Archdiocese Of St. Louis

Today’s Jesse Tree figure is Zechariah. Now there’s a difference between the gospel story of Zechariah and other biblical stories of children of promise. In other stories like Samson and Isaac and Samuel parents firmly believed that God would do what he said. Now in Luke’s Gospel, Zechariah has a vision of Gabriel in the splendor of the temple, and yet he does not believe, and therefore as result he is struck mute until after the birth of his son John the Baptist. What Luke does is, Luke draws a contrast between the Annunciation given to Zechariah by the Angel Gabriel, and the Annunciation to Mary. Mary firmly believes although she does not quite fully understand, and as a result, she says, “I am handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word.” Zechariah in contrast, he hesitates and he doubts. We should reflect that on where our faith lies. Do we believe that God can do the unlikely and even the impossible in our lives? Now you might remember in the gospel from this past Sunday that the ang