Crying out in the Wilderness

"The voice of one crying out the in the wilderness:  Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."  So go the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah regarding John the Baptist. John takes center stage in the Gospel readings for two consecutive Sundays this Advent season.  We all know that John's mother Elizabeth and the Blessed Virgin Mary were cousins, and that John and Jesus were near the same age, about six months apart.  John was born in Ein Karem, which is west of the older part of Jerusalem, while Jesus was born in Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem. From birth John was destined to be a different, or a radical.  First, his father, Zachary, was approached by the angel Gabriel and was told that his wife, who was thought to be beyond child bearing years, would give birth, and they were to name their son John.  This was a radical move as the first born son of a prominent Jewish priest would have been named after the father (or so I was told while at the Church).  Instead of Zachary Junior, we have John.  A sort of training run for God's errand boy, Gabriel.  As we all know, Gabriel also appeared to Mary and told her that she would give birth to a son, and to name him Emmanuel.  Obvious similarities for the two relations.

Birthplace of John the Baptist

Second, after the birth of Jesus, Herod decreed what we know today as the killing of the innocents, the slaughter of young males in and around Bethlehem so as to kill the new born King.  So how did John survive?  While at the advice of an angel, Joseph, Mary and Jesus fled to Egypt, St Elizabeth hid with John in a cave, the rock of which covered the entrance is now located in the church of the Visitation, not far from John's birth place. The Church of the Visitation marks the location of Elizabeth and Zachary's main home, and where Mary proclaimed what we know today as the Magnificat.  John's family actually had title to a cave on the other side of the valley and it was in that cave where John was born. Mary visited Elizabeth at the home.  A Franciscan church, aptly named St John the Baptist sits at the site of the cave in which John was born, and the roof of the area in which he was born is that of the limestone cave; this area is to the left side as one looks at the main altar.  Perhaps it was living in a cave with only his mother, recall she was thought to have been barren, that affected his psyche, and helped turn him into the man he would become. I mean, can you imagine living a number of your first months in a dark, dreary cave, where the door had to be sealed with a stone? No light, no contact with the outside, cold and damp.  No wonder the guy ended up living in the desert.  John the Baptist would live in the Judean desert, sustain himself by eating wild honey and locusts, and wear camel hair skin, and a leather belt. An interesting choice of clothing even for that time.  I wonder if the intent of the Gospel writer in mentioning the detail of a leather belt is to say that he had at least some modicum of how to dress.  It would appear, in lexicon of the 21st century, that John the Baptist had issues.

Rock that reportedly covered the cave in which John and his mother hid

John not only looked like a radical, but preached a radical message.  When I visited the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls this past spring, it was noted in museum commentary, in part likely to appeal to Christian tourists, that John was perhaps (emphasis on "perhaps"), for a few months, part of the community at Qumran.  The story is told of the community hearing of a beheading of a man named John, and wondering if that was the same John who had joined their community for a short while. Qumran is near the Dead Sea, and the west edge of the Judean desert.  Qumran is thought to be a site for the Essene community which followed rigorous rituals to avoid contamination, including that of daily cleansing, the ritual bath.  Dale Robinson has said that:

John preached repentance and ethical living while Essene were concerned with a mechanistic keeping of the law.  John preached that living in faith that results in kindness to one's fellow man was the best way to prepare for the coming of the Messiah.  The Essenes placed their hope in their outward works and ritual purity to make themselves ready for that fiery day of judgement.

Qumran, site of Dead Sea Scrolls, excavations

As we know John would meet a vicious death.  Herod, even though married, took his half-brother's wife, Herodius as a wife.  John criticized the adulterous marriage.  While Herod was scared of the Baptizer, Herodius planned her revenge and would trick Herod in to beheading John the Baptist.  (See Mark 6:21-28 for the biblical account.)  John's head was thought to have originally been buried in Sebastia.  How his head ended up at this location, between Nazareth and Jerusalem, I do not know. Historians have recognized the Sebastian site through ancient tradition via shrines that were erected over the ages.  This is a similar pattern as to how other religious sites have been identified. This site is now next to a Mosque, but had once been a Crusader church. While different religious traditions hold different locations for where his skull is today, Roman Catholic tradition holds that it is now, or at least parts of the skull, are at the Vatican.

Location in Sebastia where head of John the Baptist was buried

John would end up with his own page in history, and is one of the most recognizable of the saints; more popes have taken this name than any other. Jesus had intimated that John was the most important person in history. Of course, if a quirky individual like John the Baptist, were to appear today how would we react to his peculiarities?  In the end analysis we have a man baptizing and preparing the way of the Lord.  He would, of course, be best known for his baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.  Matthew (11:2-11) tells us that while in prison John hears of Christ preaching and gets word asking if he (Jesus) is the one who is to come or are they to await another.  In a reply to John's messenger, Jesus gives a message of hope; but, he then turns to the crowd, asking "What did you go out in the wilderness to look at?"  We each have our wilderness, and the question becomes what have we learned from our wilderness journey(s)?

On Jordan's Bank--John the Baptist Spring, traditional site of  John's baptism of Jesus, Jordan

As an aside, Terrance Klein, SJ, has a rather nice piece on this time of year using the Grinch.

Additionally, the term "cousins" may have had a different, less specific relational meaning than what we use in our culture today.

It was cold and rainy the day our small group visited St John the Baptist Church in Ein Karem on April 21, 2013.  It was over 100 the day we visited St John the Baptist Spring in Jordan on April 29.