Luke1:60

1: The name John

To us it seems like there is little difference between the one spiritually rich name (Zachariah, One whom God has remembered) and the other spiritually rich name (John, God is gracious). However, in this case it was not a matter of one name being “better” than the other, but an issue of the one name being unexpected or new, and the other being predictable and thus “ordinary.” God was forcing them to break out of the rut they were in and see other aspects of how He works. Zachariah needed the personal reminder that God remembered him and was working on his behalf; other generations of the family may not have needed that message, but a slightly different message. God was shaking up the family so they would be alerted to what He was doing, and He was showing more than one way in which He works.