Word to the Wise
Monday, June 24, 2024 - June 24: The Nativity of St. John the Baptist: Day
[Isa 49:1-6; Acts 13:22-26; Luke 1:57-66, 80]"John heralded his [Jesus'] 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 supposed that I am? I am not he. Behold someone is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.'" [Acts]
We owe the story of John the Baptist's conception and birth to the evangelist Luke, and we owe the passage from the Acts of the Apostles, quoted above, to the evangelist Luke. In both the gospel and the Acts, the evangelist makes it clear that great as John the Baptist was, Jesus was even greater. The comparison is deliberate because John the Baptist had a lot of followers. Jesus was among them and his own public debut took place at one of John the Baptist's gatherings at the Jordan.
It is clear from this and from the attention given in the gospels to John the Baptist that he represented a problem to the early Christian community. John's followers were of the mind that he was the promised Messiah and belief in him was carried beyond the Jerusalem area. The Gospel According to John quotes John the Baptist as saying, "He must increase, I must decrease." [John 3:30]
With all this, the Christian community did maintain a respect and devotion to John the Baptist. Jesus himself is quoted as saying: "Of man born of woman, none is greater than John the Baptist...." In Advent, we especially honor John as the herald of Jesus' coming. Today we continue the tradition of placing the annunciation of his birth six months before Jesus' birth in keeping with what the angel Gabriel told Mary. [Luke 1:36] AMEN