BIBLE STUDY #95
THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST
June 24, 2012
READING 1
ISAIAH 49:1-6
Hear me, O coastlands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother's womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
The Word of the Lord
READING 2
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 13:22-26
In those days, Paul said:
"God raised up David as king;
of him God testified,
I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;
he will carry out my every wish.
From this man's descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel;
and as John was completing his course, he would say,
'What do you suppose that I am' I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me;
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet."
"My brothers, sons of the family of Abraham,
and those others among you who are God-fearing,
to us this word of salvation has been sent."
The Word of the Lord
GOSPEL
LUKE 1:57-66, 80
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
"No. He will be called John."
But they answered her,
"There is no one among your relatives who has this name."
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name,"
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
"What, then, will this child be?"
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
The child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he was in the desert until the day
of his manifestation to Israel.
The Gospel of the Lord
Reflection
There are different readings for the Vigil Mass for this feast (Jeremiah 1:4-10, 1Peter 1:8-12, and Luke 1:5-17) , but I am reflecting on the readings for the Mass During The Day.
Elizabeth and Zechariah, like Joseph and Mary, are good Jewish parents, and have their son circumcised according to the Law of Moses (see Genesis 17:12 and Leviticus 12:3). John is thereby brought into the Jewish community, as will be Jesus (2:21) with his own circumcision. Luke will show that all the people that have a role in the beginning of Christianity to come from the people of Israel. In Luke’s second volume, Acts of the Apostles, Luke will argue that Christianity is a direct descendent of Judaism.
Elizabeth is “shown great mercy” by God because she was beyond child bearing years when she became pregnant. The role of a woman in those days was to bear children and take care of her husband and children. Being barren would have been a great calamity and a source of some embarrassment. Her neighbors would have rejoiced because God showed favor to her. Sounds a little like Mary, doesn’t it. There are some similarities between John’s birth and Jesus. Mary was also shown great mercy by God because she was allowed to conceive Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. The difference here is that even though John’s conception was miraculous, it was by natural means; Jesus’ conception was divine.
The naming of a child was of great importance in ancient days; it can tell us something of the newborn. It would have been expected that the child would be named after either the father of the grandfather. In any event, it would be a name chosen by the parents. However, in this case, the name was chosen by an angel of the Lord named Gabriel. Zechariah doubted and his punishment was to be made mute.
When Elizabeth and Zechariah went to circumcise John, they were asked what name they had chosen, and Elizabeth said ‘John’. They were astounded because no one in their family had that name. Note the deference to the father in a patriarchal society: they asked Zechariah about the name. He took a tablet and wrote that his name was John. He then regained his speech. Is first words are in praise of God.
This indicates that the prophecy of Gabriel was fulfilled despite human resistance. Some times we work at cross purposes with God, but in the end, God’s will prevails. This is important to remember whenever we are facing any trials: God is in charge, and He will prevail.
John is a name that means “God is gracious”. God is gracious to Elizabeth and Mary; he is gracious by sending his own Son for our salvation, and he is gracious in sending John as the prophet and forerunner of the Messiah.
All the people wondered what would become of John. The first reading from Isaiah could be of any prophet, but I think it apropos for John and reflects a lot of what John is about.
We’ve seen how John ‘was called from birth’ and given a name while still in the womb. John certainly was a ‘sharp-edged sword’. He was a fiery preacher, baptizing for the repentance of sins, and he paid the price of his life for his endeavors.
I also think (like many a prophet), that John felt like he toiled in vain. He didn’t see his prophesies concerning the messiah come to fruition in his life time, and he wondered (like many saints) if his life was in vain. Here is another reason to trust in God, that God’s will triumphs; sometimes our effort don’t pay dividends until long after our life time (like Abraham).
But in the end, John wasn’t looking, nor did he receive, recompense from others, but only from God. His meaning and strength came from God’s grace and peace. He didn’t need to see results; his satisfaction came from doing God’s will. Even though his life was difficult, it was blessed.
John followed his own vocation. As it says in the second reading, John came to herald Jesus as the Messiah through preaching and baptizing for the forgiveness of sins. John said he was not the Messiah. It seems that there were followers of John for centuries who felt that John was the one sent by God as the Messiah and that Jesus was the usurper. Luke has John proclaim his deference to Jesus by having John say, “Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet." It was John’s vocation to be the proclaimer of Jesus, the Good News of salvation.
Like John, we all have a vocation in life. We are all called by God through our baptism to be bearers of the Good News. We are all baptized to be priests, prophets and kings; priests in the sense of prayer; prophets in the sense speaking and teaching our faith; and kings in the sense of being servants of other people. What is our vocation? How are we carrying it out?
Fr. Phil
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