The Nativity of St. John the Baptizer

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Nativity of St. John the Baptizer is one of only three times in the Church Year where a nativity is traditionally celebrated. Typically, when a saint is commemorated, the observance is held on the day of their death. For the day of a saint’s death is viewed by the Church as the saint’s “birthday into eternity.” Celebrating the day of one’s birth is a relatively recent phenomenon in the grand scheme of history. This is because in the Church’s mind, eternity is much more important than this fleeting life. But still, there are three “nativities” celebrated on the traditional Church calendar. The most famous, of course, being the Nativity of Our Lord, which is celebrated on December 25th. The other two “nativities” in the Church calendar are connected to this most important nativity. They are the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, observed on September 8th since the Romans added it to the Church calendar in the 8th century, and the more ancient observance of the Nativity of St. John the Baptizer, which we observe today (June 24th) and is the subject of our consideration.

This feast is intimately tied to the Nativity of Our Lord. In fact, the Church’s dating of Christ’s birth on December 25th is tied directly to the dating of His cousin’s birth six months earlier. Using St. Luke’s record of the events leading up to the Baptizer’s birth, we know that his father Zacharias was a priest in the division of Abijah. Cross referencing this with the schedule of priestly service in 1 Chronicles 24, we know that Zacharias was scheduled to serve in the Temple in the eighth rotation. The Jew’s ecclesiastical year began at the start of spring, which is the month of Nisan, as declared by the Lord when He brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. He said of the month of Nisan:

“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:2).

Calculating from this timeframe according to the schedule of priestly service in 1 Chronicles 24 places Zacharias’s division of priests serving in the temple around the middle of our month of September, which is when the angel Gabriel appeared to Him to announce the impending birth of his son. The birth of John occurred nine months later, perfectly corresponding to the Church’s observance of John’s birth on June 24th. And, of course, St. Luke tells us that our Lord was six months younger than His cousin, placing our Lord’s nativity at the end of December, as is traditionally celebrated by the Church. And so, you can see that contrary to what popular media would have you believe, our dating of Christmas is not the Church’s attempt to overtake a pagan holiday. The celebration of our Lord’s birth is purely based on the Scriptural witness.

Now, this little trivia fact is not incidental to our consideration of this day. In fact, it illustrates precisely the point that our Gospel text invites us to consider, namely: The promises of God shape the entirety of the Christian life. This is true of the Church’s calendar and of every other aspect of the Christian life.

The birth of St. John the Baptizer began with an old, barren couple whom God had not blessed with the ability to have children. And yet, in following with His Old Testament pattern of using baren wombs to bear great men, the Lord determined to open the womb of Elizabeth. And so, the early part of Luke chapter 1 tells us of the angel Gabriel’s appearance to the priest Zacharias while he was serving in the temple. The angel said:

“Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:13-17).

John was destined to be the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets. He was the one of whom the prophet Malachi spoke when he said that the prophet Elijah would come before the great Day of the Lord (cf. Malachi 4:5). Truly, among those born of women, there would be none greater than John the Baptizer (cf. Matthew 11:11) for he was the Lord’s forerunner. When John arrived on the scene, the Lord’s Christ was not far behind. And this forerunner was to be born from Zacharias and Elizabeth’s own bodies.

But Zacharias did not believe the Lord’s promise spoken to him through the angel. And because of his doubt, the Lord struck him with muteness that would not be reversed until God’s promise to Zacharias was fulfilled. This muteness was a sign against those who doubt the promises of God. For all people who do not believe the promises of God are like dumb Zacharias—they are unable to praise God or to please Him in any way. In short, the one who is dumb towards God is destined for an eternity apart from Him.

But as we heard in today’s reading, the Lord did open the mouth of Zacharias. It was for Zacharias as the great Psalm says:

O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise (Psalm 51:15).

For it is the Lord God alone, working through His Spirit, that converts hearts to faith in His promises and that in so doing opens the Christian’s lips to show forth His praise. For Zacharias is a type of all Christians. At one time we were dumb and unbelieving. But in the waters of Holy Baptism, the Lord opened our mouths to confess the faith which He placed in our hearts. And this faith is born from the Lord’s promises alone.

And so it is, dear friends in Christ, that the promises of God shape the entirety of the Christian life. When one is brought to faith in the Lord, His promises shape everything about a man, including the way that he thinks and speaks. Consider the first line of Zacharias’s blessed Benedictus, which concluded today’s Gospel:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people (Luke 1:68).

These words demonstrate how the promises of God both transform and consume the Christian’s thinking and speech.

Notice the verb tense in the second half of this line. The Lord has visited and redeemed His people. These verbs are in the perfect tense, which means they are speaking of a past action with enduring consequences. The Lord has visited and redeemed His people. But remember that Zacharias speaks these words six months before the birth of Christ and thirty-three-plus years before Good Friday. By any kind of rational, linear way of thinking, the Lord had not yet visited or redeemed His people. And yet, Zacharias considers the visitation and redemption of the Lord to already be completed. Why?

Simply put, God’s people think differently than the world. In worldly thinking, Zacharias was right to be skeptical of the angel’s announcement to him. After all, it made no sense. But when he came to believe the promise of God, and when he saw it fulfilled in front of his very eyes, he could not help but be convicted in the depths of His soul that all of God’s promises were yes and amen.

Dear friends in Christ, this is how a Christian thinks, speaks, and acts. We have the utmost confidence in the promises of God. We read of His promises to us in Scripture—promises to grant forgiveness, life, and salvation to those who believe in Him. And we come to His house to experience the fulfillment of those promises in His Word and Sacraments. Here in this place, He gives us that which we cannot fully put into words. And yet, by the working of the Holy Spirit, we experience and know His promises for us through the Means of Grace. And because we have seen with our own eyes and experienced in our own lives the fulfillment of His promises, we have full confidence that all of God’s promises are yes and amen in Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:20).

For if the Holy Spirit unites us to the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar, then we know that the promises of God about the Suffering Servant are true (cf. Isaiah 53). Christ indeed has suffered and died to take away your sins. When the resurrected Christ’s command to His disciples to forgive the sins of repentant sinners is applied to us in the absolution, we know that God’s promise to raise His Son and to grant eternal life to all who believe in Him are true. When we see the blessed waters of the font poured upon a new believer, we know that God’s promise to send us His Holy Spirit is true. For the promises of God change the way that we think, speak, and act. If God has said it, it’s not just as good as done. When God speaks, it is done.

And so, dear friends in Christ, have confidence that the promises of God change everything for you. Christ has died and He has risen. And He continues to give His promises to you. This means that your hope of eternal life and salvation is not merely a hope. It is a reality even now.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people (Luke 1:68).

In Jesus’ name. Amen.