Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist - 24 June 2012
Isaiah 49:1-6, Acts 13:22-26, Luke 1:57-66, 80. Today the Sunday liturgy of ordinary
time gives way to a feast, a great feast: that of the Birth of John the Baptist, who
was chosen by God to prepare the way for the coming of his Son Jesus into this world.
It is indeed a great feast, a feast of joy, but above all a feast of mercy. Elizabeth,
the mother of John, who was called barren received the gratuitous gift from God, the
extraordinary favor of conceiving a son in her old age. The scriptures tell us that
her neighbors and kinsfolk rejoiced with her for the favor granted to her by God.
This is also a feast of mercy primarily because the birth of John proclaimed the coming
birth of the Messiah, Christ, and the Son of God made man, sent to earth to redeem
humanity from sin. John while in his mother’s womb was sanctified and washed of his
original sin by Jesus who was in the womb of Mary, his Mother. Christians have long
interpreted the life of John the Baptist as a preparation for the coming of Jesus
Christ, and the circumstances of his birth, as recorded in the New Testament, are
miraculous. The sole biblical account of birth of John the Baptist comes from the
Gospel of Luke. It was the firm belief among the faithful that John was freed from
original sin at the moment when his mother met the Blessed Virgin. John came to bear
witness to the light, to prepare an upright people for the Lord. According to the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, “John the Baptist was more than a prophet. In him
the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. He completes the cycle
of prophets that began with Elijah. 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. 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 saw Jesus as his Risen Lord, a privileged granted to the very least
of the baptized. John has his mission and his mission was to go ahead of the Messiah
and proclaim his coming. As he said modestly of himself that Jesus must increase while
he himself must decrease. The success of his mission would eventually make him redundant.
John came to bear witness to the Light. He was the witness to the coming of the Spirit
on Jesus and remains with him during the Baptism of our Lord. Once he had prepared
the way for him and performed the duty assigned to him as the prophet he would quietly
withdraw from the scene. When he saw the Lord coming he pointed him out to his disciples
to indicate that he was the Lamb of God. He encouraged his disciples to follow him
and he becomes the bridge in the building of the kingdom of God on earth. In fact
that is still the role of the missionary today – to plant the church and then withdraws,
leaving it in the hands of the new local community. The First Reading of today
from the Book of Isaiah speaks of the divine choice in the life of the Servant of
God. The passage tells us of the pre-knowledge of God in the life of the prophet
as it is in the life of every person. Even before he was born, while he was in his
mother’s womb God chose and him and gave him a name. It is God who makes use of him
as his own instrument in the proclaiming of the word. When he proclaimed the Word
of God, it was like a sharp sword that pierced even the hardened hearts. The people
paid attention to his teaching and heard the message of God. Paul tells us that the
Word of God is the Sword of the Holy Spirit and the letter to the Hebrews says that
the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged Sword, piercing until
it divides soul from spirit leaving everything open and bare. Further God was speaking
to the people of Israel says that their final destiny was for the righteous of Israel
to be a light for the Gentiles and to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. He
will indeed bless them and will make their offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven
and as the sand that is on the seashore. Their offspring shall possess the gate of
their enemies, and by their offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing
for them, because the chosen prophet has listened to his voice. All the nations were
called to gain their blessings through the Jewish nation. While this was God’s original
calling for His people, their desire for political greatness had obscured their original
calling. The prophet expresses his frustration over what seems like a wasted ministry.
But the Lord encourages his Servant by extending his mission. Not only will the Servant
be chosen to restore the Jewish nation, but he will also be a light to the ends of
the earth announcing the good news that salvation has come. In the Second Reading
from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul insists that the coming of Jesus is the consummation
of history. He outlines the history of the Jews and shows how it culminates in Christ.
It is planned according to the divine purpose. Paul here uses purely the Jewish argument
as he speaks of the criteria that God set when he chose David as king. King David
was a man after His heart, which would carry out all His wishes. The resurrection
is the fulfillment of the prophesy because the promises were made to David were obviously
not fulfilled in him but were fulfilled in Christ. As King David was anointed by God,
Jesus, the Messiah, was also anointed. Paul says that from David’s posterity God had
brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. The title of Savior to Israel
meant that Jesus was the “Exalted One,” whose function it is to save. Through Jesus,
salvation came to all those who had faith in Him, who received the Church Sacraments
and who persevered in their living faith. Before the coming of Jesus, John the Baptist
had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. John the Baptist
opened the way to Jesus. Once Jesus appeared on the scene, John’s calling had come
to an end. As John the Baptist said, “I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals
of his feet.” Jesus, God incarnate, was more powerful than John the Baptist. In concluding
his discourse to the Israelites, Paul reminded them that the message that they had
heard from John the Baptist was a message of Salvation and message of Jesus. Today
as we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist we reflect on the Gospel passage. 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. They in
fact had lost hope of having any child. So when the birth took place it was a special
occasion of rejoicing among relatives and neighbors. The Gospel tells us that 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. On the eighth day after the birth of the child they did the Jewish
ritual of naming the child and to indicate that the child belonged to God’s own people.
