This Saturday and Sunday, Rief Kessler
has asked me to take on the role of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist,
in the Christmas Cantata.
A monologue of a man who was struck
mute for nine months? I did not think this would be a very big role!
However, my part is AFTER he gets his voice back and as I have practiced it, it
is about a ten-minute monologue.
At first, I was a little worried. I had
recited the 17th chapter of John a few years ago at Easter, and that
was a challenge, but at least that was Scripture and a passage with which I was
very familiar. I wondered if my memory would retain the almost 1,000-word
script, marvelously written by Rief Kessler.
Getting into the role of the aged
father of the “greatest man who was ever born to a woman” (as Jesus called John
the Baptist) really got me to thinking. What did Zechariah ponder all this time
while he was silent?
Many theologians (Augustine, Martin
Luther, John Calvin, Elisabeth Elliot, Richard Foster, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
have written about the “spiritual discipline” or “spiritual exercise” of silence.
On my bookshelf, I have a book entitled Spiritual Disciplines for the
Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney, a professor of biblical spirituality
and associate dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,
Kentucky. Whitney states in chapter 10 that there are biblical reasons for
silence and solitude, including:
- to
follow Jesus’s example,
- to
minimize distractions in prayer,
- to
express worship and faith, to seek restoration, wisdom, and the will of
the Lord,
- to
learn to control the tongue,
For me, the most profound reason for the
discipline of silence is found under Whitney’s section on “To Regain a
Spiritual Perspective”. He cites Billy Graham, A.W. Tozer, Sarah Pierpont
(whose silence attracted Jonathan Edwards to propose marriage to her), C.H.
Spurgeon, and Susanna Wesley among great leaders who gained great spiritual
insights after being in silent solitude.
He begins this section on regaining
a spiritual perspective with Zechariah. Having been disciplined by the Lord,
the priest from the order of Abijah climaxes his prophecy with these insightful
words of wisdom, gleaned from nine months of silence (see Luke 1:76-79, NLT):
“And you, my little son, will be called the
prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You
will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins.
Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break
upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.”
The angel Gabriel tells Zechariah that he
and his wife will have great joy and gladness. That is how I will play this man
of God. And by coming, I believe you too will find the Thrill of Hope.
Blessings in Him!
