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| 19th Century French engraving of people celebrating John's Feast with a bonfire. |
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he
has looked favorably upon his people and redeemed them.” (Luke 1:68)
God is good. All the time. Amen..?
Of course, Amen! There’s cause for
rejoicing even when we don’t seem to have too much to rejoice about. That’s
part of my take-away from celebrating the Feast of John the Baptist which falls
on June 24th. The Gospel lesson assigned for this festival day in
the RCL (Luke 1:57-80) starts with the tale of how John got his name and ends
with his dad singing a glorious and ebullient hymn of praise. If we consider
that John’s name (Jochanan or Yochanan in Hebrew) can be translated as “Yaweh
Has Been Gracious,” we can pretty much figure out that this is a happy
occasion. Get out the birthday cake, the ice cream and the party hats, because
it’s time to party.
I know. I was as shocked as you were to
discover how festive this day is historically. We don’t usually put John the
Baptist and “party” in the same sentence. He’s a pretty serious and
intimidating character when he shows up in the Gospels—shouting for us to
repent, calling folks "a brood of vipers," and warning us about the coming retribution. But, interestingly
enough, the observance of his birth has been quite festive over the centuries.
St. John’s Feast is a little weird because,
unlike other saints’ days, we celebrate his birthday
instead of the day he died (or was “born” in Heaven) as we do with the others. Of course, we don’t really know when John was born, but we put his
birth at the summer solstice because Luke’s Gospel tells us that his mom was
some six months along at the time that Mary conceived Jesus (Lk 1:36). If Jesus’
birthday is observed at the winter solstice, then we back the calendar up six
months for John.
Christians have been celebrating this
feast since at least the year 506. For centuries Europeans have marked the
vigil of this feast by lighting bonfires on hilltops. The day is supposed to be
full of enchantment according to Wikipedia (and you know they’re never wrong
about these things!). It’s the time to carve your divining rod, find a hidden treasure,
or grow your healing herbs. In fact, herbs picked on St. John’s Day in Germany
were traditionally brought to the church to be blessed. Scandinavian and Slavic
traditions see the Eve of St. John’s as something like Halloween when the
spirits get a “Get-Out-of-Jail-Free” card and are allowed to roam the earth,
causing children to make a lot of noise to scare the spooks back to where they
came from. Kids also go around demanding treats at this festival in some
countries. Personally, I would guess that the presence of spirits at this time
of year might have been part of the inspiration for the mischievous ferries of
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Why so much frolicking and rejoicing? First
off, his birth story is a big win for the underdogs of this world. John's dad,
Zechariah, is low-level holy man. His mom is thought to be too old to have a
baby, and to be childless in the world of this text is considered a curse. I’ll
bet all the other priests’ wives were showing off pictures of their kids and
grandkids and giving poor Elizabeth patronizingly sympathetic looks. But God
does the unexpected, comes to the poor priest with a promise of better times,
and blesses his “cursed” wife with a baby boy whose very name declares God’s
favor.
Also, let’s consider that when John shows
up, Jesus can’t be far behind. John’s whole message is about getting ourselves
ready to receive the good that God intends for us. In Luke 3:10-14, John is the
voice of economic justice. He also promises a baptism for the forgiveness of
sins. That’s pretty cool stuff.
I sometimes wonder what John would be
telling us today. I can’t help feel that since the 2016 presidential election
we Americans haven’t exactly been bearing fruit worthy of repentance. In fact,
I think we’ve started to see a side of ourselves which I’d rather not see. On
one hand, we get a President who thinks nothing of taunting and insulting
others. We see Nazis and Klansmen marching in Virginia. We’ve developed a disdain
for the opinions of the rest of the world. We seem to have turned our backs on
the environment, we’ve dismantled healthcare, and we’re giving tax breaks to
billionaires. This makes some folks pretty mad.
At the same time, however, we have one of
America’s most respected actors insulting the President by dropping an “F Bomb”
on national TV during the Tony Award broadcast, and a talented satirist calling the President’s daughter the “C – word.”
What’s happening here? Why are we allowing
ourselves to become a nation of slobs? Why is there no standard of civility? If
John were here, wouldn’t he be telling us to watch the fruit we’re bearing? In
a recent interview on CBS TV’s Late Show
with Stephen Colbert, TV commentator Chris Matthews said, “We have to
uphold a sense of nobility.” This was a reminder, I think, that we are judged,
not on our policies, but on how we treat people. Can we, in our angriest
moments, still remember that we are all children of the same God?
John the Baptist’s message is always that
we will receive the good things of God. No matter how dire
things appear, God is still in control.
But we need to look to ourselves, to maintain the discipline of people who have
been washed and forgiven. Martin Luther would remind us that we don't obey God's command to love one another in order to win God's love. Rather, we obey this command in response to God's love.
All things—even governmental administrations—are
temporary. God is eternal. Celebrating John’s Feast is a reminder that we have
the God of the Universe in our corner—a God who sees us with a different
standard, who wants to shower us with forgiveness, and who has blessed us with
a gracious standard of righteousness to uphold. That’s reason enough for a
party for me.
Happy midsummer, my friends. Rejoice!
PS –
If you didn’t catch the Late Show
interview with Chris Matthews, you can click on his name here and watch it. He
makes some interesting points. Chris Matthews
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