John the baptist prepares for the lord

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St. John the Baptist is a very important character in Lent. He prepares the way for the Lord.

St. John the Baptist was one of the greatest saints of all time. Perhaps no one gets greater praise from Jesus than he does, since the Lord says “Of all men born of women, there is no one greater than John the Baptist.” What was John’s secret? How did he attain such heights of holiness, how could he become the greatest of the Old Testament prophets? And how can we imitate his virtue?

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John’s Detachment from Pleasure

The first thing we see in St. John the Baptist is his physical self-mastery. John eats wild locusts. John wears camel hair – have you ever worn camel hair straight on the skin? That is worse than…I don’t know…burlap.

John lives out in the desert. Why does John do this? Why does preparation for Christ require discipline of the body? Of the flesh? Because there’s only room for one God in our life. And if our main goal in life is pleasure and entertainment or comfort and security or good health then Jesus can’t be Our Lord.

So we have to fast, we have to deny ourselves. We don’t have to do it publicly, or in big dramatic ways. But we have to routinely say to the desires of the flesh, “I belong to Jesus, not to you.” Purple is the color of Lent because it’s a time to make room for the Lord to come by self-discipline and sacrifice. So are you making little sacrifices of food, or other pleasures, this Lent?

Almost all people are enslaved to phones and screens. Can you lay yours down for a period of time each day? If not you are a slave.

If we cannot do this, then how are you going to get the freedom from pleasure which is a prerequisite for becoming a hero for Christ, the way John the Baptist was?

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John’s Detachment from the Opinions of Others

John the Baptist is able to speak the truth – and speak it plainly. He is absolutely fearless. He speaks truth to the priests, the pharisees, and the soldiers. He speaks truth to king Herod himself. He has no fear. How does he do that? He does it by the discipline of solitude. He goes out into the desert. He spends time in silence with God, listening to the Word of God and thinking about it. Conforming His thinking to God’s way of thinking – rather than the world – that is what is most important. So he doesn’t constantly think about what other people think. Which makes him free to recognize and articulate the truth.

So do you spend time in solitude and silence with Jesus – thinking about what He says and conforming your thinking to His? Or do you spend your time on the news and analysts and commentators. We will conform our mind to Jesus or the world. Which will it be?

Are you constantly posting about yourself and your views? Do you rush out and give you opinion without being asked? If so, you’ll always be dominated by an anxiety about what people are thinking about you. So, cultivate the discipline of solitude. Go out into the desert, or at least go into your room. Shut the door. Pray in secret. Reflect in secret. Love to be alone with God. Then you might be able to give this lost world the truth when they come asking for it.

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John’s Detachment from Success

There’s a certain point in John’s life where his influence starts to fade. And the reason it fades is because Jesus takes His place. Jesus starts baptizing more people than John does. Jesus starts attracting all of John’s followers. And John’s disciples are upset – they say, “Hey, tell Jesus to stop destroying this ministry you’ve worked so hard to build up.”

And John the Baptist says that he is content – that he rejoices – at Jesus taking over. He says, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” See, John doesn’t care about success, about his legacy or making his mark. All He cares about is whether Christ is known and loved, and whether God’s will is done.

We have to remember that our projects, the things we build, are not important in themselves. All that matters is that we do good for others and that people come closer to Christ. If that happens better by our work being dismantled or ignored or updated by someone else – so be it. He must increase, we must decrease.

We spend so much time trying to carve our names into the face of the earth. But this earth will pass away. All that matters is that our names, and as many names as possible, be written in the book of Heaven.

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John as an Arrow to Christ

The Church has always taught that John the Baptist is the last of the great Old Testament prophets. The whole Old Testament is an arrow to Christ, it’s the promise and foretelling of the Messiah. Well, one day, John the Baptist saw Jesus, and he chose that day to take the whole Old Testament into Himself. He became the embodiment of the Old Testament. He became the arrow - He pointed to Christ, and He said, “Behold! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the Sins of the World.”

This is the most important way we’re called to imitate John the Baptist. We are called to let our whole life be an arrow to Christ. When people look at us, we want the next thing they think about to be Jesus. So often, because of our sins and selfishness, because of our intemperance, because of our vanity and ambition, we try to point to ourselves. That’s all we want people to think about – us. In those cases, our life becomes a distraction from Christ, not an arrow to him.

This is especially important for our children and grandchildren. We are not responsible for making our children Holy. But We are responsible for giving them Holy parents and grandparents. So let’s pray to St. John the Baptist – the greatest man born of woman – to intercede for us so that our humanity can become a bridge, an arrow – not an obstacle – to the Lord.