What then will this child become?

All who heard them pondered them and said, ‘What then will this child become?’ For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him. (Luke 1:66)

Elizabeth, six months with child, welcomes her young cousin Mary, newly pregnant. Elizabeth already knows her child will be special. Like Abraham and Sarah, she and her husband, in their older years, are expecting to become new parents. Like Daniel, her husband is struck speechless by the news, from Gabriel, that he is becoming a father. Awe-struck all fathers-to-be may be, this is something special, a sign from God.

To be struck speechless may seem a punitive sign, a reward for doubt, but that now voiceless doubt becomes itself a sign of God’s doing.

What is God doing? The constant question, behind the questions, of the parents and, we learn, of their neighbors as well. “How can these things be?” Zechariah asks, echoing Abraham, as he, like the other new old father, receives the angelic message.

What is God doing? Elizabeth exults. Like Hannah, wife of Elkanah, mother of Samuel, Elizabeth sees in her unexpected expectation a gift from God and a sign of his favor.

And so it is only right that the child is named for God’s favor, as his name means that: God’s favor, God’s graciousness, rests upon this one, this child.

Favored: and the angel who greets Mary will likewise greet her, “Hail, favored one!” “Hail full of grace!” 

And so the families and the hopes of all peoples are drawn together. Peace on earth, indeed, to those whom God favors. 

But back to the neighbors’ question: What will this child become?

He is promised to be a child of a new age. His birthright would be to follow his father’s steps, and become a temple priest, maybe even in his turn one day offering incense. But his father and mother know better. His path is a break with the past even as it is a fulfillment of promise. He will go before the long-expected one, the anointed one, who will lead his people, and all people, into a new order of the ages.

Unexpected child, expected child: cousins of a common purpose. What is God doing? What shall these children become?

“You my child” - says Zechariah - will go before. As for what will become of Mary’s child stay tuned. The story isn’t over yet.

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Birth of John the Baptist 

Baruch 5:1-9

Canticle (in lieu of Psalm): The Song of Zechariah : Luke 1.68-79

Philippians 1:3-11

Luke 1.57-66 [= RCL Nativity of John the Baptist, Jun24]