A Voice in the wilderness and A Finger pointing to Christ
Introduction by the Celebrant
As artists have pictured John the Baptist, there are two symbols that typify him very much. One is a mouth that shouts. It is the voice crying in the wilderness, calling people to conversion. It is a voice that could not be silenced, scolding the religious leaders, as well as the common folk, and urging people to change their ways. Without fear he even faces King Herod and tells him to stop his adultery. He paid dearly for it, for it will cost him his head. Then, he is the finger pointing to the coming Messiah, and here too he paid dearly, for his own disciples deserted him to follow Jesus. Still he went ahead: the one he announced must become greater, he John, only smaller. Yes, he was a great man. “The greatest prophet,” says Jesus.
First Reading: Servant of the Lord
Like the Servant of God in this song from Isaiah, John the Baptist is loved and called by God even before he is born. His task as a servant will be to lead people to God.
1 Reading Isaiah 49:1-6
Hear me, O coastlands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.
Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15
R. (14) I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. I praise you for I am wonderfully made.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.
Second Reading: The Humble Forerunner
John’s task was to prepare people’s hearts for the coming Saviour and then humbly to fade away
2 Reading ACTS 13:22-26
In those days, Paul said:
“God raised up David as king;
of him God testified,
I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;
he will carry out my every wish.
From this man’s descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a saviour, Jesus.
John heralded his 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 suppose that I am? I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me;
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.’
“My brothers, sons of the family of Abraham,
and those others among you who are God-fearing,
to us this word of salvation has been sent.”
Alleluia Luke 1:76
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: What Will This Child Be?
His birth from old parents and the wonders before and after his birth all speak of John as a man chosen by God for a very special mission.
Gospel Luke 1:57-66, 80
When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child
she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbours and relatives heard
that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her,
and they rejoiced with her.
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 neighbours,
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.
The child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he was in the desert until the day
of his manifestation to Israel.
Commentary:
Everything about John marked him as destined for greatness from the beginning. He was the child of aged parents, his birth was heralded by an angel, his name was divinely chosen: these motifs are shared with the great figures of the Old Testament. When he came from the desert he was dressed in a manner reminiscent of Elijah. Huge numbers went to see him; “Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole Jordan district made their way to him” (Mt 3:5). It is all the more dramatic, then, to read in the fourth gospel: “On the following day John stood there again with two of his disciples. Jesus passed. John looked hard at him and said, ‘Look! There is the lamb of God!’ Hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus (Jn 1:35f). A business man would say he was ruining his own trade! But that was the greatness of John: that he was able to recognize greatness in another. For such a strong rough man, John himself appears as gentle as a lamb. That has the stamp of truth on it; all posing and posturing is from the ego. John, said Jesus, was the greatest man that ever lived.
Blessing
Even before we were born
every one of us has been called by God
to be saved by Christ.
Every one of us is called today
to prepare the way of the Lord
for the people we meet.
Every one of us is called today
to point out the presence of Jesus the Lord,
by the way we live his gospel.
May God bless you for this task:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace and bear witness
to the Good News of the Lord. R/ Thanks be to God.