JUNE 24: Nativity of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John

A wonderful feast of the Orthodox Church celebrates the birth of the man who came before Christ to prepare the way of the Lord’s incarnation. It is a feast that is also celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church. The Orthodox hymns of Vespers open our mental eyes to a deeper understanding of John the Baptist and challenge us to imitate his mission.

John is born, ending Zachariah’s silence.
The father cannot keep silent, when his son, the voice of the Lord, is born.
When at first he did not believe, his tongue was silenced,
but now John has been born to free his father:
the one who heard the good news,
and from whom was born the voice of the Word,
the Forerunner of Light, the intercessor of our souls.

Today the Voice of the Word is born,
releasing Zachariah’s silence,
revealing the harvest of the Church, loosing the bonds of barrenness.
The candlestick of the Light is drawing near.
The ray of the Sun proclaims His coming
for the edification of all and the salvation of our souls.

These two hymns from the beginning of Vespers encapsulate for us what is most important about John the Baptist. He was the “voice of the Word.” The Gospel tells us that Jesus is the Word (Logos) of God (John 1:1) and the Word became flesh (John 1:14). John himself was foretold by the prophet Isaiah to be “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 3:3). In addition to being the “voice of the Word” John also liberated his father from the silence that was imposed on him by the archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:19-20).

So the events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist are inseparably connected to the coming of the Word. Speech is a uniquely human attribute and it is our primary means of communication, so God also chose to communicate through speech – first through speech to the men and women of ancient Israel and then through the coming of Jesus Christ as the Word of God.

The second hymn quoted above tells us that by “releasing Zachariah’s silence” John also revealed “the harvest of the Church, loosing the bonds of barrenness.” In the immediate context of John’s birth the “barrenness” refers to Elizabeth before her miraculous conception of John. But by including “Church” in the phrase, the hymn goes beyond Elizabeth to include all God’s people. The “harvest of the Church” is to liberate us from our own spiritual barrenness. We also are called to be voices in the wilderness of our own times. Our mouths are opened to praise God in worship and Liturgy; our mouths and spirits are freed to approach God in prayer. May the Word of God give each of us words to speak to God, to each other, and to the wilderness of human society. Words that come from the Word are the only ones worthy to be spoken to God. May our prayers be such words. May our actions be guided by such words. Amen.