Saint John the Baptist
By Pauline A. Venancio
St. John the Baptist was
a Jewish prophet; it is believed that he was born somewhere in Judea and was a preacher.
His birth was announced in a strange way. His parents Zechariah and Elizabeth
as we learn from St. Luke, “were both just before God, walking in all the
commandments and justifications of the lord without blame; and had no children
for that Elizabeth was barren.” They prayed that there union would be blessed
with a child and as the years went on the reproach of barrenness bore heavily
upon them. Zechariah, as he was performing his priestly function, went to offer
incense and there appeared to him an angel sent from God. Upon seeing him Zechariah
was troubled and afraid of the angel. The angel said to him, “Fear not your
prayer has been answered and your wife Elizabeth shall bear a son and you will
call him John and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.” No one really knows
the date of John the Baptist’s birth. The gospel suggests that John was born six
months before Christ.
It is said that John had gained
notice as a prophet in the region of the lower Jordan Valley. The word of the
Lord was made unto John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert. And he came into
all the country about the Jordan, preaching clothed not in the soft garments of
a courier but in those “of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle about his loins.”
He looked as if he came neither eating nor drinking. A few incredulous scoffers
feigned to be scandalized: “He hath a devil.” Nevertheless, “Jerusalem and all
Judea, and all the country about Jordan,” drawn by his strong and winning
personality, went out to him. The austerity of his life added immensely to the
weight of his words; he was truly a prophet. “Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.” Such was the message of his teaching. Men of all conditions flocked
around him. While baptizing people thought “that perhaps he might be the Christ.”
He, however, did not fail to insist that his was only a forerunner’s mission.
John always said, “After
me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy
to carry. I have baptized you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit.” John had been preaching and baptizing for some time when Jesus had
come from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by him. John said, “I need to be
baptized by you.” Jesus replied “Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do
this to fulfill all righteousness.” As soon as Jesus was baptized he went out
of the water. At that moment heaven was opened and he saw he Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This
is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.”
After the baptism, Jesus
is believed to have left to preach in Galilee while John continued preaching in
the Jordan valley. Among the many listeners flocking to St. John, some – more
deeply touched by his doctrine – stayed with him, thus forming a group of
disciples. John’s growing popularity and immense power created fright and fear
in the minds of Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Perea and Galilee. Following John’s denunciation
of his adulterous and incestuous wife, Herodias, who was also the wife of his
half brother, Philip, Antipas had him arrested and imprisoned at Machaerus Fortress
on the Dead Sea. On the other hand, Salome, the daughter of Herodias, impressed
Antipas with a dance performance. Delighted by the girl’s act, he vowed to
grant her any wish. Salome, at the instigation of her mother, demanded the head
of John the Baptist. This being done, the girl was not afraid to take that
present into her hands, and deliver it to her mother. Thus dies the great
forerunner of our blessed Savior, the greatest prophet, “amongst those that are
born of women.” His disciples heard of his death, came, took his body and laid
it in a tomb, and came and told Jesus. It was told that John the Baptist was
indeed a man endued with all virtue who exhorted the Jews to the practice of
justice towards men and piety towards God, and also to baptism, preaching that
they would become acceptable to God if they renounced their sins.
What we can learn from
St. John the Baptist is the importance of having the Sacrament of Baptism and
the Sacrament of Confession so that we may be free of sin. St. John the Baptist
also said, “I must decrease so that He may increase.” Let us pray for a spirit
of true humility and a great hunger for God’s mercy in the Sacrament of
Confession.
St. John the Baptist,
pray for us!
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