His name is John!

Luke 1:57-66

 57 The time came for Elizabeth to have her baby. She gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very kind to her. They shared her joy. 59 On the eighth day, they came to have the child circumcised. They were going to name him Zechariah, like his father. 60 But his mother spoke up. "No!" she said. "He must be called John." 61 They said to her, "No one among your relatives has that name." 62 Then they motioned to his father. They wanted to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for something to write on. Then he wrote, "His name is John." Everyone was amazed. 64 Right away Zechariah could speak again. His first words gave praise to God. 65 The neighbors were all filled with fear and wonder. All through Judea's hill country, people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it. And because the Lord was with John, they asked, "What is this child going to be?" The child grew up, and his spirit became strong. He lived in the desert until he appeared openly to Israel.

Food for thought!

(In some areas, today's Feast of the birth of John the Baptist, was celebrated last Sunday) 

The gospel story of the birth of John focuses on the naming ceremony. Why does the gospel show such an interest in the naming of the child? What’s in a name? In the Bible, just as in many cultures, names function the way business names do, that is, they aim to convey what the bearer of the name stands for.

The name John means “God is gracious.” His birth signals the beginning of a new era in God-human relationship, an era to be characterised by grace and not by law. God himself gave John that name and it was revealed to his father Zachary in a vision (Luke 1:13). That this name was given to the child already before his birth shows that God has a purpose and plan not only to this child but to all of us. Yes, God had and still has a purpose for each one of us.

The words of Isaiah in today's first reading apply equally to John, to you and to me, to all of us: “The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he NAMED me. … he formed me in the womb to be his servant (Isaiah 49:1, 5). In John we see that God already has a purpose for His children before they come into this world, and so the challenge of life is for each one of us to discover this purpose of God and to be faithful to its demands.

The purpose for which God created you may require that you walk to a different drum beat than other people. For John it required that he live in the desert far from normal human contact and civilisation. God’s purpose for his life dictated every details of how he would dress and eat, since he had to dress in rough animal skin and eat the vegetarian food of locusts and wild honey. He adopted a lifestyle that would enhance his calling in life. He did not go for any unnecessary trappings that would weigh him down or contradict his life.

The neighbourhood in which John was born did not help him to realise his divine calling. In fact they wanted to prevent John from receiving his God-given name and identity. They wanted to give him his father’s name “Zachary.” They objected to his being named John because “None of your relatives has this name” (Luke 1:61). Each one of us has to travel a unique road that God traced for him or her. Please, note that you are not what people call you; you are what God called you and calls you to be and to do.

Yes, many times other people don't want us and don't let us live our God given vocation; they force us to embrace and live according to what they want. This is especially true of parents, who many times force their children into alien vocations, alleging "none of your relatives has this name or job or kind of life." Such parents impose on their children their own past; they want their children to be their extension! Sad. We do well to avoid such toxic assumptions because God’s dream for us far exceeds anything that has been in our family background. Our life’s work is to make God’s glorious dream for each one of us a reality.

As we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist and read the marvellous story of how he got his God-given name, let us ask ourselves: what on earth am I here for? What is God's purpose for me? Why was I born? What am I here on earth for? Do I know my purpose if life? Am I faithful to it? If you do not know your God-given name, the name which represents all that God sent you into the world to be and to accomplish, then it is time to find out. 

And if you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God, not with yourself. You won't discover your life's meaning by looking at yourself. You didn't create yourself, so there's no way you can tell yourself what you were created for. YOU WERE MADE BY GOD AND FOR GOD, AND UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND THAT, LIFE WILL NEVER MAKE SENSE TO YOU.

None of us is an accident. As Rick Warren says: Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He was not at all surprised by your birth. In fact, he expected it. Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God. He thought of you first. It is not fate, nor chance, nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing at this very moment. You are alive because God wanted to create you!

God prescribed every single detail of your body. He deliberately chose your race, the color of your skin, your hair, and every other feature. He custom-made your body just the way he wanted it. He also determined the natural talents you would possess and the uniqueness of your personality. Because God made you for a reason, he also decided when you would be born and how long you would live. He planned the days of your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and death. The Bible says, “You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your Book!” (Psalm 139:16)