Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist. St Luke tells us how his birth brought great joy to his parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, and all the neighbours and relatives were overwhelmed with the good news. It was taken for granted that the new-born son would be called Zechariah after his father, but his proud mother would have none of it. Her boy was to be called John. And just to confound all the well-wishers, Elizabeth's husband had his speech returned to him on agreeing with the name John.
The name John means favoured of the Lord, it also gave out strong signals that this son of theirs was to make a break from the priestly class of his father. John the Baptist prepares the way of the Lord, he is the precursor of Jesus and yet he is not worthy of tying his shoes. That imagery should give us all hope. John the Baptist had the charism of prophecy. He was not someone who could see into the future with a crystal ball, instead he was a man with the ability of inspiring and leading people to an acknowledgment of the greatness of Jesus and to do that he had no problem in leaving aside the well-read and often quoted hymn sheet of the day. He was a man who was also capable of heading into the wilderness and praying and reflecting on what he had to do.
He gave his life to discovering who Jesus is and in the end he lost his head for what he stood for and believed in. Most of us are not called on to make such dramatic sacrifices, we more than likely will not lose our heads and we will not be written about in works of great literature. But we do have the choice of standing up for what we believe is right and we can also think for ourselves and not always be mere puppets of the prevailing dispensation.
It's easy to look back in history and point to the great figures who stood up to evil regimes. It requires far more courage to discover the wrong that takes place in our own society in front of our very doorsteps. We are all conditioned and moulded by the environment in which we live. It is inevitable that we are children of our age.
Spin-doctor is a relatively new term and it so accurately captures the style and the work of political managers. The spin-doctors are those who write and rewrite the texts of our politicians. They are the people who make everything perfectly PC. They are the experts at putting glosses on what is being said. When we use the term pejoratively we are accusing them of obfuscating the truth.
But what we so often forget is that there is the terrible temptation for all of us to be spin-doctors in our own particular grouping or society. It requires extraordinary courage to stand up against the tide and speak out in a language and tone which will not be accepted by the leaders and controllers of the group we belong to and feel at home in.
It is easy for the journalist to be critical of the medical profession, as it is easy for the priest to criticise the media. It is far more brave and difficult for the doctors and journalists and priests to criticise and question their own particular profession. In many ways we have been enslaved with the idea that we never criticise "our own". That is heresy and it is the antithesis to what John the Baptist stood for and what the Christian message is about.
It is that sort of cowardice that allowed people like Hitler and Stalin to thrive in their societies. We are currently looking back at the 1940s, 50s and 60s and wondering how did we allow things to go as they did. It will be the prophet who will be concerned with how to do things right in the world of today. It is indeed very easy to look outside our own group and act in a discerning and prophetic way concerning other groups.
It is part of the Christian challenge that we act as prophet in our own group in our everyday situation. And that's exactly what John the Baptist did.
Hopefully, tomorrow's feast will be an incentive for us to think honestly for ourselves. John the Baptist should help us to cast off our fear and turn to prayer and integrity in our discovery of truth.
M.C.