It was also the day on which the child was officially accepted into the community.
A name is what expresses the entire personality of a being. And when the Lord himself
bestows a name upon someone, this means that he who receives this name is truly known
as such in the very Spirit of God. 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 who had become dumb after his encounter
with the Angel was then consulted. He was possibly also deaf because the people communicated
to him by signs. He replied by writing on a tablet that he should be called John,
the name suggested by the angel. This act of obedience on the part of Zechariah resulted
in his speech coming back and his glorifying God. The Gospel tells us that the neighbors
were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country
of Judea.” The entire event was clearly understood as a direct intervention of God.
From that point on, John bears a name which did not belong to his ancestors: he bears
a new name! A name is what expresses the entire personality of a being. And when the
Lord himself bestows a name upon someone, this means that he who receives this name
is truly known as such in the very Spirit of God. Now, the name of John means “grace”.
By naming him thus, the Lord already sees in him his own Son; John is not the Son
of God made man, but it is he who announces him, it is he who is his living sign. 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, the same age as his cousin, Jesus. He is now called by God to prepare
the way of his son’s public ministry. He is there at the bank of the river Jordan
preaching repentance and baptizing and announcing the Good News. 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”. He was also privileged to baptize Christ, the giver of Baptism
in waters made holy by the one who was baptized, says the preface. To the people
of Jerusalem he was presented as a man of total honesty and integrity. Perhaps it
was this which attracted so many to come and hear him. Finally, 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”. When John the Baptist was born, his father, Zechariah, was dumb.
This was the indication of a penance for his unbelief. Indeed, nine months earlier,
when Zechariah was in the Temple, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him to announce
that his wife was going to have a son. He became dumb for the fact that he doubted
the divine message. During these nine months Zechariah had time to reflect upon all
the working of God in his life and to meditate upon the goodness and the mercy of
the Lord who had condescended to cast his gaze upon his family, with the coming of
a person who would be proclaiming to all the People the arrival of Messiah. So, when
the moment came to give his son a name, he did not hesitate: he confirmed what his
wife Elizabeth had said that his name has to be John. The miracle of healing his
voice took place at his believing. Once he was able to speak, his words were of glorifying
God before the assembled people. Truly, the birth of John the Baptist took place
at a decisive moment, one that was crucial to all humanity. Zechariah, his father,
was the first witness of this: he proceeded from being incredulous to becoming a believer;
from being dumb to becoming the one who proclaimed the praises and the blessings of
the Almighty. Everyone has a call from God and has his own vocation. John the Baptist
had an unusual vocation, to be interiorly prepared for the mission that had been entrusted
to him. This was his hidden life which he spent quietly in the desert in prayer and
penance. This was his life with the Spirit of the Lord who would lead him later into
life even to the level of Martyrdom at the hands of evil Herod. This was his secret
which he built in himself ultimately to reveal Jesus in his life. We are told that
the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the
day of his manifestation to Israel. In many ways this looks similar to the preparation
of Mary for the coming of the Lord into her on the day of the Annunciation. For Mary
had also received a new name from God: the angel Gabriel called her by the name of
full of grace. But Mary was the person who fully understood the working of the Spirit
in her life prepared the dwelling place of God in the sinful world. She was the one
who was purified even before her conception and remains for us the purest of all creatures.
Today we ask our blessed Mother to guide us as we prepare ourselves to receive Jesus
her son into our lives and like John the Baptist keep the paths straightened and ready
to accept him. 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. 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.” 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. We may not be prophets
but we are still called to testify to the Light. We are called to testify as to what
Jesus did for us. And we are called to testify as to what Jesus has done for the
world by promoting His message of salvation. Once a man was driving along the country
road lost his way. Looking for some person to receive fresh direction, he went ahead
and discovered a farm house with a man working in the field and an elderly woman sitting
right in front of the house doing some little odd things. The old man in the farm
was whistling clearly and loudly and he was certainly looked out of tune. To overcome
his curiosity and also to find directions the man went there to him and asked for
directions which he got instantly. Then he asked why he was whistling all the while
and it must be part of his work. The man said that he has been married for 45 years
and the couple has been happy together. But suddenly his wife lost her sight and became
helpless. In order to acknowledge his closeness to her and his presence he whistles
all the while and she knows he is close to her. Fr. Eugene Lobo S.J. Mangalore,
India