Luke 1:62
“They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.”
What does Luke 1:62 mean?
Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, had been unable to speak since receiving the angel Gabriel's announcement of his son's birth. When relatives gathered after the baby was born, they naturally turned to Zechariah to learn what name he wanted for his child. Since he couldn't speak, they communicated with him the way people did in that culture: through gestures and signs. What's striking here is that Zechariah, despite months of silence, already knew exactly what his son should be called. The angel had told him the name would be John, and without being able to voice it himself, he wrote it down on a tablet. His silence didn't prevent him from fulfilling his role as the father setting his child's identity and calling. Sometimes our limitations don't stop God's plans, they just require us to find different ways of participating in them.