As I read in the first chapter of Luke, I noticed some interesting parallels in the two angelic visits made by Gabriel in that chapter. First, he visits Zacharias, telling him that his wife, Elisabeth, shall conceive. Zacharias responds by asking "Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years." And because he "believes not" the words of Gabriel, he is struck with dumbness until the miraculous birth of his son.
Gabriel then makes a visit to Mary, telling her that she, like her cousin Elisabeth, shall also conceive. Both children have special missions to fulfill. After Gabriel's declaration, Mary also has questions. She asks, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Then, rather than losing one of her five senses, she actually gets an answer, as Gabriel explains that she will be with child of the Holy Ghost; he ends the explanation by teaching that, "with God nothing shall be impossible."
Why does Gabriel respond so differently to each of their queries? Why wasn't Mary struck dumb? I would love to be able to go back to the Greek translation of the Bible to see what syntactical similarities the two questions have. From looking at the English version, there do seem to be subtle differences in what Zacharias and Mary are asking. Zacharias seems to be saying, "How can I believe this when the evidence before me (my wife's and my age) so strongly opposes it?" He focuses on satisfying his own mental insecurities. Mary, however, seems to be asking, "In what way will this miracle be brought to pass? for I know it must be a miracle, since I've not known a man." She has already accepted that the miracle will take place; now she's just interested in how, and so Gabriel gladly teaches her. Zacharias' heart, however, needed to overcome its disbelief before he could hope to learn about the workings of God. We must have faith before we can learn.
This was just one reason I thought of for the different reactions to what, on the surface, appear to be the same questions. I'm interested to hear what other people think about this and would love to hear anyone else's insights!
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I would agree that the difference between the two is their attitudes. While Zacharias seems to be lacking in faith and perhaps his response is a prideful one of unwillingness to accept the message of Gabriel, Mary seems to accept the message and is only curious as to how it will come about. Mary's response is one of meekness as she says, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." Zacharias didn't believe and because of his unbelief, he was struck dumb. It would be interesting to know more details. What exactly was going on in their minds? How would they have felt? They were both being given huge responsibilities. I wonder how Zacharias felt as he left the temple. I can only speculate. All we know is that he had not believed Gabriel's message while Mary seemed to accept the message despite how impossible it might have seemed. While their questioning responses were similar, the angel probably saw into their hearts and could see Mary's believing heart and Zacharias' unbelieving heart. I'm amazed at Mary's faith. It must have seemed even more impossible to her that she should conceive being a virgin, while at least in Zacharias' case it wasn't quite as impossible, especially since the Lord had granted Abraham and Sarah to have Isaac while they had also been in their old age. Maybe it was necessary for Zacharias to be struck dumb so that he would believe. Mary already believed, so no slap in the face was necessary.
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