The Nativity of John the Baptist

Ish. 49:1-6, Acts 13:22-26, Lk. 1:57-66.80. The joyful importance of the nativity of John can be linked to the meaning of his name in Hebrew. “Yeho-hanan,” means “the Lord is gracious” and as today’s Gospel underlines, in sending John the Baptist, God had shown great favour, not just to the childless couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, but to the whole of humanity. Before the Baptist came on the scene, the prophetic voice in Israel had been silent for 400 years. When John came into the desert near the river Jordan, he breathed fire and preached repentance and renewal. All four Gospels agree that it was he who prepared the way for Jesus the Christ, the "Anointed One of God". So, the whole Christian traditions honour John the Baptist as the precursor, the one who ran ahead as herald of the graciousness from God which came through Jesus, filled with grace and truth.

There is an apt comparison of the birth of John with that of Jesus in this text from St Augustine: “John, it seems, has been inserted as a kind of boundary between the two Testaments, the Old and the New." That he is somehow or other a boundary is something that the Lord indicates when He says: "The Law and the prophets were until John." So, John represents the old and heralds the new. John represents the old, he is born of an elderly couple; because he represents the new, he is revealed as a prophet in his mother’s womb. Before he was born, at Mary’s arrival he leapt in his mother’s womb. Already he had been marked out there, designated before he was born; it was already shown whose forerunner he would be. He is born, he receives a name and his father’s tongue was loosened. As the Baptist pointed the right way for his people, we are called to be a pointer to the right path for people and also be the voice of the voiceless. We can help tell our neighbours about the graciousness and the favour of God. We also have a significant name, for being Christians implies that we share in the mission of Jesus. It means that we are challenged to be other Christs to the world.

May we be blessed with the grace of God, to fulfil our mission as faithfully as John did and the grace to work for a world of justice! Good morning and have a gracious day!!!