Psalm 139:1-3. 13- 14.15,
Acts 13:22-26,
Luke 1:57-66.80 Full Readings
His Name is John (God is Gracious)
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of that Nativity of John the Baptist, a precursor of Jesus and the one who prepared the way for Jesus. He is such an important figure in the preparation of the people for the coming of Jesus Christ as well as the Kingdom of God. He bridges the Old Testament and the New Testament and he is on top of the Old Testament prophets as well as the first Evangelist.
John's Baptist incarnation same as the one of Jesus, was announced in a miraculous way in the old age of Elizabeth and Zechariah had to doubt which resulted in his being dumb. Today's Gospel presents to us that it was at John's birth that Zechariah spoke again while glorifying the Lord. This was after naming his baby, John which means "God is Gracious" a name which was chosen by an Angel. Sometimes we become like Zechariah when we doubt God's word, when we doubt and criticise the message from our religious leaders and when we take things from God for granted. We might not be dumb as Zechariah but you never know, we may be losing many blessings in our lives. The only way to regain these blessings is to realise our mistakes, and with a contrite heart come back to God; He will surely welcome us back and restore our blessings as He did to Zechariah.
What was the mission of John and what can we learn from Him? The name John as we have seen means "God is Gracious." This name really is attached to the mission of John. God is gracious at all times and He was gracious to our fathers who had gone astray through the sin of Adam and through their consecutive disobedience to God. Since God is gracious, He chose to redeem and save the world by sending his only son Jesus to us. John's mission was to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus (Jesus=Saviour); the mission which John did very well.
John was chosen before he was born, from his mother's womb and sharp words were put in his mouth and as a servant who was to bring back Jacob and gather Israel which had gone astray back to the Lord. The first Reading puts this very clearly. John fulfilled the task of servantship and so did Jesus when He came. Therefore, John being chosen from the womb presupposed a very important mission.
He was to open the hearts of the Jewish people to be in position to accept Jesus, as well as the Kingdom of God here on earth. He is the prophet par excellence and Jesus gave him the greatest of all recognitions: ‘of all the children born to women there has never been a greater than John the Baptist’ (Matthew 11.11). At the end of this passage John goes out into the desert because it was from the desert that the Messiah was expected to come, and John will be the herald voice, crying in the desert in fulfillment of Isaiah, ‘Make straight his paths’. He is to preach the baptism of repentance in preparation of the baptism in the Spirit by Jesus.
It is not only Jesus Who credited John for the work he did but also Paul as we see in the second reading. Paul is proclaiming the Good News to the Jews of Antioch, showing how John prepared for Jesus, the Saviour of David’s line. John’s task was to prepare a community of repentance. This was not merely a community of people who moped over their sins, but a community of those who were prepared to change their ways and take on the new way of life of the Kingship or Sovereignty of God, symbolised by the washing away of their old way of life in the Jordan River. As God’s prophet he prepared the community for Jesus and pointed out Jesus himself as the Lamb of God. In his fearless proclamation of the message of morality to Herod and in his death as a witness, he showed himself a true precursor of Jesus.
One of the notable features which we can learn from John was his wonderful humility: he insisted that Jesus, who came after him, should pass before him, that Jesus should grow greater and he himself grow less. John had all the chances to be called the Messiah, and in fact people called him so but out of humility and understanding of his mission, he humbled himself and Jesus became greater. This humility is what we really celebrate today, and what we should learn from John as Christians.
As Christians, we are also expected to take John as our role model, to point Christ to those who don't know Him yet and to make the way clearer for those who have heard of Him. We have to do this by our lives as well as our words and actions as John did. Let us strive daily to become torches which bring out the light of Christ to all.
Reflect today on the graciousness of God to His people, on how he chooses to prepare us to receive Christ. God still does this even today; our invitation is to find out who is our John Baptist in our lives. Are you also John the Baptist to someone in this World? Spend some time in prayer and pray for the intercession of John the Baptist.
Let us pray
Enlighten our hearts and minds Oh God through the intercession of John the Baptist, that we should always proclaim your kingdom to all people especially those who have not yet known you. Amen
Be blessed
St John The Baptist Pray for us
ReplyDeleteThanks,nice reflection
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