June 25, 2001

Today we celebrate the feast of the birth of John the Baptizer. Our Sundays through the year are focused as "Easter" feasts and few people can budge us from celebrating these little Easters.  Feasts of Jesus, of course; and then feasts of Mary and of John the Baptist.

  John is of such importance that his birth story is told along with the story of Jesus= birth. Signs and wonders accompanied his birth as well. We can all do the male gestational math to align this feast with Christmas, as well as with the Annunciation (March 26)  and the Visitation (May 31). It is a time frame that is shared within every family: who was expecting whom when and where everyone was on the day you were born.. John becomes part of the family fabric that underscores the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, became one  of us.

John the Baptizer heralds the beginning of Jesus' ministry; he baptizes the one who gives meaning to baptism. He recognizes that he must diminish as the Messiah takes more upon himself. He points people toward the Lamb of God and away from himself. He asks clarifying questions about Jesus' ministry. Jesus himself declares that his cousin John has no equal among men. John finally is killed so that a curious, pot-metal king can save face in front of guests. 

John's role as precursor and herald is important. Not only can we see in him the ground swell of eager expectation among people for a savior; we can hear in his message a theme of Jesus' good news: "Turn toward God; His kingdom is not far off."  There were a number of early Christians who had met John face to face and received his baptism but knew Jesus only through the preaching of the Apostles and the church's sacraments. John deserves a high place among the saints of God.  

 At the start of David Copperfield, Charles Dickens writes: "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life (or whether that station will be held by anybody else), these pages must show." Even as John gives way before Jesus, and as Jesus becomes the everlasting "hero", Messiah and Savior, John remains the hero of his own life: he has been true to himself and to his purpose. His life had, and has, meaning. 

Each of us can ask ourselves that Dickensian question:  "Will I turn out to be the hero of my own life?" 

We too have been called from birth; our name has long been known to God. Our "self" is not our own, but a gift from a life-giving, loving God. True to one self is being true beyond one's self: receiving love with life (or life with love) and being able to give as we have received. 

We but we rarely set our own purpose. We may achieve many of our goals. If we are lucky, we discover our purpose early and keep to it. Some may find their purpose in the process of living it out. Others may discern what the purpose of their life has been as that life draws near its end.  No one's purpose is failure or frustration; nor is it suffering or sin, aimed at ourselves or others.  Our purpose works hand in hand with God's call to be a part of His people, a brother or sister to His Son Jesus, part of the saving action of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. 

I find Dickens' question frightening at times, as well as questions that spring from it. Questions such as: "If not me, then who? If not now, then when?"  I can wish we lived in a time when appeals to "the better angels of our nature" would resonate deeply within all and that many would rise for peace and for justice in order that we might be true to our selves and accomplish our purpose. 

At this Eucharist, we rise before the Lamb of God, the living source of our peace and reconciliation, the Lamb of God pointed out by John. Although we admit our unworthiness, we are still invited and welcomed to come to His table, to share His life and to make it our own. The universal saving power of God in Jesus Christ (His body, blood, soul and divinity) is given to us. How can we help but become heroes in this communion of saints, in this communion with our God?