The Faith of Zacharias

As we think about the Christmas story, one of the figures I think we should remember is Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist.  He was a priest and was married to Elisabeth, and Luke said of them, “They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luke 1:5).  They had not been able to have children and had become old, and the story began in Luke as Zacharias “executed his priest’s office before God in the order of his course.”  While in the temple an angel appeared to him promising him that “Elisabeth shall bear thee a son” (Luke 1:8, 13).   Zacharias was surprised at the angel’s promise and had a hard time understanding how they could have a child at so old an age.  But if we remember Zacharias only for his struggle to immediately believe the words of the angel in this moment then I think we miss the greatness of the man.  We have at least two more descriptions of him and his actions that show his great spiritual strength and his willingness to sacrifice for the Lord. 

                Zacharias was unable to speak until after John was born.  When the question of John’s name came up, Zacharias confirmed the choice of the name and his tongue was loosed and he “praised God” (Luke 1:63-64).  We then have a beautiful passage from Zacharias containing his witness and prophecy concerning both his son John and the Savior.  Zacharias may have had a small lapse in faith (and surely most of us would under the same circumstance) when he was told in his old age that he would have a child, but this passage in Luke shows his powerful, abiding faith in the Savior whom his son had been called to prepare.  He spoke how God “hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” and how the Savior would “give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace” (Luke 1:69, 79).  He clearly was quoting from Isaiah’s passage about the Savior in Isaiah 9:2, showing his understanding of the mission of the Savior and the prophecies concerning Him.  He recognized the importance of his son’s mission as it related to the Savior: “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:76-77).  He seems to understand more here than what was told him by the angel—clearly Zacharias had been taught by the Lord since his experience in the temple about the great things that his son would do. 

                It was this knowledge of the importance of his son’s mission that, I believe, led him to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the life of his son.  The account is alluded to in the teachings of the Savior.  Jesus said: “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barrachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar” (Matt. 23:35).  Joseph Smith clarified for us that this Zacharias mentioned by Jesus was indeed the father of John.  Joseph taught: “When Herod’s edict went forth to destroy young children, John was about six months older than Jesus, and came under this hellish edict, and Zachariah caused his mother to take him into the mountains, where he was raised on locusts and wild honey. When his father refused to disclose his hiding place, and being the officiating high priest at the Temple that year, was slain by Herod’s order, between the porch and the altar, as Jesus said” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 261; see here).  So that’s why John the Baptist grew up in the wilderness, and Zacharias’s faith in his son’s mission and the Savior’s was so strong that he sacrificed his own life before he would let the wicked Herod kill his son.  As we remember the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, this story of the great faith of Zacharias should inspire us to likewise make sacrifices for the Savior.