The Feast Day of John the Baptist

Today is the feast day of John the Baptist.  Ah, one of my favorite prophets.  I particularly like his stubborn insistence embodied in these words:  "I am not the Messiah."

I've written many meditations on this prophet.  My most recent meditation is a blog post at the Living Lutheran site.

It's interesting being a long-term blogger for the site.  I wrote about John the Baptist last year too.  I needed something new to say.  I decided to focus on the prophetic aspect of John the Baptist and its message for us here in our modern world.

It's interesting to think of the world of Jesus and John the Baptist and to think about our own world.  Jesus and John the Baptist lived in a time of vast empire, as do we (is the U.S. the empire?  global corporations?  or is it all a web of empire woven of inseparable strands?).  It's interesting to read the Gospels in full knowledge of the catastrophe that will soon fall on the heads of the Jews.  It makes me think of our own time and the climate catastrophes that are bearing down upon us, in addition to various political catastrophes that visit us.

Here are some quotes to whet your appetite:

"A hundred years from now, which of our prophetic actions will gain the approval of future generations? Which silences will condemn us to their contempt?"

"But just because I’m not the Messiah doesn’t mean that I have a free pass. God does not look favorably at those of us who just sit on the sofa and let others cry out for justice."