Enjoying God in old age (1)

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. Luke 1:5-7

Apparently some medical body has decided that the official age at which old age begins should be raised from 65 to 70. This, of course, is because we are tending to live longer and also more healthily.

Not that it’s something to be taken too seriously, of course. Attitudes to ageing are to some extent a matter of our mind-set as much as our physical condition. But the fact is that most of us view the ageing process with dislike, not to say dread.

In the Bible elderly people were treated with respect, even veneration (see for example Leviticus 19:32) - none of your “past their use by date” jokes there, thank you very much. So, especially with Christmas approaching, my mind turned to an elderly couple who were central to the run up to the birth of Jesus: Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus.

Their story is told in Luke 1, and it’s too long for me to re-tell it here - I’ll leave you to read and ponder it yourself. But it’s a beautiful story, and one from which we can cull many worthwhile lessons. Let me very quickly pick out six...

1. Zechariah and Elizabeth, as I’ve just said, were old, indeed “very old” (verse 6).

So what? Well, in spite of that, God chose to use them in a remarkable, even a miraculous, way. The angel Gabriel visits Zechariah while he is performing his priestly duties and tells him that Elizabeth will bear their long-prayed-for child.

God could, presumably, have given the privilege of bringing John the Baptist into the world to a fit couple in their twenties. But no: he chose Zechariah and Elizabeth.

And that reminds us that while our modern, youth-fixated world might choose to toss the elderly aside, God doesn’t. And that in turn reminds us that as long as we have another day of life on this earth God still loves us and wants to use us.

The old are precious and valuable in the sight of God. Let’s get hold of that - even if we are still young.

2. Zechariah and Elizabeth were ordinary.

Being a priest, as Zechariah was, didn’t make him particularly special - it was something you were born into (all male descendants of Aaron), not something you were called to.
There were so many priests in Israel that they were split into different “divisions” (“Abijah’s” in Zechariah’s case) in order to render service on a roster system in the Jerusalem temple. Even the massive privilege of burning incense in the temple - a once-in-a-lifetime duty, if that - was decided by the casting of lots, not on merit.

There’s a song by Dave Bilborough which calls the church “an army of ordinary people”. That’s a good description, and I think Zechariah and Elizabeth would have fitted it well: if it hadn’t been for the miracle of John the Baptist’s birth we would never have heard of them.

And that’s both an encouragement and a challenge for all of us who consider ourselves “just ordinary”. God loves to take and use people like us. Who, after all, was the great King David? A shepherd boy, the youngest in a succession of brothers. Who was Mary? An unknown girl from Nazareth. Who was Simon Peter? A Galilean fisherman. And who were all those people whose names are listed in Romans 16? Just random names, most of them, as far as we are concerned, but obviously precious to God and used by him.

So let none of us say “Oh, I’m not much good! God wouldn’t be interested in using someone like me.” No! God has a use for you today - and for every day until you die. Expect that to happen!

3. Zechariah and Elizabeth were devout.

Luke tells us in verse 6 that they were “righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly”. That doesn’t mean that they were sinless, but that they were true to their Jewish faith and serious about their allegiance to God. In the beautiful words of the Old Testament prophet, they were the kind of people who made it their business to “act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with their God” (Micah 6:8).

We all have various ambitions and aspirations in life, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Let’s fulfil them as best we can! But let’s never forget that the only ultimate ambition - the one thing that matters beyond all others - is to be a God-centred, Christlike, Spirit-filled man or woman. Beside that, everything else pales into insignificance.

Zechariah and Elizabeth, then, belong to that “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) to whom we can look for an example. And they can remind us too of the straight command of Jesus himself, “Be perfect... as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew5:48).

Aim for nothing less!

(That’s three out of my six lessons. Please join me again next time!)

Lord God, thank you that you love me and have a purpose for my life, whether I am old or young, clever or simple, famous or unknown. Help me to want nothing more than to walk with you day by day, so that one day I will hear the wonderful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”. Amen.