{"id":3587,"date":"2018-06-18T14:52:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T14:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batkol.info\/?p=3587"},"modified":"2018-06-18T14:52:59","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T14:52:59","slug":"reflections-on-the-sunday-readings-for-the-birth-of-john-the-baptist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/2018\/06\/18\/reflections-on-the-sunday-readings-for-the-birth-of-john-the-baptist\/","title":{"rendered":"REFLECTIONS ON THE SUNDAY READINGS FOR THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST"},"content":{"rendered":"
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REFLECTIONS ON THE SUNDAY READINGS FOR<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, 24th<\/sup> JUNE 2018<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah 49:1-6;\u00a0 Psalm 138:1-3,13-15;\u00a0 Acts 13:22-26;\u00a0 Luke 1:57-66,80<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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[su_button url=”https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1prIPEavUlLQkJn1MMfm3XnDF7_PX3okl\/view?usp=sharing” target=”blank” style=”flat” icon=”icon: cloud-download” icon_color=”#ffffff”]Download[\/su_button]<\/p>\n

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The Birth of John the Baptist, by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1518. Skokloster Castle. Source: https:\/\/artsandculture.google.com\/asset\/the-birth-of-john-the-baptist\/JgGEI8eGYrQd7A<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cT<\/em>here was a man sent from God whose name was John.\u00a0 He came to bear witness to the light, to prepare an upright people for the Lord.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0This is the entrance antiphon for today, based on the first chapter of John\u2019s Gospel. It encapsulates the call and destiny of John the Baptist, whose birth we honour and its message is reflected in all our readings.<\/p>\n

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It is not certain whether the subject of the reading from Isaiah, understood as the second of the Servant Songs, is either the Servant or Israel.\u00a0 The first two verses lend support that an individual is being spoken about: the claim that the call of God went back to the time before birth is strongly reminiscent of accounts of a prophetic call, an impression strengthened by the reference to \u201cmy mouth\u201d<\/em>, for the prophet was essentially a speaker.\u00a0\u00a0 Here, the Servant has a mission to Israel:\u00a0 the author of this poem saw it as part of the servant\u2019s role to restore all Israel to the true service of God and what God has achieved through him will be seen as a light by distant nations, even to what is poetically described as \u201cthe ends of the earth\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

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In Luke, we hear of John\u2019s circumcision, the sign of his entry into the covenant.\u00a0 The canticle of John\u2019s father, Zechariah, is sadly omitted from our reading today, but in it we hear him speak of his son in prophetical terms:\u00a0 \u201cAnd you, little child,\/you shall be called Prophet of the Most High\/,for you will go before the Lord\/to prepare the way for him.\/To give his people knowledge of salvation\u201d <\/em>(Lk1:76\/77), which is reminiscent of the passage from Isaiah.\u00a0 So, too, is the angel\u2019s announcement to Zechariah of the birth of John:\u00a0 \u201cEven from his mother\u2019s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God\u201d<\/em> (Lk 1:15\/16).<\/p>\n

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This is the repentance referred to in our reading from Luke\u2019s companion volume, Acts.\u00a0 Here, we listen to part of Paul\u2019s synagogue sermon in Antioch, which marks a new step in the progress of the gospel in that it is consciously addressed to a diaspora audience, containing both ethnic Jews and \u201cothers who fear God\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0 He gives a potted resum\u00e9 of Israel\u2019s history to show that the whole movement of biblical history points forward to the Christ event.\u00a0 He places the mission of John the Baptist as the climax of this history, the final tip of an arrow pointing in one clear direction.<\/p>\n

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John\u2019s call by God, specific and personal to him, echoes the certainty of God\u2019s call to every individual as\u00a0 expressed in Psalm 138:\u00a0 \u201cevery one of my days was decreed\/before one of them came into being\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0 God\u2019s knowledge and protection of each one is sure, enwrapping and protecting him\/her from conception throughout life:\u00a0 \u201cFor it was you who created my being,\/knit me together in my mother\u2019s womb.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Standing at such a pivotal place between the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures, John the Baptist has a special role in my Congregation, the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion.\u00a0 He is the patron saint of our noviciate in Jerusalem, so I ask your prayers today for all our novices from many different countries.\u00a0 Thank you!<\/p>\n

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This week\u2019s Sunday Readings Commentary was prepared by<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sr Margaret Shepherd, NDS, London, UK<\/strong><\/p>\n

margaretashepherd@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

[Copyright \u00a9 2018]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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PLEASE NOTE<\/em><\/strong>: The weekly Gospel commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. \u00a0Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

1983-2018<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cChristians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

gill@batkol.info <\/em><\/strong>Website: <\/em><\/strong>www.batkol.info<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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REFLECTIONS ON THE SUNDAY READINGS FOR THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, 24th JUNE 2018 Isaiah 49:1-6;\u00a0 Psalm 138:1-3,13-15;\u00a0 Acts 13:22-26;\u00a0 Luke 1:57-66,80   [su_button url=”https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1prIPEavUlLQkJn1MMfm3XnDF7_PX3okl\/view?usp=sharing” target=”blank” style=”flat” icon=”icon: cloud-download” icon_color=”#ffffff”]Download[\/su_button] \u00a0 \u201cThere was a man sent from God whose name was John.\u00a0 He came to bear witness to the light, to prepare an upright…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":3579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3587"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}