Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist.
This is one of three birthdays we celebrate in the life of the Church. You know this must be BIG since we celebrate it even on Sunday.
Let's look at the three birthdays:
Dec 25th we celebrate the Birth of Jesus. This is a no brainer. Jesus is the big cheese when it comes to Christianity and revelation. We not only celebrate his birthday we even celebrate his conception, March 25th, 9 months prior to his birth.
September 8th we celebrate the birthday of Mary. Again this is a no brainer since she is the mother of JEsus. We also celebrate her conception, December 8th. Mary's vocation is unique as she is the vessel that will carry the incarnate word, the sinless one, without spot or blemish. Prevenient grace is given to her so that free from sin she may receive the gift of the christ child. Without sin she remains full of grace.
Then of course we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist, June 24th.
John's birth marks 6 months until Christmas. So you might want to get a move on that christmas shopping. One can never be too early it seems.
I am surprised marketers haven't picked up on this and used it to their advantage. Shops could have the John the baptist sale. We have black friday after Thanksgiving, why not precursor day as John is born in preparation for Christmas. Just a thought.
Notice that John's birth day is around the solstice. For us it is the summer solstice, which means it is the day light shines the longest and brightest for the earth is the closest to the Sun. After the summer solstice, the day light slowly decreases.
It is very fitting considering John the Baptist's tag line, "He must increase, I must decrease."
In fact, Jesus' birth is during the solstice as well, the winter solstice, which marks the day in which we have the shortest day of the year. After which light begins to increase and darkness decrease.
John points toward Christ and Christ is the light of the world.
Why is John important?
John reveals to us what Biblical prophecy is all about.
We often misunderstand prophecy. We hear prophecy and we think the future is being revealed, that we get to sneak a peek or get a little sneak preview of coming attractions. We think it means looking behind the veil of tomorrow to give us an inside scoop. This happens some of the time. But there is more to prophecy.
Biblical prophecy is concerned with tomorrow, true. But it is concerned with tomorrow insofar as it is concerned with today.
Biblical prophecy is about revealing the standard of God and God's expectations in the given moment. When the prophets speak in the Old testament they are telling the people what will happen given the present state of things. If they continue on the road they are traveling then destruction will be a consequence.
We experience this in our daily lives as well.
I remember growing up seeing a commercial on TV. I was in elementary school at the time and the image has stayed in my mind. The commercial had shown and egg and stated this is your brain. Then the egg was cracked and put in a hot skillet. Then the next line came resounding through, "this is your brain on drugs" as the egg was fried. This is prophetic.
Or the other day, I saw a commercial where a girl was holding a sign that read "yeah." She was speaking about her sister. Then she mentioned that "yeah" was the last text she had sent while driving shortly before she flipped her car and died. THis is prophetic.
If you keep doing drugs your brain will be fried. If you text and drive you will be in a wreck and experience pain and suffering and even death.
John is prophetic this way.
John reveals to us what God's standard and expectation are. His whole life is geared for this one moment.
The moment he points out Christ, "behold the lamb of GOd..."he fulfills his mission.
In the face of Christ he sees the face of God and thus the standard of God is laid at our feet.
John is like a good bird dog, he is always on point.
This is our mission and vocation as well. We are all called to reveal the standard of God to the world. We are all called to make Christ known with the life we live, at all times and all places.
Do we do this?
Sadly, most do not.
Sadly, most of us who call ourselves Christian are truly not.
A growing number of us have been busy inventing our own version of Christianity, of what Christianity means. We have created a religion that strokes our egos and enables us to indulge or even celebrate our own worst impulses.
We are false prophets.
In fact Ray Bradbury put it best when he posed the question, "I wonder if God recognizes his own son the way we have dressed him up or even dressed him down. He has become a regular peppermint stick, all sugar."
We have falsified the face of Jesus to society by the life we live.
No where is it more of a reality then in our sexual lives and our openness to children.
Our fertility ,which is a gift from God and considered a great blessing according to biblical standards, we have reduced to a nuisance or even a disease.
How often have we classifies our fertility as a sickness that needs to be closed off or removed. Our society as taken the gift and perverted it.
So much so that our population is declining.
79 countries which contain 40% of the population rate is below replacement levels. The replacement level is 2.1 children per woman.
Germany's birth rate is 1.3 which is at the point of no return. Germany is losing ground and losing ground fast.
Japan is at 1.3 as well.
Russia loses 750,000 people yearly. It is in such dire straits that in a region north of Moscow, Ulyanovsk, they have what they called national conception day. On september 12, couples are given the day off to procreate. Those couples who have children the following June are rewarded with prizes.I know it sounds stranger than fiction but it is true.
We have done this in the US as well. With the use of contraception and abortions, we too have treated our fertility as if it were a curse rather than that which opens us up to the greatest miracle of all... life.
We no longer ask the question, what will this child be, since rarely are their children to be had. Rather than be mystified by the gift we kill it or close our wombs to it.
We have taken something that is a sign of health and vibrant life, fertility, and we have chosen to treat it like a cancer.
Until we begin to truly embrace fertility as the vehicle of life and love we will continually be false prophets.
John reminds us that life if it is truly going to be meaningful must include sacrifice, honesty, and heroic gift of self. He points to the one who i the way, the truth, and the life. He is willing to give his life for the sake of life and truth. He even loses his head for the cause of what is good and true.
Are we.
Our calling is to point to the face of Christ and make it known to the world around. Not with our lips but with our lives, with our openness to children and the embrace of the gift.
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