Which priest was struck mute for doubting the angel’s message about John the Baptist’s birth? Zechariah was the priest who became unable to speak.
Luke’s Gospel introduces Zechariah as a priest married to Elizabeth. The couple were elderly and childless. While Zechariah was serving in the Jerusalem Temple and offering incense, the angel Gabriel appeared and announced that Elizabeth would bear a son named John, who would prepare people for the Lord.
Zechariah questioned how the promise could be fulfilled because of their age. Gabriel responded that Zechariah would be unable to speak until the prophecy came true. When Zechariah emerged from the sanctuary, he could communicate only through gestures, and the worshippers realized that he had experienced a vision.
After John was born, relatives expected the child to be named after his father. Elizabeth insisted on the name John, and Zechariah confirmed it by writing the name on a tablet. At that moment, his speech returned, and he delivered a prophetic hymn known as the Benedictus. Zechariah is not the same person as the Old Testament prophet of the same name.