June 24 2019 - Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Born to shine

Readings: IS 49:1-6; PS 139:1B-3, 13-14AB, 14C-15; ACTS 13:22-26; LK 1:57-66, 80

An Ivorian proverb says, “the chick that will be a rooster is recognized from the hatching.”

“What, then, will this child be?” (Lk 1:66), “I will make you a light to the Nations.” (Is 49:6)

In the liturgical year, only three persons see their nativity be recalled and celebrated as solemnity; the Nativity of the daughter of Anne and Joachim, the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8, the Nativity of Jesus, Son of Mary on December 25 and the one we feast on today, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, on June 24. These three solemnities are linked by the same purpose, the mystery of salvation. Mary being the Mother of our Savior, Jesus being the Savior and John the Baptist the precursor the one whose mission will be to prepare the way for the Savior.

The Nativity of John the Baptist takes a very special meaning for us, when we look all the surrounding events and the context in which it happened. It also challenges each one of us to rediscover our own mission as prophets.

“What, then, will this child be?” (Lk 1:66) That is the question people put to each other while looking at how the birth of John took place. The child of an old couple, a miraculous birth from a barren and menopaused woman. And even the giving of the name was a question, a surprise for all.

His name itself is a mission. YAHWEH has been gracious; or God has shown favor. God actually has shown a great favor to Elizabeth and Zechariah, giving them a child in their old age. He has wiped away the shamefulness of the barren woman and has made of her the mother of a great man, the one Jesus will talk about as the greatest of all the children born of women (Luke 7:28).

The answer to the question people puts to themselves at the birth of John and the giving of his name in the Gospel of Luke is found in the first reading. The Lord addressing his people through the prophet Isaiah says, “You are my servant.” John will, therefore, be the great servant of the Lord. And the Lord adds, “I will make you a light to the National.” He is actually, the prophet, the one to reveal the Lord’s presence and his will to his people. That leads us to talk of the prophet. Who is the prophet?

A prophet is someone whose life and words are an invite, an appeal to all for a change. In the Ancient Israel and the Old Testament, the prophets were known through the content of their predictions and their life style. In that sense we read about classifications of prophets as good or false prophets.

The people of God were in expectation of Divine manifestation, awaiting the messianic time. In this messianism, the role of the prophets was to give knowledge of that revelation. We celebrate today the one whose nativity itself announces something very significant in the life of God's people. John the Baptist, the precursor, the one who will introduce Jesus to the world.

Not only through his birth, by also the whole life of John will be a question. That tells us that the life of a prophet is always a question. He is a light towards those living in the darkness. Just as the presence of the light constitutes a violation and a hindrance to the dark, so the life of the prophet to his society. Unless a prophet is a false prophet, one who says things to please and a man of conformism, the life of a true prophet is always at risk because of his message. His has the mission to shine and reveal the evilness of the world.

The prophet is someone whose mission is to announce, to denounce, to renounce and to invite for change. He announces God’s justice and love. Denounces the evilness of the society in which he lives. Renounces to comply and conform to that evilness and at the end, invite the people to change and walk in righteousness. By doing so, he becomes a question for all and an obstacle for those who please themselves in evil practices. That actually was the life of John the Baptist.

As Christians, we also are invested with prophetic mission. Through our baptism, we are made Priests, Prophets and Kings. Our prophetic mission is to be light in the midst of our today’s world and societies. We can’t be Christians and conform ourselves to the way of the world. Christianity is not a conformism. Like John, we have the divine obligation to announce, to denounce, to renounce. Unless we discover our mission and do it, we are only false prophets, people who live only to please others, and we never shine. One thing is sure, prophetism always ends in martyrdom. A prophet, in order to shine must be ready to die as martyr.