I love babies. They are so fresh and full of potential. Today we celebrate the Nativity of John the Baptist. He was the second cousin of Jesus and is most famous for preparing the way of the Lord. The Church must think this is an important feast day because we have two readings before the Gospel .
Most of this reflection is my imagination and purely fiction. I will submit it for the purpose to foster your own imagination and possibly the importance of John the Baptist in your life today.
The first segment of John the Baptist’s life is in the womb and Elizabeth’s response. In Luke 1:41 “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb” John knew even in the womb who Jesus was as did Elizabeth. She went on to say, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord* should come to me? . In today’s reading in Isaiah 49: 1-2″ Hear me, coastlands, listen, distant people. Before birth the LORD called me, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name. He made my mouth like a sharp-edged sword, concealed me, shielded by his hand. He made me a sharpened arrow, in his quiver he hid me.”
A sharp-edged sword is what John the Baptist was to become. It is interesting that this story has to come from Mary. She was the one who must have told it to the authors of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. According to Mary’s story, Zechariah was given the name for his son as “John” by the angel when he was told that Elizabeth was to conceive. He was struck dumb and could not speak because he doubted the angel that Elizabeth could conceive in her old age. Zechariah could only speak again until he confirmed the name of the baby as John.
The second segment was from John’s birth until his parent’s death. Zechariah and Elizabeth were already old when John was born. My guess is that from the birth to the parent’s death, John could have only spent the first 13 to 15 years of his life with his loving parents. Zechariah was a priest and schooled in scripture and we know that he and Elizabeth were a good and loving married couple. I am sure Zechariah and Elizabeth taught him NOT to doubt the word of the Lord from Zechariah’s experience with the angel . He must have had a parallel life as a young boy with Jesus. Maybe they as a family visited Mary and Joseph and Jesus. Maybe they were found in the same family group as Jesus when Jesus was found in the Temple in Jerusalem. Children grow up to be adults and do not look the same when they are older. If John’s parents died when he was young that would have left him alone in the world. Remember there was no email or Facebook then. They lived in different cities and communications would have been verbal and spotty at best.
My mother came from a huge Polish immigrant family with many cousins all over the United States. I have so many that I that have known, as a child that I do not know what they look like today, let alone where they are all living now. It is understandable that John might not have known Jesus by sight and as an adult when John baptized Jesus.
The third segment was from the time period of 13 or 15 years of age to 27 years of age. Zechariah and Elizabeth must have died by this time. This was John’s formation in the desert. Not sure of the diet of locust and honey and the clothes he wore. From today’s Psalm: 139: 1B-2 “LORD, you have probed me, you know me: you know when I sit and stand, you understand my thoughts from afar”. In today’s readings Luke 1: 80 The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.”
The fourth segment was John’s public ministry. Jesus started His ministry at about 30 to His death at 33 years of age. I would have to assume that John’s ministry would have been about the same length of time or 3 years to develop but started three years before Jesus’s ministry. So John must have started about the age of 27 until his death. Remember that John was six months older but realistically the same age. I am not sure how long after John baptized Jesus that John was martyred but he was about this age and at the end of his ministry.
What can we learn from the life of John the Baptist? Every one of us is preparing the way of the Lord for the generations to come and here is how:
One, our parents prepared us in the womb. They welcomed us and committed us to Baptism.
Two, they developed us to adulthood by teaching the commandments and good example in life. We do this in our families today.
Three, we have all had our time in the desert. All of us including John have sinned. We have the opportunity everyday to examine our conscience and repent.
Four, everything we do today declares the Kingdom of God is at hand. Everything we do in work or play should proclaim the Glory of God in our lives.
Yes, we are John the Baptist in the world today. As a baby, John had potential and more importantly had a future. The Church just celebrated Trinity Sunday two weeks ago and Corpus Christi Sunday last week. Tomorrow is ordinary time, but it is not ordinary. Today we celebrate our potential and future. We live in a world today as Pope John Paul II described as a world of relativism. It is of course a false doctrine, but the Kingdom of God is all around us and all of us need to declare it in our midst. We need to declare it just like John the Baptist, because we are the voice of God preparing the way of the Lord today in everything we do at work or play. Praise God!
God Bless
Bob Burford
Readings: Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 139: 1B-3, 13-14AB, 14C-15; Acts 13: 22-26; Luke 1: 57-66, 80
