The testimony of John the Baptist

It is the third Sunday of Advent and today’s gospel teaches us about the testimony of John the Baptist about the man whom he was sent by God to herald His coming. Indeed if you look into your Bible from the time of the birth of John to Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, you will note that Zechariah was a Jewish priest and, when John was conceived, both he and Elizabeth were already old and beyond child-bearing age. Hence one can say that Elizabeth conceived her son just like the way our Lord Jesus Christ was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary … with the Holy Spirit overshadowing the two women. It is a fact that their births were foretold by the same Archangel Gabriel.

It was Zechariah’s turn to serve in the Temple in Jerusalem when, while he was offering incense at the Golden Altar, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him to announce that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son and they should name him John. But Zechariah knowing that he was already old did not believe the Archangel Gabriel, so the Angel rendered him speechless until the child would be born.

At this birth, Elizabeth told her relatives that the baby boy would be named John. But they protested that there was no one in their family with that name. So they asked the still speechless Zechariah, who then wrote in a tablet the name “John” and then his tongue was freed. We will get to Zechariah’s prophecy later but first let me give you the gospel reading today which you can find in John 1:6-8, 19-28.

“6 A man named John was sent from God. 7 He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to testify to the light, but came to testify to the light. 19 And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites [to him] to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Messiah.”

21 So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, I am not.” Are you the Prophet?” He answered “No”. 22 So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” 23 He said; “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”’ As Isaiah the prophet said, “24 Some Pharisees were also sent, 25 They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?”

26 John answered them “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, 27 the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”28 This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

After John was born and was presented to the Temple, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. As he said through his holy prophets of long ago, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.. to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he sore to our father Abraham; to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

An you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most high; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him to give his people the knowledge of salvation because of the tender mercy of God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Indeed scripture tells us that Zechariah, the father of John, foretold his role later in his life. As they were already old then, they must have died when John was still very young. So John left the comforts of the family home and went into the desert and soon, he only ate locust and wild honey and wore camel’s hair with a leather belt. But he was growing in popularity and had a large following. He was humble to admit that he was not the Messiah that the Jews were expecting to come.

But he told them of someone whom they do not recognize, who will baptize them with the Holy Spirit, whose sandals he wasn’t worthy to untie. Of course he was referring to the Messiah whom the Jews were expecting to come (unfortunately most Jews are still awaiting his coming), whose coming was foretold by the prophets beginning with Moses all the way to Isaiah. Our Lord Jesus Christ came forth on this earth through the Blessed Virgin Mary and was born out of humble circumstances, in a cave and placed on a manger and visited by shepherds, which is God’s most important trait … humility.

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