

But when God stands with you before the crowd, he opens your mouth. He loosens your tongue. He gives you the words to speak. He helps you to stand with your cross. The Holy Spirit dwells with you as it did with John. God speaks Good news to you and through you. He speaks to the mob and the crowd. He calls all of us to forgiveness and he lifts you up in his hands.