Saint John the Baptizer and Forerunner of Our Lord

Saint John the Baptizer and Forerunner of Our Lord

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. - Luke 1:13

 
Saint John the Baptizer, often called the Forerunner in Eastern Christianity, was born in the Roman controlled Herodian Kingdom of Judea during the last century before Christ, and died a martyr sometime between 28 and 36AD.  He was beheaded in the Fortress of Machaerus, and while many places claim to have his relics, the most reliable sources point towards the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.  While being honored as being a prophet in Islam, the Umayyad Mosque was once the Metropolitan Cathedral Church in Damascus, hence the reason for why his relics are principally located there. 

The birth of John the Baptist was miraculous and mirrors the birth of Isaac from his parents Abraham and Sarah who were very old, like the parents of John, Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Then he was given the name John, meaning graced by God.  This was disturbing to the gathered people, who thought he would be named after his father, or as was the custom among the Palestinian Jews of the time, after his grandfather.  By being named John, it reveals that he has been singled out, given a particular grace for his future ministry.  

During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb…- Luke 1:39-41

 
The Holy Virgin visits Elizabeth and as the Syriac Father of the Church, Jacob of Serug suggests; when John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb, he is being baptized by Jesus, who is in the womb of Mary.

The connection between Jesus and John is crucial to the gospel proclamation of  how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures and the promises made by God to Israel and to all humanity:

And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give his people knowledge of salvation
    through the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God
    by which the daybreak from on high will visit us

to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow,
    to guide our feet into the path of peace.” - Luke 1:76-79  

 
According to human genealogy they are cousins, but in the perspective of the economy of salvation (salvation history), they unify biblical revelation (Old and New) into being the one Sacred Scripture.  John is the last of the prophets of old, he is like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Elijah; “John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”(John 1:23) Yet he knows his time, the time of the prophets of old, is coming to an end:

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’  I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”  And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me too baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” - John 1:29-35

John reveals that his ministry, indeed the ministry of the prophets was for a time, to prepare the way for the One who is eternal.  Who was before the prophets and who ushers in the age of the Holy Spirit, whom he will baptize men and women in.  He sees Jesus not as his cousin, but as one he did not recognize until it was revealed to him that he is the Son of God.  In doing so John is moving from an earthly relationship with Jesus as his cousin, to a profession of faith that he is the eternal Son of God; for the Holy Spirit allows him and from then on all people to profess faith in the Christ of God.  

This movement from the Age of Prophetic Revelation to the Age of the Holy Spirit, is held together by the one eternal Word of God, Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.” (John 5:46)  This is why John is the Forerunner, the voice crying out in the wilderness, preparing those who will listen, that Faith has replaced the Law.  

At the end of his ministry John will in a real sense begin the Age of Martyrdom, which will flourish in the first centuries of the Church:

Now Herod had arrested John, bound [him], and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet.  But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for.  Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given,  and he had John beheaded in the prison.  His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother.  His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus. - Matthew 14: 3-12

 
John makes the ultimate witness to his cousin and to his Lord, by the shedding of his blood, in anticipation of the Cross of Christ, and the Church of Martyrs that will transform the world. 

Saint John the Baptizer is worthy of our praise.

- Rev. David A. Fisher,