A Voice in the Desert

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

A sentiment that one often hears expressed runs something like this: "I want to insure that my children will be better off than I am." The words used might be different, but most parents think of themselves as successful if their children's standard of living is better than theirs. This kind of thinking was not part of the Mediterranean-Middle Eastern culture from which the Scriptures sprang. Children were expected to live as their parents had lived, work in the same trade or situation as their fathers had worked, aspire to the same standard of living as their parents had experienced. Deviating from this path was considered questionable activity. Think of the reaction of the people when Jesus steps out of the shadow of the carpenter and begins to teach in the synagogue. The people ask: "Who is this man? Don't we know his parents?" Once in Capernaum they drove him to a precipice and were ready to throw him over it because of their negative reaction to his teaching and healing. (See Luke 4:24-30)

The passage that we read from St. John's Gospel today is similar for the same reason while it lacks some of the violence that Jesus encountered. The Baptist's father was Zechariah, a rural priest who functioned in the Temple once a year. As we know, the priesthood of Israel was a tribal thing; one was born into the priestly caste or clan. However, John is not following in his father's footsteps. He is acting like a prophet, a desert preacher. This worries the authorities who send delegations to question him to determine if he is trying to undermine their established system. They ask him to identify himself. John does so by telling them who he is NOT rather than telling them who he is. By doing this, he defuses their wariness. He is actually assuring them that he does not mean to foment revolution, either religiously or politically speaking. His words actually do calm their fears and they allow him to continue. What they don't realize is that the One who will come after him will challenge their positions and their thinking.

John is following the will of God on his own terms. He is doing what God expected of him regardless of what society expects. In this he stands as a wonderful example of following his vocation, of hearing God's call and discerning his relationship to God. It is a lesson we can all learn. To be able to do this, all of us must lay aside our own expectations and realize that God's will is the only path that can claim our allegiance.