First Response
Luke 1:18-20
18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. 19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. 20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
Luke 1: 38
38 And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.
If anyone had reason to raise the legitimate question of ‘how?’ it could be Zacharias. His wife was past the age of child bearing and he himself was too old to give her a child. Yet, there was a huge significance in his response and its contrast to how Mary responded in a similar angel-encounter. With the priest, the raised question gave immediate reason for his powers of communication to be disabled altogether as long as there was the possibility of anything other than worship to proceed from his mouth. For every moment that doubt or question occupied his lips there was the great possibility the very purpose of God would be hindered by his words. Mary, on the other hand, could have also come up with a list of questions, but before a single objection was a raised, she responded with acceptance and an offering of her own life as an obedient vessel for God’s purpose.
Between the two of them you might choose Zacharias as the probable candidate for a faith response if it required maturity, education, experience and wisdom. Mary, though, probably much less established in the rituals of her religion, was yet more impressed with her God and His ability to do exactly what He declared however improbable that might be. The immediacy of their responses spoke much more about the depth of their heart relationship with their God and it’s importance far above the elevation of mental understanding. Because of Mary’s heart response of immediate acceptance and worship, her place in history was enabled as the mother of the Messiah, while the priest’s response removed him from participation in those special nine months leading to the birth of his son.
Questions may exist and wonder may be strong and prevalent, but there is ever an appropriate response for the one who has entered relationship with the Almighty that elevates that treasured relationship far above any impossibility. Such power resides in the first response to either enable participation in His purpose or complete dumbness and disqualification from involvement in His pursuits. For progress to be made towards His vision and His design there is no place in the least for anything other than words of worship that make the significance of His declaration to be the only consideration. There is a presentation in this day of God’s promise, His declaration and His determination regarding the significant purpose He’s designed for our lives. First response is so important and filling the mouth with exaltations of Him and His greatness will cause the doubts and questions to be squelched and removed from their disabling power. “Be it unto me according to Your Word” will have much greater reward and fulfillment than the forming of any questions or words to the contrary. In God’s realm only the voice of worship will be empowered to speak.
Eph 4:29
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.