“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.” Luke 1.68.
In Nomine etc..
Today we commemorate the birth of John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus, also called John the Forerunner, because he prepared a way for Jesus and directed his followers to Jesus, when Jesus began his ministry. Jesus, as we know, accepted baptism from John, an event in which Jesus came to full understanding of his relationship with God. John is very important, essential really, to Jesus’s own understanding of himself, and to our understanding as well.
Today’s Gospel, the first part of it, makes clear the importance of John by emphasizing his name. Evidently was a name unexpected by Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives, and they protested and queried the choice. It is interesting that the neighbors and relatives would not take Elizabeth’s word for it, that the baby’s name would be John. They insisted on asking Zechariah, even though he could not talk. He confirmed the choice, as we heard. And the moment he confirmed it, he was able to speak. Let us ponder this for a moment.
“Zechariah” means “God has remembered” and “John” comes from “Yohanan” which means “God is gracious.” The story of the naming of John is a proclamation of God’s purpose, his nature really. God remembers, and he is always gracious. The ministries of John, and Jesus, taken together, are God working through John, the last of the prophets, and Jesus his Son, to recall humans to awareness of our real nature, which is one of life with God. John’s greatest task was to prepare Jesus to hear from God himself who he was. Only after this was Jesus able to take up his work. John is not only the Forerunner of Jesus; he is the Forerunner of all believers who follow Jesus. John directed people to follow Jesus, and passed his followers on to him.
Zechariah’s prophecy is in two parts: in the first part he says “he has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David”; in the second part he speaks of his own son: “and you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High.” Recall that the “mighty savior” hasn’t been born yet. Luke doesn’t say how Zechariah knows this, except to say that he “was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy.” When the archangel Gabriel spoke to him in the Temple, he did not mention Jesus, so it seems to me that Zechariah heard of the savior from Mary and Elizabeth, or he heard it directly from the Holy Spirit. In any case, Zechariah wastes no time, with the first words out of his mouth, in proclaiming the yet-to-be-born Savior and his cousin John as his Forerunner. Zechariah is himself a forerunner, and has a place in the history of salvation, as do Mary and Elizabeth and all their ancestors and all the prophets before them. We can learn from this that the message of salvation, which is the message of our participation in the life of God, has been repeated many times, and revealed to many people and passed on to others from generation to generation. God does not give up, and goes on revealing himself, until everyone is participating in his life, has reached the destiny that God intends for them, for us.
“And you, child...will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.” The meaning of this is clear: God has already forgiven sins. He is giving through John the knowledge that salvation is available, and has only to be accepted. There is no suggestion that salvation will be held back; no one is excluded from the promise. “The dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Dawn, light, peace, are promised to all. Let us accept knowledge of our salvation, and walk the way of peace.
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.”
In Nomine etc.. (24.VI.17.Adv.)
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