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S
OLEMNITY
OF
THE
N
ATIVITY
OF
S
AINT
J
OHN
THE
B
APTIST
Isaiah 49:1-6
Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15
Acts of the Apostles 13:22-26
Luke 1:57-66, 80
S
UMMARY
Luke˅s gospel today is the wonderful story of the birth of John the Baptist.
The townsfolk are stunned at Elizabeth˅s good fortune (having a baby in
her old age) and Zachariah˅s ˈtongue is loosenedˉ when he Baptizes the
baby ˈJohnˉ. Zachariah had been struck dumb when he refused to believe
the Archangel˅s news that his aged wife would have a son who should be
named John. The neighbors knew that the miraculous occurrences sur-
rounding John˅s birth were signs that he would be a very special person,
and he was indeed.
R
EFLECTION
I remember reading once about a Buddhist teacher who advised his stu-
dents not to ˈmistake the finger pointing to the moon for the moon itself.ˉ
At the time, I didn˅t really understand what this meant. But in meditating
on the story of John the Baptist, an interpretation becomes clear. John
was preparing the way for Jesus Christ, he was a holy man and a prophet,
but he was not Jesus. There were many people in the time of our Savior
who believed John to be the Messiah himself. And many who thought Je-
sus was John the Baptist. Just as many people in our day mistake those
who ˈpoint the way to Godˉ, for God himself. This can be very confusing
when those people disappoint us and fail (as they inevitably will) to live up
to our expectations.
Preachers will lie, teachers will sin, leaders will fall and so will we. But this
does not mean that there is no God. It means all of these people, includ-
ing us, are very human but God continues to love and forgive them as we
are also called to do.