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Solemnity:
June 24
The
Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness
From a Sermon by Saint Augustine, Bishop
(From the Office of Readings)
The Church observes the birth of John as a hallowed event.
We have no such commemoration for any other fathers; but it is
significant that we celebrate the birthdays of John and of Jesus.
This day cannot be passed by.
And even if my explanation does not match the dignity of the feast,
you may still meditate on it with great depth and profit.
John was born of a woman too old for childbirth; Christ was born of a
youthful virgin. The news of
John’s birth was met with incredulity, and his father was struck
dumb. Christ’s birth was
believed and he was conceived through faith.
Such is the topic, as I have presented it, for our inquiry and
discussion. But as I said
before, if I lack either the time or the ability to study the implications
of so profound a mystery, he who speaks within you even when I am not here
will teach you better; it is he whom you contemplate with devotion, whom
you have welcomed into your hearts, whose temples you have become.
John, then, appears as the boundary between the two testaments, the old
and the new. That he is a
sort of boundary the Lord himself bears witness, when he speaks of the
law and t e prophets up until John the Baptist.
Thus he represents times past and is the herald of the new era to
come. As a representative of
the past, he is born of aged parents; as a herald of the new era, he is
declared to be a prophet while still in his mother’s womb.
For when yet unborn, he leapt in his mother’s womb at the arrival
of blessed Mary. In that womb
he had already been designated a prophet, even before he was born it was
revealed that he was to be Christ’s precursor, before they ever saw one
another. These are divine
happenings, going beyond the limits of our human frailty.
Eventually he is born, he receives his name, his father’s tongue
is loosened. See how these
events reflect reality.
Zechariah is silent and loses his voice until John, the precursor of the
Lord, is born and restores his voice.
The silence of Zechariah is nothing but the age of prophecy lying
hidden, obscured, as it were, and concealed before the preaching of
Christ. At John’s arrival
Zechariah’s voice is released, and it becomes clear at the coming of the
one who was foretold. The
release of Zechariah’s voice at the birth of John is parallel to the
rending of the veil at Christ’s crucifixion.
If John were announcing his own coming, Zechariah’s lips would
not have been opened. The
tongue is loosened because a voice is born.
For when John was preaching the Lord’s coming he was asked: Who
are you? And he replies: I
am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
The voice is John, but the Lord in the beginning was the Word.
John was a voice that lasted only for a time; Christ, the Word in
the beginning, is eternal.
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