John came to bear witness to the light, to prepare an upright people for
the Lord. (Entrance antiphon)
JOHN THE BAPTIST played a unique role in the history of God's people. He
acted as the bridge between the Hebrew and Christian Testaments. He
basically belongs to the former but was present at the beginnings of the
latter. At the same time he died before Jesus had completed his work and
before the Church came into existence.
Greatness of John
Jesus praised his greatness but at the same time said that even the
least in the Kingdom was greater than he. While he knew and proclaimed
Jesus as the one that all were waiting for and the thongs of whose
sandals he was not worthy to loose, he never knew Jesus as his Risen
Lord, a privilege granted to the very least of the baptised.
His primary title is Precursor. His mission was to go ahead of the
Messiah and proclaim his coming. As he said modestly himself, Jesus must
increase while he himself must decrease. The success of his mission
would eventually make him redundant. And that is still the role of the
missionary today - to plant the church and then withdraw, leaving it in
the hands of the new local community.
Many parallels
Today we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist. In Luke's gospel there
are many parallels between the birth of John and that of Jesus. Both
births were announced in advance: in John's case to his father Zechariah
and in Jesus' case to his mother Mary.
The birth of John was a special blessing to his parents, who were
already advanced in age, and particularly to Elizabeth. So when the
birth took place it was a special occasion of rejoicing among relatives
and neighbours. When they heard "that the Lord had shown her so great a
kindness, they shared her joy". Everyone knew what a shame it was for a
woman not to give a child, especially a son, to her husband.
Belonging to God
In accordance with custom the child was circumcised on the eighth day
after birth. This ritual showed that the child belonged to God's own
people. It was also the day on which the child was officially named. In
accordance with prevailing custom, it was expected that the child would
be called Zechariah after his father. But Elizabeth interjected to say
that he should be called John. This came as a surprise as there was no
one of that name in the family.
The father was then consulted. Because he had doubted the angel's words
at the announcement of his son's conception, Zechariah had been struck
dumb. He was possibly also deaf because the people communicated to him
by signs. He replied by writing on a tablet: "His name is John." This
was the name the angel said should be given to the new-born child.
What child is this?
This act of obedience on the part of Zechariah resulted in his speech
coming back and his glorifying God. "The neighbours were filled with awe
and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of
Judea." The whole event was clearly understood as a direct intervention
of God.
And people began to wonder about the child in front of them. "What will
the child turn out to be?" they asked. All the circumstances of his
birth indicated that he was no ordinary child and that God had a special
mission for him.
In the desert
In words similar to those used of Jesus, we are told that the boy grew
up and matured. Probably his elderly parents died while he was young and
he went to live in the Desert of Judea, which lies between Jerusalem and
the Dead Sea. And it was there, along the banks of the River Jordan that
he began his public preaching. He would have been about 30 years of age,
just a few months older than his cousin, Jesus.
His calling to serve the Lord is expressed in the passage from Isaiah in
the First Reading. "The Lord called me before I was born, from my
mother's womb he pronounced my name." His unexpected birth was revealed
to his father and his name given to him.
"He made my mouth a sharp sword… he made me into a sharpened arrow…"
express John's effectiveness as a prophet and herald. The reading also
implies the suffering and frustrations that were part of John's life. In
the end he was thrown into prison and, on the whim of Herod's
illegitimate wife, executed. But his life was not in vain. He became, in
the words of the reading, "the light of the nations so that my salvation
may reach to the ends of the earth".
Greatest of the OT prophets?
John was the last and in some ways the greatest of the Hebrew Testament
prophets. As the preface for today's Mass says he was chosen "from all
the prophets to show the world its redeemer, the Lamb of sacrifice". It
was he, who in John's gospel, points out Jesus to his disciples as the
"Lamb of God".
Apart from preaching a message of repentance and conversion to the large
number of people who came to hear him, he "baptised Christ, the giver of
baptism, in waters made holy by the one who was baptised".
He is presented as a man of total honesty and integrity. Perhaps it was
this which attracted so many to come and hear him. And because of this
he ultimately lost his life when he denounced King Herod who had married
his brother's wife. He was "found worthy of a martyr's death, his last
and greatest act of witness to your Son".
A model for all of us
John the Baptist's life has a special meaning for all of us. We are,
through our baptism, also called to be precursors of the Lord. Our
baptism imposes on us an obligation to share our faith and to give
witness to the Way of Jesus, both in word and action. There is no other
way by which the average person can come to know and experience the love
of Christ.
It is well put by Paul, writing to the church at Rome a long time ago:
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear
without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are
sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
the good news!'" (Romans 10:13-16)
The vocation of all of us
In that sense, we are all called to be "preachers". Our lives
individually and collectively are meant to send out a message and an
invitation: "Come and join us and share our experience of faith, love
and fellowship." If we are honest, we know that we do not do that nearly
enough and often give an opposite message altogether. As the unbeliever
Nietzsche said, "If they want me to be Christian they will have to look
as if they are saved." The signals we send out as individuals, as
families, as parish are really the only way that people who are
searching for meaning in their lives may be led to find that meaning in
the Gospel.
Let us ask John the Baptist today to help us by the way we live our
lives to clear a path which will draw people closer to knowing and
experiencing Christ.
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