Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

“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” (Luke 1:59-66).

It’s always fun with a new baby to guess what the child will be in his or her adult life. “Look at the length of her fingers. She’s going to be a pianist!”

The adults around John the Baptist had more than superficial reasons to wonder what this baby would do with his life. Elizabeth, was childless and well beyond the age for childbirth when she became pregnant with John. The birth of John was foretold to his father, Zachariah, by the archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:13). Gabriel took away Zachariah’s ability to speak after Zachariah refused to believe the angel (Luke 1:20) and restored it only after Zachariah gave the child the name the angel had prescribed. No wonder people asked, “What, then, will this child be?”

As John grew up, he discerned God’s will. John understood that God wanted him to call on people to reform their lives, to live together in social and economic justice, and to prepare for the immanent coming of the messiah. This was not a simple vocation. By undertaking it, John knew he would spend his life confronting people who were comfortable in their positions of wealth and power. He decided to make himself the target of what turned out to be lethal antagonism.

This was the future John accepted when he accepted the will of God.

How have you responded when you have felt God calling you to do something that might disrupt the usual order of your life?

This year the Solemnity of St. John the Baptist will be celebrated on Sunday, June 24. To download a special PrayerTime faith-sharing session, click here.