The Nativity of St. John the Baptist
Nativity of John the Baptist
Written by Blake Plympton
In Arizona, the summer has begun. More and more people are beginning to notice the heat creeping up in their lives. If you are not used to it, you might think “Surly it cannot get worse than this.” Then the next day is just as miserable or even worse. As a native Phoenician, I have learned to know that it is coming and to accept it. I must prepare myself to get used to the sting of my skin as soon as I walk out of my house because of the heat. I also must think about my activities differently. If I am going to play disc golf or go outside for any reason, it better be early in the morning because it is only going to get hotter.
In my research on The Nativity of John the Baptist. I found some interesting information as why we celebrate his birth in the summer. First, one reason we celebrate it on this day is because of what we know in scripture about John’s birth and how that relates to when we decided to celebrate Jesus’s birth. Because of some early Catholic mathematicians, it was believed that Jesus was most likely born on December 25. This means that he was conceived nine months before that which is why we celebrate his birth on March 25. Then, according to scripture, we know that Elizabeth was already six months pregnant with John when the angel Gabriel went to see Mary (Luke 1:36). Therefore, it would only make sense that three months later John would be born.
As logical as this is, there is yet another reason that people believe that we celebrate his nativity on June 24th. Sometime after John baptized Jesus, he was with his disciples and other Jews. They asked him about what he was doing. John’s disciples were pointing over to Jesus who was baptizing people and noticed that many people were going over to Jesus and not being baptized by John as if this were some sort of concession stand battle where more baptisms meant more success. To answer them, John points to the reality that he is not the Christ and only paving the way for Jesus who is the true messiah and then says “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
This one sentence sprouted forth the idea that having the nativity of John around the summer solstice where the days continued to get shorter and have the Nativity of Jesus be in the winter when the days were getting longer made a ton of sense! It gave a deeper meaning to this already set date for John. However, this would only be true for the people in the northern hemisphere. See, those in the Southern hemisphere would be experiencing the opposite. The summer solstice for them means that longer days are on the horizon.
Sometimes, I shake my head a little at all the ways that we add meaning to things. Don’t get me wrong, I think there is beauty to creating rhythms and giving meaning to things. For me, the church calendar is one of those things. There is nothing in the Bible that tells us to celebrate Lent, Epiphany, or Ordinary time and yet, we organize our worship and our teaching around these different seasons. There is so much spiritual depth that can be had by following the church calendar and entering these seasons.
On the other hand, it seems like we try to find some sort of meaning for almost everything. Even to the point that we are willing to forget how other people might be interpreting the meaning we are placing on a certain thing. Not only that, but we can sometimes become too concerned with “copywriting” the material so that everyone can see the beauty of what we made up rather than just enjoying the insight for what it is for ourself.
As I step back from my more critical look at the different meanings of this feast, I ask myself: I wonder what John would think about all this debate around the meaning of his feast day? Would he care at all? Does he even want to have these things associated with him?
See, John to me seems like a humble man. He recognizes his role in the story that God had laid out for his people. He was to pave the path for the messiah. His work involved preparing the hearts of those who would get to see Jesus and hear from him that he is the Messiah and then to let Jesus be the savior for his people.
John also did not get to see all the fruits of his work. Even after he was beheaded, the message of a coming messiah who would save the world would reach out far and wide leaving many to be baptized into John’s baptism. (Acts 19) At no point in scripture do we see John trying to give himself more recognition or meaning than what he had. He simply was trying to fulfil the role that God had given him.
Sometimes, it can be easy for us to put more meaning to something than what might actually need to be there. We can also wonder if this is really God has for us which leads us to question our vocations, and pursuing things with more status or more perceived benefits. I wonder what it would look like if we just stopped trying to find new meaning for our lives or our circumstances and just gave thanks for all the good God has done for us already.
Prayer for the Nativity of John the Baptist (BCP 2019, p.629)
Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent, boldly rebuke vice, patiently suffer for the sake of truth, and proclaim the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
1. When you think of John the Baptist, what stories come to mind?
2. Given the information above, how do you think John would respond to the different ways that people have given meaning to his birth?
3. What do you think it looks like to “pave the way for the messiah” for people today?
4. In what ways can you get better about proclaiming the gospel?
5. What are some things in your life that have too much meaning behind them?