Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday 24th June 2023

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, one of the most important figures in the Bible and one of the most important saints in the Church’s calendar. We must never underestimate his importance and the centrality of his life and ministry to the Gospel story and to the New Testament in general. He is the key figure in understanding the mission and person of Jesus Christ. It is in coming to realise that John is not the Messiah, the Christ of God, that the disciples and we come to acknowledge and believe that Jesus, son of Mary, is the incarnate Son of God, God made man, Emmanuel, God with us. In addition to his theological importance, John is also one of the most colourful figures in the Bible, following in the tradition of the great prophets Elijah and Elisha. He is also one of the most popular of all Christian saints, venerated too by members of other religions.

 

​Our Gospel passage comes from Luke, (Lk 1: 57-66, 80), which recounts the birth and naming of John. You will remember that his patents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, were elderly and past the age of having children, but that God looked on them with mercy, just as he looked on Mary and she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. This child of Elizabeth’s was no less a gift of God than Jesus himself.

“The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son; and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had shown her so great a kindness, they shared her joy”. A major theme in Luke is God’s loving kindness and the joy of those who enjoy it.

 

​The naming of John is no less important than that of Jesus. Jesus is to be the Saviour, whereas John means God or the Lord is gracious, merciful and kind. “Now on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother spoke up. ‘No,’ she said ‘he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘But no one in your family has that name’, and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And they were all astonished. At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God. All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea. All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. ‘What will this child turn out to be?’ they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.” Here the whole community, village, family, friends and neighbours “treasured it in their hearts.” John’s birth is the cause of great rejoicing to a great number of people and he will become the Forerunner of the Lord. “Meanwhile the child grew up and his spirit matured. And he lived out in the wilderness until the day he appeared openly to Israel.” May we, too, rejoice at this birth and treasure this wondrous event in our hearts.