RBWords

     John the Baptist has his own nativity story, which reflects the significance given to him by the early Christian church.  The drama of his father's muteness, the visitation scene, and now the birth and name-giving which remove Zechariah's muteness - all of this draws attention, as the quote from today's gospel scripture (above) shows.  The effort of early Christian preaching to see everything about Jesus' life and ministry in terms of the Old Testament led it to see a foretelling about John the Baptist in a number of prophetic oracles, including the one from Malachi in today's first scripture.  (Perhaps better-known is Isaiah's "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord." Isaiah 40:3.]    As significant as John the Baptist was, Jesus still said that even the least in the kingdom is greater than John. [Luke 7:28]

     Some manger scenes that I have seen have John the Baptist standing in the background, even though he was six months old at the time of Jesus' birth.  But time collapses in the scene because the birth has transcendent significance.  John, the shepherds and the Magi all appear.  We can enter into the physical challenges of the event and put ourselves there in the stable.  But we can also step back and reflect on the transcendent meaning of the Word made flesh" [John 1:14].  I try to do both so that the union of human and divine in its full mystery comes out.  How will you approach it?  AMEN