Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, December 26, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I wonder what it would be like to meet an angel. Judging from the various biblical texts in which they appear, I would have to assume they’re frightening. But other than the accounts of them in apocalyptic literature, with multiple wings and multiple eyes and resounding voices, they are usually described just as young men, sometimes with shining clothes. Is it context? I imagine it would be a little frightening to encounter a stranger in the Temple, as Zechariah did. Or to see men sitting in Jesus’ empty tomb. Or a strange man suddenly standing in the fields with you and your sheep. A couple millennia of art depicts them with wings and halos, high above the earth, shining like the stars. But that’s not how they’re actually described. I wonder if I’d even know that I encountered an angel. We talk a lot today about other people being angels in our lives, carrying God’s messages of hope just when we need to hear them. But I don’t find those encounters scary to the point where I would need to be told “do not be afraid.” Actually, if a total stranger came up to me and started an unsolicited conversation with my by saying, “Do not be afraid,” that is what would freak me out.
Part of me wishes I could have an encounter like this. Something inexplicable to the point of making me uneasy. Something indicating the raw power of God to show up and act. But maybe I’m just not open enough to the truly unusual. Maybe it would be good for me to stop trying to explain everything away instantly, to categorize and file it away neatly. Maybe then I would see angels and experience the awe of Zechariah.
Have I ever had an experience like Zechariah’s? What are my thoughts about angels?
