Nativity of John the Baptist - 24th June
- RevShirleyMurphy
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
The Nativity of John the Baptist is a Christian feast day. It is observed annually on 24 June. The Nativity of John the Baptist is a high-ranking liturgical feast, kept in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglicanism, and Lutheranism.
St. John the Baptist (born 1st decade BCE, Judaea, Palestine, near Jerusalem—died 28–36 CE; feast day June 24) was a Jewish prophet of priestly origin who preached the imminence of God’s Final Judgment and baptized those who repented in self-preparation for it; he is revered in the Christian church as the forerunner of Jesus Christ. After a period of desert solitude, John the Baptist emerged as a prophet in the region of the lower Jordan River valley. He had a circle of disciples, and Jesus was among the recipients of his rite of baptism. In Roman Catholicism, John the Baptist is invoked as the patron saint of baptism, monastics, hermits, converts, tailors, prisoners, and many other occupations and causes.
The primary sources for information about John’s life and activity are the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), The Acts of the Apostles, and the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus’s The Antiquities of the Jews. In using these works for historical reconstruction, allowances must be made for the known tendencies of each writer. All four Gospels recognize in John the start of the Christian era, and each in its own way tries to reconcile John’s precedence in time and Jesus’ acceptance of his message and of a baptism of repentance from his hands (elements suggesting subordination to John) with the author’s belief in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. The Gospel According to Mark presents Jesus as the hidden Messiah, known only to a narrow circle, and John as the one who had to “come first to restore all things” but who also remained hidden and suffered death with little acknowledgment of his true status (Mark 9).
Matthew and Luke are thought to further develop Mark’s narrative. The Gospel According to Matthew emphatically identifies John as a new or returning Elijah, herald of the kingdom of God (Matthew 3). For Matthew, John’s death, like that of Jesus, illustrates the old Israel’s hostility to God’s offer of salvation. In The Gospel According to Luke and in The Acts of the Apostles, Luke neglects the identification with Elijah but describes John as Jesus’ forerunner and as inaugurator of the time of fulfillment of prophecy. Luke’s account of the infancy of John and of Jesus uses material perhaps transmitted by former disciples of the Baptist. It depicts the coming of Jesus and John in two parallel series of scenes, each with an angelic annunciation, a conception, a marvellous birth, a circumcision, hymns greeting the child and predicting his destiny, and an infancy. Even in his mother’s womb John recognizes Jesus—also still in his mother’s womb—as his Lord (see also the Visitation).
The Gospel According to John reduces the Baptist from an Elijah to a model Christian preacher, a mere voice; it omits any description of Jesus’ baptism. Its tendency has often been labelled a polemic against a continuing group of disciples of John, but it is more plausibly explained by the evangelist’s desire that this ideal witness recognize the full character of the Christ and as a necessary consequence of the tension between the highly developed understanding of Christ in this Gospel and those details in early Christian tradition that suggested Jesus’ subordination to John. The Gospels are thus primarily interested in the relations between John and Jesus.
Compared with the Christian accounts, that of Josephus sought to present Jewish religious phenomena in Hellenistic categories and to deemphasize any political elements unfavourable to Roman imperial control.
Christians have long interpreted the life of John the Baptist as a preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, and the circumstances of his birth, as recorded in the New Testament, are miraculous. John's pivotal place in the gospel is seen in the emphasis Luke gives to the announcement of his birth and the event itself, both set in parallel to the same occurrences in the life of Jesus.
The sole biblical account of the birth of John the Baptist comes from the Gospel of Luke. John's parents, Zechariah or Zachary—a Jewish priest—and Elizabeth, were without children and both were beyond the age of child-bearing. During Zechariah's rotation to serve in the Temple in Jerusalem, he was chosen by lot to offer incense at the Golden Altar in the Holy of Holies. The Archangel Gabriel appeared to him and announced that he and his wife would give birth to a child, and that they should name him John, a name which was unfamiliar in Zechariah and Elizabeth's families. Acts 4:6 refers to a "John" among the high priests who challenged the apostles' preaching after Pentecost, so the name was not unknown within the wider priestly family. However, because Zechariah did not believe the message of Gabriel, he was rendered speechless until the time of John's birth. At that time, his relatives wanted to name the child after his father, and Zechariah wrote, "His name is John", whereupon he recovered his ability to speak (Luke 1:5–25; 1:57–66). Following Zechariah's obedience to the command of God, he was given the gift of prophecy and foretold the future ministry of Jesus, this prophecy forming the text of the Benedictus
canticle.
St. John the Baptist is one of the few saints who have two feast days: one celebrating his birth, June 24, and one remembering his death, August 29. The fact that the Nativity of St. John the Baptist is celebrated only days after the summer solstice is no coincidence. From his birthday on June 24, three days after what is traditionally considered the longest day of the year, the sun will gradually begin its annual descent and the days become shorter. Three days after the winter solstice is Christmas Day, when days start to become longer and when we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
The timing of these days is significant because St. John is considered as the lamp, but Christ is the true Light of the World, thus fulfilling St. John’s prophecy, “He must increase, I must decrease.” In some areas, St. John’s Day was considered the first day of summer and included festivals and traditions, including the burning of St. John’s fire, using the flames as a reference to light.
The day was also considered one of several “charmed festivals” throughout the year. Tradition held that hidden treasures were to lie open in unlikely places. Legend also has it that herbs were given unusual healing powers which they would retain if picked that night. People would later bring these herbs to church for a special blessing.
In medieval times, the customs of St. John’s Day even took on a romantic twist. In Sardinia, by the end of March, young men would present themselves to the young women of the village to make a pact to be sweethearts. At the end of May, the young ladies would make pots from tree bark and fill them with earth, sowing wheat and barley. On St. John’s Day, the couples would dress in their fanciest attire, proceed to the local church and throw the pot against the church door. Following that odd ritual, the couple would sit and eat eggs. Perhaps not surprisingly, wine was involved in this ceremony.
Romance also played a role in Sicily, where couples became sweethearts on St. John’s feast day. The couples presented each other with plates of corn, lentils and canary seed. In Rome, the celebration continues to include the eating of snails. Traditions have also developed in the United States, especially in New York where Americans, traditionally of Puerto Rican descent, hold fiestas in the name of St. John. The fiestas include Mass, processions, piñatas and picnics.
Hosting a bonfire or having a campfire with your family is a simple and wonderful way to celebrate this special saint this summer!
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