Nativity of John the Baptist

" The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.'   'Ah, Sovereign Lord,' said Jeremiah, ' I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.' But the Lord said, ' Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,' declared the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched his mouth and said to him, 'Now I have put my words in your mouth. See today, I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. . . . Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall to stand up against the whole land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you."  [Jeremiah 1: 4-19].

Today marks the birth of John the Baptist. He was a prophet who heralded the coming of Jesus. Some people at the time thought that John the Baptist WAS the Messiah, but John famously said, " After me comes One, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." [John 1: 6-27]. This One to come, of course, was Jesus.

I think often of how God "knows no time." My born-again friends speak of "God's timing." We humans are so impatient and we cannot know the future.  We want God's promise and we want it now!

Sometimes we have to wait. A long time. My husband and I waited fifteen years before we became parents. I kept asking, 'Why, oh why, God are all these other couples parents, and we are made to wait?' I can only believe that God was preparing us to be parents, but in His own time.

God, it is said, knew us before we were formed in our mother's womb. He knows our past, before we even existed. Psalm 139: 13-15 says, "For you created me in my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. . . My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in that secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body."

God collapses time. He bends it and twists it to suit His plan. He sees our past, before we were born. He can see our future. This is the meaning of the birth of John the Baptist. This prophet prepared the people for a greater One who was to come.

I remember those in my past who prepared me for my future: teachers who believed in me; a best girlfriend in college whose great friendship prepared me for my relationship with the man I was to marry. God sends us people who can prepare us for the next step.

The present can reverberate with the past. I can think of an evening when my extended family and I went out to dinner on the last night of our vacation. I sat next to my grandfather at the table. The sunset was so brilliant, I still remember it vividly. A song came over the speaker system, a popular song at the time, titled after a girl's name. (You remember songs like "Bernadette" and "Peggy Sue.") By the following summer, my beloved grandfather had died. Going to the lake on vacation was never the same again.  Forty years later, my best girlfriend died. They played that song at her funeral, the one with her name in the title. The past had become the present. I was experiencing a weird sort of time warp. Somehow at the lake during dinner, even as a child, I had known that that song would be associated with deep sadness, a poignancy I still cannot shake.

In this Scripture in Jeremiah, God is preparing Jeremiah to be a prophet. We are all called to be prophets, called not only to live God's Word, but to speak God's Word.

This Scripture reminds me of my childhood. I gave up speaking when I was ten. I did not see how I could dare to challenge those in my family who spoke against God and faith. If someone in my family said they worshipped "The Almighty Dollar", I would whisper to myself, "You mean, Almighty God!" I did not dare speak this aloud.  I was only a child.

I was terrified by these people in my family, who spoke against God, those family members who verbally abused me, neglected me and rejected me. Did God hear me when I said that I was only a child, who dared not speak? Or in my whispers, was God preparing me to become brave enough to speak these truths aloud?

I suffered many losses as a child. No one lifted me up. I raised myself up. I mourn the loss of the hugs and affection of a loving mother. I never had the safe boundaries of a gentle father. As I heal, I see my life as a great, wrecked house in the aftermath of a tornado. I am picking through the rubble, trying to salvage what is worthy, what is valuable, what glitters in the sun. Many things once misperceived as valuable must be overthrown, must be uprooted, torn down and destroyed. Then, in the aftermath, we are left with what is holy and significant.

But I myself am not destroyed. I am a strong pillar, a fortified city and a bronze wall. I possess a mighty bond with God. Far from being silent, and only a child, I now speak the Truth. I speak to all nations and all continents.

I seek to give Love and I seek to speak Love. I pray to the Holy Spirit that He gives me the words, the inspiration to speak the Truth.  I pray that I am no longer afraid. I pray that God will always be with me and that He will rescue me.

[Related posting: "A Radical Love", December 12, 2011.]

(c) The Spiritual Devotional 2012. All Rights Reserved.