There is familiarity in Luke’s account of The Birth of John Foretold, as if this is a story we may have heard before. A couple, well past childbearing age, and living in a culture where childless women were mocked, is promised a son. Not only does this story echo Abraham’s and Sarah’s, the childlessness of Rachel before she bore twin boys, and the prayerful Hannah who bore Samuel, Zacharias’ and Elizabeth’s story also prepares the way for the next and greatest conception story for another devout and ordinary couple.
