THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
24 JUNE 2018
John
the Baptist was born into a family associated with priesthood. Elizabeth, his mother, was a descendent of Aaron,
the first priest. Zechariah, his father,
was a priest associated with worship in the Temple. Zechariah had been chosen by lot to enter the
sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense.
As he was performing his priestly duties, the angel of the Lord
announced that he and his wife would give birth to a son. Zechariah refused to believe that he and his
wife could conceive, because they were really old. Rendered speechless for his unbelief,
Zechariah must have reflected on his experience during his wife’s pregnancy.
Because of
the family connection with priesthood and temple worship, his neighbors presume
that John would follow in his parents’ footsteps and be named after his
father. But, Elizabeth objects. She insists that he be named “John,” which
means “the Lord has shown favor.” To echo
what he had heard from the angel, Zechariah takes a tablet and writes, “John is
his name.” His tongue is loosened as he
proclaims the greatness of God. That
Canticle of Zechariah is omitted in today’s Gospel reading. But we pray it at Morning Prayer, and we will
sing it as the hymn of thanksgiving at this Mass. His neighbors quickly understand that there
has been some kind of divine intervention.
They are amazed, yet fearful:
common human responses to an encounter with God. They gossip among themselves about what role
this child will have.
Saint Luke says
that the child grew and became strong in spirit. As an adult, John does not go to the Temple
in Jerusalem. King Herod is in the
process of rebuilding that Temple on a grand scale, bringing with the
reconstruction a host of abuses and corrupt practices. Instead, John goes to the desert, that
wilderness long associated with the liberation of his ancestors from slavery in
Egypt. The desert had been for his
ancestors a place of protection and testing.
It was in the desert that they encountered God at Mount Sinai. It was in the desert that death could come
quickly if people were not careful.
In the
desert, on the banks of the Jordan River, John the Baptist would invite people
to undergo a baptism of repentance, expressing their desire to change their ways. In the desert, John the Baptist would point
to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who would give his life in sacrifice, not on the
Altar in the Temple, but on a hill of execution outside the city. In the waters of the Jordan, John would
baptize his cousin and witness the voice from the heavens announcing that this
is God’s beloved Son, in whom the Father is well pleased. In the desert, John the Baptist would condemn
Herod for marrying the wife of his brother Philip. In response, Herod locked him up and
eventually beheaded him.
In the
liturgical calendar of the Church, we normally celebrate the feast of a Saint
on the day that the Saint died and was reborn into eternity. That is not true with John the Baptist. We also celebrate his birth, his
nativity. The only two other nativities
that we celebrate are the birth of Mary, the Mother of God, on September 8, and
the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25.
We celebrate the Baptist’s birth soon after the Summer Solstice, the
longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. We celebrate the Savior’s birth soon after
the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern
hemisphere. The placement of these
feasts reminds us of the role of John the Baptist. He must decrease, so Christ can increase.
That is our
role also. Our lives of faith must point
away from ourselves toward Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is present in the good times and the bad times of our
lives. When things go badly, we depend
on the Lord to walk with us. If things
go well and we are successful, it is because of the presence of Christ. In decreasing ourselves, Christ can increase.
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