NATIVITY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST 

Friday 26 June 2026

(Transferred from June 24th)

Sts. Matthew & Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

Our modern civic calendar tends to commemorate notable persons on their birthdays. When I was growing up, before “Presidents’ Day” came into vogue, we had Washington’s Birthday and Lincoln’s birthday. Today, one of our annual national holidays is the third Monday of January, commemorating Martin Luther King’s birthday on January 15.

 

By contrast, the Christian Calendar celebrates the saints on the anniversaries of their deaths. Thus, in the Episcopal calendar, Martin Luther King, Jr. is commemorated on April 4, the anniversary of his assassination. At issue here is a profound difference in worldviews. In the secular perspective, death is nothing to celebrate. For Christians, however, the deaths of the saints are precious in the sight of God as marking their final triumph, their heavenly birthdays.

 

So far as I’m aware, the Church calendar makes only three exceptions to this rule of commemorating saints on the dates of their deaths. The first is Christmas, the birthday of Christ himself. The second is the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 7th. And the third is the birth of John the Baptist on June 24th (two days ago, which we’ve transferred to today).

 

Incidentally, in the northern hemisphere this feast falls near the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, in contrast to Christmas, which alls near the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. (The summer solstice this year was five days ago, on June 21st.)

 

In the Gospel record, John is born six months before Jesus. At the annunciation, the angel Gabriel tells Mary that her kinswoman Elizabeth is now six months pregnant. 

 

Moreover, the Church has traditionally interpreted the lengthening days after Christmas as symbolizing the light of Christ entering the world. And the days getting shorter after the Feast of Saint John symbolize the Baptist’s words concerning Jesus: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

 

John’s birth exemplifies God’s gracious initiative in working out his purpose of salvation.  In the traditional reading, the advanced age and barrenness of Zechariah and Elizabeth symbolize a world that has grown old and barren. Likewise, Zechariah's being struck dumb symbolizes the voice of a prophetic tradition that has fallen silent.

 

Yet it is precisely this very same world—a world grown old, barren, and silent—that God revivifies and rejuvenates with the gift of new life: first in the birth of the forerunner; and then, six months later, in the birth of the savior. The unbinding of Zechariah’s tongue to praise God symbolizes the reawakening of prophecy.

 

At the time of the child’s circumcision, those conducting the ceremony are about to name him Zechariah after his father. His mother Elizabeth says, “No, he is to be called John.” They object: “None of your relatives is called by that name.” Then Zechariah confirms the decision by writing on a tablet: “His name is John.” The choice of a new name signifies that God is doing something new through the birth of this child.

 

Moreover, the English name John translates the Hebrew Yohannon, which, loosely translated, means “God has shown favor,” or “God is gracious.” What a fitting name for the one sent into the world as the forerunner of God’s Messiah.

 

By commemorating the saints on the anniversaries of their deaths, the Church reminds us that death is an essential component of the Christian life. We’re called to die to sin, to self, and to everything that separates us from the love of God. And it’s precisely the death of Christ that makes all these deaths possible for us—so that in the end we need not fear even physical death. 

 

The blessed martyrs, including John the Baptist himself, show us what it means to bear faithful witness to God’s truth even unto death. Yet the Church’s three Nativity feasts—of Christ, of Mary, and of Saint John the Baptist—likewise remind us that even in the midst of death God is always doing something new, bringing us, along with all creation, to new birth and eternal life.