John the Baptist: Prophet and Forerunner
By the Rev. Timothy E. Schenck
What would you do if John the Baptist sat next to you on a Sunday morning? You couldn’t help but notice. A large man wearing nothing but camel hair and a leather belt would tend to stick out at most of our parishes. There’s nothing particularly discreet about this forerunner of the Messiah. He’s not known as John the Episcopalian, after all. And, frankly, when you make your living crying out in the wilderness day after day, you don’t tend to be too concerned with personal hygiene. So, if this large hulk of a man with locusts and wild honey matted into his beard sat next to you, how would you react? Would you switch pews or would you exchange knowing glances with those around you but stay put?
We don’t quite know what to do with John the Baptist. He doesn’t fit neatly into any of our self-constructed human categories. We’re drawn to the mystical power and prophetic nature of this man named John. Yet we’re also taken aback by his appearance and his message. There’s not much subtlety or room for debate in his cry to “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” The Baptist challenges us and demands that we focus upon the very heart of the Christian message.
St. John the Baptist
It does feel a bit odd to celebrate John the Baptist during the summer. He is so intrinsically linked to the seasons of Advent and Epiphany that we tend to ignore him the rest of the year. We think of him crying out in the wilderness and preparing the way for the Lord. How many shopping days from June 24 until Christmas? Yet his feast day marks his nativity as recounted in the Gospel of Luke. A close reading of the prophet’s birth narrative shows us just how appropriate it is to observe this feast in June, since it is exactly six months before Christmas. Born to the elderly Elizabeth and Zechariah, we’re told that his mother became pregnant six months before the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary.
The appointed readings for the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist combine several elements of his life and faith. The richly poetic language of Isaiah’s 40th chapter (“Comfort, comfort ye my people,” “a voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord” and “every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low”) foreshadows John’s role as Christ’s forerunner. The text has become synonymous with the season of Advent. It appears on the second Sunday of Advent in Lectionary Year B, but more to the point, it has become a beloved text for many composers. The best known is Handel’s tenor solo “Comfort Ye” from the Messiah, and the Advent hymn “Comfort, comfort ye my people,” from The Hymnal 1982, is another seasonal favorite.
The text from Luke 1: 57-80 is equally well known and loved. You’ll recall the debate about what to name the unlikely child born to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah, struck mute for not believing God could open Elizabeth’s womb, wrote the name “John” on a tablet and his tongue was immediately freed. Out came what we now know as the Benedictus. This wonderful hymn of rejoicing is a canticle appointed for Morning Prayer. It too has been set to music by a variety of composers from Schubert to Palestrina to Tallis to Stanford. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,” it begins and goes on to tell the story of how John will serve God:
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
The life and ministry of John the Baptist is an integral piece of our own salvation story. We celebrate this prophet, this preparer of the way, this faithful servant, and give thanks for his brutal honesty and clear articulation of God’s word. His unlikely presence in the middle of the summer is yet another reminder that the Christian life draws us out of our comfort zones and forces us to respond to Christ’s message in ways that continually surprise and delight us.