Zechariah, A Case Study in the Importance of Silence

Luke 1:5-25 – Part Five

 

Achieving wholesale forgiveness of anyone who ever harmed you verbally, situationally or relationally is a very significant blessing of self-mastery. The failure to forgive people of their incapacities, deficits and defects of character imprisons anyone who harbors anger, resentment, bitterness, vengeance and other toxic emotions. These feelings are a type of contaminated sewage that poisons the mind, heart and psyche. Each recollection of past injury reinjures the person who pauses and plays that vivid video. The sewage seeps deep into the soil of your personality and memory. It destroys creativity and consideration of any strategies and methods of achieving your dreams and goals. Negative emotions like imaginary mercenaries in a video game fire immediately and kill any miniscule concepts or visions of a better life. Cynicism eventually emerges. The inability to transcend the past and push toward a brighter future is lost. Holistic forgiveness is the antidote to serving a life sentence of anger and resentment.

 

When disciples forgive, they liberate themselves from perpetuating any hurt and danger they experienced.  In the process of self-mastery, take time to consider all facts, factors and circumstances that contributed to your injury. Does the person who harmed you suffer with any mental illness? Are they victims of addiction? Were they equally and deeply wounded? Are they people who live with an arrested development? Was fear, greed, pathological lying and other self-centered motives the causes of your perpetrator’s actions? Do you allow that your victimizers are fully human and prone to self-seeking behavior? Hastily, I add that I do not minimize your pain and suffering. I realize people are victims of heinous crime including sexual assault, paralyzing and life altering violence, financial misdeeds, stolen identity and even murder. Still, forgiveness is always central to experiencing holistic healing. Admittedly, the process of extending unconditional forgiveness may consume decades. Yet, it is necessary to free disciples and enable them to progress toward self-realization and destiny.

 

Zechariah’s haste to speak and doubt the angel catapults him into a period of extensive silence. He is struck dumb to compel him to consider his incomplete faith. For several months, Zechariah lives in an existential space of silence and withdrawal. As he is unable to speak casually, hastily and aimlessly, he has time to thoroughly  reflect upon his spiritual, intellectual and emotional architecture. He can examine his worldview. He can evaluate his character. What does he believe? Are his beliefs authentically his own? Has he uncritically accepted the beliefs of other people whom he loves and respects? What causes Zechariah to doubt the angel’s message? More specifically, what causes him to doubt God’s ability to perform this miracle? What is his process of determining his position on faith, spirituality and world events? Who is he? Who does he desire to become? It is in silence during times devoted precisely to the process of self-mastery that Zechariah receives answers to these questions.

 

Zechariah’s encounter with the angel, Gabriel, amid daily routines provides a case study in the importance of silence in a disciple’s life.