Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” (Luke 1:21-25)

The people begin to get restless, realizing that the old priest is taking longer than usual. Is something wrong? Should someone go in and check on him? Is that even allowed?

The people were waiting for Zechariah, because he was supposed to come back out to them at the end of this worship service and bless them. So: where was he? Why hadn’t he come? Everyone knows the blessing is the most meaningful part of the whole service for those worshiping: it’s one of those places where God’s grace is given and spoken directly to us.

When Zechariah eventually did emerge, however, he had no blessing to give. He could not “say to the Israelites” the blessing that God had commanded the priests to say. He couldn’t say anything, in fact. He was lifting his hands, but not in blessing. What was the old man up to?

It was not angry signs that he made with his hands: there must have been something on his face and the way that he gestured that communicated some strange mix of awestruck joy. Because the people clued in immediately: even though Zechariah could not use his words to tell them he had seen a vision, the people understood it from him all the same.

And even though Zechariah could not bless the people, I wonder if they were more profoundly blessed all the same that day than they had been in a long time. Because here, before them, stood living proof that God had shown up among them that day. Living proof that not only could God act in their lives: but he had! Right there! They may not have known what exactly it was God was up to because, well, Zechariah just couldn’t say, but they knew that God had somehow acted to silence the old priest. And in Zechariah’s silence: God’s own word spoke volumes. “Behold: I am with you” that silence must have said.

As Zechariah returned home, the journey remained silent. No one would know for quite some time what God had announced to the old priest in the temple that day. Elizabeth did indeed conceive, but kept to herself in seclusion for a few months, probably to weigh out if she could really take this pregnancy to be real and true and lasting and believe that God had indeed given her such a gift and enabled her to carry that gift to term and birth that gift to life.

In the silence of Zechariah’s loss of speech, I’m sure those two did a lot of smiling. Slowly Elizabeth’s trust and hope grew. “The Lord has done this for me,” she finally whispered one day.

The Lord’s blessing came to Elizabeth and to his people in such delightfully unexpected ways. And, I think that’s actually more often how God’s blessing comes. Have you ever experienced God’s blessing in an unexpected place or way? Take out that memory again, turn it around and savour it in a few moments of silence before God.