On this Second Sunday of Advent, the figure of St John the Baptist bursts onto the scene. As St Matthew gives no details of his origins, we must turn to St Luke, who tells us that he is the cousin of Jesus: six months his senior. John’s birth was foretold, and his name given to Zechariah his father by the angel Gabriel, who proclaimed that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother’s womb. In Elizabeth’s womb John leaps at the presence of Jesus, who is in Mary’s womb. John becomes strong in the spirit, and then “was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel”.
It is this day of John’s manifestation that we meet today in St Matthew’s Gospel. St Luke tells us that it was in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. This would have made St John around 28 or 29. Therefore we can conclude that before the day of his manifestation, led by the Holy Spirit, St John the Baptist would have spent many years in the wilderness, silent, alone, in prayer, sustained by locusts, wild honey and his call from God.
But if he is the precursor of the Lord, “the friend of the bridegroom”, the friend of Jesus, why didn’t he deepen this friendship and knowledge of Jesus by staying in Nazareth with Jesus, Mary and Joseph, instead of lodging in the wilderness?
Like St Peter, St John the Baptist had to come to know Jesus in another way – the way that flesh and blood cannot reveal, but only the Father who is in heaven. John had to come to know his younger cousin, not as a Son of Man but as the Son of God, the Lord, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He had to come to know Jesus as the rising Sun sent to give light to those who live in darkness and the shadow of death. This growth in the knowledge of Jesus’ identity is intertwined with the identity of St John the Baptist himself, as the Benedictus shows us. That is to say, in his father’s joyful proclamation after his birth, John is called a Prophet of the Most High; to go before the Lord to prepare his way; to give people a knowledge of their salvation through the forgiveness of sins.
And so - in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, what John had pondered in his heart comes to his lips: “Repent” - receive forgiveness for your sins - “for the kingdom of heaven” – Jesus - “is close at hand” – Behold the Lamb of God!
We are told that St John clothed his body only with camel hair and a belt. But filled with a profound understanding of his call and vocation, filled with the truth about Jesus, and filled with the Holy Spirit, John’s heart and soul would have been girded with joy. When in the country, maybe out for a walk, and our heart is light and joyful (isn’t it sometimes the case?): if we think no one can hear us, we may be tempted to sing? St John was surely not robbed of this pleasure! As Moses, Miriam and all Israel sang after the Exodus from Egypt, freed from Pharaoh; so… recognising in Jesus the fulfilment of Israel’s liberation, St John the Baptist sang. The Liturgy tells us this in the second Preface of Advent that “John sang of [Jesus] coming and proclaimed his presence when he came”.
John sang of the gifts he had been given, as Mary sang her Magnificat; he sang the proclamation of Zechariah his father and kept this song in his heart and pondered it in the wilderness.
In the Benedictus and Magnificat we sing of the vocation of St John the Baptist and Mary. But, of course, each of us has our own vocation from God. So it follows, that each of us has our own song. It is a song that we will know only in heaven. Each of us has our own song but the theme is the same; it is that of St John the Baptist who said “I must decrease” - speaking of himself - “He must increase” - speaking of Jesus. Or in the words Mary: “The Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name” - it is “the song” of the intertwining of our life with Christ’s.
It is the mystery of Christmas for which we are preparing – that God became man so that we, through sharing in the life of the one born in Bethlehem, might become God.
It is through their life in Jesus that St John the Baptist and Mary are given their vocation, their song. The same is true for us. Of course unlike St John who was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb, and Mary who was immaculately conceived, our song is more of a mixture of darkness and light. Yet it is pierced through with the Redemption wrought in Christ. And sadly - we can even chose to live a different life, to sing a different song: but the sound of this is not pleasing to the Lord, as he cries to rebellious Israel through the prophet Amos “Take away from me the noise of your songs...”
So every Advent St John the Baptist is like a tuning fork that is struck against the rock that is Christ, as he cries out to us -”Repent for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”. Repent, sing in tune, turn around, look behind and see who is following: it is Jesus; the kingdom of heaven; it is God himself born in Bethlehem, so as to win your soul and love; to call you; to give you a new life and a new song. He is calling us, he has a song for each one of us that only we can sing; so let us sing in tune with Jesus and never let the song die.
DJC