Yesterday while at the Sunday school teachers review, someone asked the question below. ** Why did Zechariah asked a question and got punished, while Mary asked a question and got an answer?** According to him, he said Both asked the angel "how can this be?"
And someone among us swiftly answered that the reason is Grace From the look on the face of the person who asked the question, it's was obvious he didn't fully agreed with the answer, (he was like;🤔 just like that!!!).
I and alongside others had to coming in with a broader point and explaination, we came to conclusion that **the answer lies in "knowledge"
If you say grace, that mean you indirectly mean that Mary had a higher grace than Zechariah, of which i don't think it's so.
Come to think of it, Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, was a priest, approved and anointed and by God to offer intercetion and sacrifices for the people to God. He has been given the right to enter into the most Holy place, Which can only be entered by the purest of human. You see he have a very much higher grace and anointing than Mary
But the problem here is... Zechariah, through his constant dealings with God for several years have a better "knowledge" of God. He know God better, he would have seen the physical manifestation of God's presence in form of smoke or dew, he knows that there is nothing impossible for God to do, but he still went ahead and asked the angel Gabriel "how is it possible for his wife to bring forth a son, because obviously his wife have passed the stage of menopause" According to Luke 1 Vs 18
He displayed an act of unbelief despite his many years of dealings with God, which I guess annoyed angel Gabriel, and Gabriel pronounced a punishment on him.
According to Luke 1 Vs 29 Mary on the other hand had never had any encounter with an angel, let alone God, the whole happening was new to her and her knowledge about the dimensions of possibilities with God was very much limited and which was why she was compelled to ask "how will it happen" the angel Gabriel was aware of her limited knowledge so he was patient with her and took out time to explain how it would happen.
For instance; if a 3 years old child asks you "how does humans grow?" You will definitely be patient enough to start explaining the step by step process to the child.
But when a 40 year old asked the same question, you probably won't give an answer (based on the age and experiences, he/she should know this).
This was what happened, so we can conclude that Zechariah was punished for lack of faith while Mary got a fair explanation. And we can deduce the grace there as, Mary having no knowledge of what has done and can be done, but Zachariah already have it and had many years of experience of it.
Zacharias asked in disbelief, while Mary asked to know the means through which what was said will happen, since she was not yet married. The way Mary will be addressed will be different from the way Zachariah will be addressed.....
So as earlier stated, Zacharias of a truth already had accumulated much knowledge and understanding of Who God is and His possibilities yet he still allowed doubt into his heart.
So I hope these as cleared your mind and make you understand that GOD is not biased and neither is he sentimental, but just in all His ways.
Thanks for stopping by my blog post, I hope these as answered one of your several why and how questions in the Bible, you can as well drop your view/understanding of the scene in the comments section.
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