Reflection on Luke 1:57-66

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

“What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him” (Luke 1:66)

Certainly, the hand of the Lord was with John the Baptist. His conception by his elderly mother, Elizabeth was beyond science. It was a miraculous conception which can only be possible when God is involved. While John was still in the womb, he leaped for joy at the moment the sound of Mary’s greeting reached the ears of his mother, Elizabeth (Luke 1:44). So, for those Christians out there who give no respect to Mary, who argue that she is not relevant, the greatest “among those born of women” (Luke 7:28), John the Baptist had his own version of David’s dance (2 Samuel 6:14) right in the womb, and he did so before Mary, the ark of the New Covenant. If the unborn John acknowledged the essentially participatory role that Mary is about to play in the redemption of humanity, then Christians who diminish her role are simply in error. 

John the Baptist was of very priestly background. His parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth are both strongly priestly figures. Elizabeth is a descendant of the family of Aaron, the first priest of Israel, and Zechariah was a practicing temple priest. As a result of all that, John grew up in and around the temple, got acquainted with its rites, rituals and norms. Yet, when we first heard of the adult John emerge at the public scene to begin his ministry, he was out in the desert preaching and not in the temple. What is the priest, John the Baptist, the son of a strong priestly personages doing in the desert? Why is he not carrying out his priestly functions in the temple? 

At the time, the temple had been renovated by Herod the Great. But Herod, as we read from the Gospels and from other ancient materials, was a very wicked and immoral man. Although he rebuilt the temple, he also effectively and horrifyingly declared himself the Messiah of Israel. John saw how sinful, how wrong, how corrupt such a move was. He knew that Herod the Great was not the Messiah of anyone let alone Israel. He knew that the true and real Messiah was on the horizon. So, he decided to step away from the old rotten temple, and to function as a priest elsewhere, a priest for the new Temple, the new Holy of Holies — Jesus Christ himself.

Friends, if the company you keep is corrupt and immoral, do what John the Baptist did. Walk away. If your friends are a drag on you physically, spiritually and emotionally, walk away. If the fraternity or confraternity you are a member is not helping you grow and mature in every sense of it, especially when it pertains to your relationship with God, walk away. What about committee of friends? The moment you realize that membership of any of these associations is derailing your march with the true King and Lord, Jesus Christ, it is time to do what John the Baptist did— go away from the group. Don’t be afraid of having fewer friends. The most important friendship to keep, sustain, and to persist in is the friendship of the Lord, whose birth we are about to celebrate.