Siolim São João TRADITIONAL BOAT FESTIVAL & CULTURAL ORGANISATION

During the time when Herod was king of Judea, land of Israel, the people of Israel who were brutally oppressed by King Herod, cried to the Lord and prayed for the coming of the Messiah. God heard their cry and made preparation for his coming

In Ain-Karim, a village near Jerusalem there lived a priest named Zachariah who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah His wife’s name was Elizabeth, she also belonged to a priestly family. They both lived good lives in God’s sight and obeyed fully all the Lord’s commandment and rules. They had no children which was a cause of great affliction to them.

They often prayed that God would give them a son, but their prayers seemed to remain unanswered as they were now both advanced in years “I can’t bear this humiliation any longer, all are laughing at me”; said Elizabeth to her husband, Zachariah “Are we to blame if the Lord did’nt give us a child?” asked Zachariah. “How long have we been praying, we don’t know when the Lord will look kindly upon us”, said Zachariah.

One day Zachariah was doing his work as a priest before God, taking his turn in the daily service. According to the custom followed by the priest, he was chosen by lot to burn the incense on the altar. So he entered into the sanctuary to offer incense on the altar, while the crowd of people outside prayed during the hour of burning the incense. An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar where incense was burned When Zachariah saw him he was troubled and felt afraid But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zachariah! God has heard your prayers and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. You are to name him John How glad and happy you will be, and many shall rejoice at his birth, for he shall be great before the Lord He will prepare the way for the Lord. He must not drink any wine or strong drink. He shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord, their God. He will go ahead of him, strong and mighty like the prophet Elijah. He will bring fathers and children together again, he will turn the disobedient people back to the way of thinking of the righteous, he will get the Lord’s people ready for him.”

Zachariah said to the angel,-“How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and Elizabeth is barren”,

“I am Gabriel” the angel answered, “I stand in the presence of God who sent me to speak to you, and tell you this good news But you have not believed which will come true at the night time Because you have not believed, you will be dumb and you will be unable to speak and you remain silent until the day my promise to you comes true” Having spoken thus he disappeared

In the meantime the people were waiting for Zachariah, wondering why he was spending such a long time in the temple. When he came out he could not speak to them, and so they knew that he had seen a vision in the temple Unable to say a word, he made signs to them with his hand

When his period of service in the temple was over, Zachariah went back home Sometimes later his wife, Elizabeth became pregnant and did not leave the house for five months. “Now at last the Lord has helped me in this way”, she said “He has taken away my public disgrace!”