John will be called!

The Gospel text (Luke 1, 57-66.80) gives an excerpt about his birth. Apart from the Lord Jesus and John the Baptist, the Gospels no longer describe the circumstances of proclamation and birth itself.

We are witnessing an exciting paradox that Luke presents to us in his gospel. The proclamation and birth of John the Baptist through the outer luster exceeds the proclamation and birth of Jesus Christ. Zechariah is a priest; the declaration takes place in the holiest place for Judaism – in the shrine of the Jerusalem Temple. John’s birth occurs in the joyful atmosphere of a family and relatives who have come to rejoice with gifted parents. In contrast, Jesus’ proclamation takes place to a young girl in a private house in the unknown Nazareth in Galilee, which has a reputation as a pagan region. Jesus’ birth takes place in poverty and seclusion. The evangelist invites the reader to trust not what he sees but what the word of God says.

The Prophet of the Supreme

Luke intended, on the one hand, to highlight the performance of John the Baptist, but at the same time to show that John himself, despite his miraculous conception, is not the Messiah but the prophet who prepared the way for the Lord Anointed. The words are heard about John the Baptist in Zechariah’s hymn: “…you will be called the prophet of the Supreme… “(Lk 1.76). In the proclamation of Jesus, the angel says: “… Will be called the son of the Supreme… “(Lk 1,32). Similarly, a miraculous child is picked up when visiting Elizabeth, which Mary wears under her heart (cf. Lk 1.39). John the Baptist was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth into a priestly family, where the priesthood was inherited from father to son. So John was waiting for the priest to be sent to the temple in Jerusalem. God set a different path for him, not the priest’s path but the prophet’s. His parents accept God’s plan. It also suggests a different name from the father’s.

In contrast to the established practice of giving the descendant a name after the parents or ancestors of the genus, Elizabeth and Zechariah, in joint agreement, provide a name that the angel already called him when proclaiming Zechariah in the temple. The name John, in Hebrew Johann, means the Lord is merciful. At that moment, Zechariah will return to speech, and as a first thing he will do, he will sing the mercy of the Lord, which he has shown them and the whole nation.

The son’s birth in old age, his unique name, and the sign of the loss and return of speech to his father raise a reasonable question: “What will this boy be like? “(Lk 1,66). God begins to fulfill his promises to the nation of Israel and all of humanity immediately in John. He will be a prophet who will prepare the way for the Messiah of the Lord.

Circumcision is a physical sign to the Jewish nation of the covenant that God made through Abraham with the entire country. Circumcision Day is a celebration of this continuing union of God with Israel. It is performed on the eighth day after birth, only on male offspring. The father announces the name of the son. At the birth of her daughter, her father announces her name in the synagogue on the first Saturday after birth.

Punished Zacharias?

I want to touch on one more question. Why was the righteous Zechariah punished for disobedience, only for asking a sign from God? After all, he and his wife were of advanced age; their doubts were justified. Moreover, in Scripture, other biblical figures have asked God for a sign, received it, and yet bound it without harm. After all, the Virgin Mary asked the angel: “How does this happen, I don’t know the man? “(Lk 1,34) The difference is that Mary did not ask for any sign because she did not doubt God’s omnipotence ( whether God could do such a thing ), but he asks about the way it will happen.

Human life is too short to understand all the contexts that events bring. How often has it happened to us that, with a distance of time, perhaps up to a dozen years, we have understood the significance of an event in our lives? Biblical texts present many events in which the first word of God was not the only one, and man is expected to trust God. Just mention the story of Abraham, from whom God first asks for the sacrifice of a son. However, he then shows him not to cover his hand on his son (cf. Gn 22). God belongs to the first word – challenge, invitation, and the second, rasp. Last word, word of fulfillment. The reaction of John’s father after regaining speech is the best explanation for us to understand this passage correctly. The first thing Zechariah did was not pour anger at God’s address, but he gave a wonderful hymn in which he glorified God. He understood God’s actions correctly, realized his failure, and waited patiently for this “second word “of the God he had received.