Thoughts for the Day

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’ Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbours, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, ‘What then will this child become?’ For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

During Advent we shall look at the people, places and symbols that invite us to prepare for the coming of the Christ-child at Christmas. They will not necessarily occur in the right order! Today we look at 'John the Baptist' .

All through this Advent season while the world has thought about the coming of Santa Claus, or choosing a Christmas tree, or making a gingerbread house, we, as well as this seasonal craziness, have been preparing for the anniversary of our Lord's birth. We have looked at prophecies and symbols of His coming, and now we come to the birth of the one who was to prepare the hearts of the people for the work of the Messiah - John the Baptist.

Names have always been important to people. I well remember a time when I was asked to baptise a baby with all the names from a famous football team! I refused, not least because the parents and boy would go through their life trying to fit all the names onto official documents, which would be impossible. For the Hebrew people names were even more important, often defining a person's character, or possessing a specific meaning, or having a family connection. When John the Baptist is born his relatives might have expected him to be named Saul or Samuel which meant "asked for", or more likely a family name like his fathers, but of course he has been named by the Angel Gabriel (see Advent, Day 19). When Zechariah writes "His name is John" as evidence of his faith in God, his voice is restored to him.

The name "John" is the short form of "Jehohanan" which means "Jehovah's gift", ie God's gift. He was to be God's gift to the whole world for he would come like fire to cleanse the people of their preconceptions about the Messiah, and men and women were to turn towards Jesus as to a light, or turn away towards to the darkness.

Collect

Almighty God,
by whose providence your servant John the Baptist
was wonderfully born,
and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Saviour
by the preaching of repentance:
lead us to repent,
constantly to speak the truth,
boldly to rebuke vice,
and patiently suffer for the truth's sake.
Amen.