What is God asking of us? Is 49:1-6; Ps 139:1-3, 13-14, 14-15; Acts 13:22-26; Lk 1:57-66, 80 Recently I was in Louisville, Kentucky, for a graduation. My nephew’s wife, Monica, just finished nursing school and it was a joyful occasion for sure. What made it especially poignant were the difficult times Monica and her family suffered this past year — the loss of her brother in automobile accident and overcoming a serious medical condition. After the ceremony, our extended family and several friends gathered for a party for this extraordinary young woman. There were a lot of children there — Monica comes from a big family — and one was an infant named Gabriel. He struck me as an exceptional baby (I know, they all are). This beautiful baby was being passed around to all who wanted to hold him. Gabriel remained serene though it all, with a smile on his face and no fussing, as he patiently found himself embraced by new sets of arms. I thought to myself, “What will such a wonderful baby become?” I hoped and prayed for Gabriel to retain his peaceful demeanor throughout his life. That, of course, is the leading question in the Gospel passage from Luke that stands at the heart of this special solemnity. After being astounded that Zachary and Elizabeth were able to have a child at all, and with all the amazing events surrounding his naming as “John,” it is no wonder that their relatives and friends ask, “What, then, will this child be?” The reader of the New Testament knows that John the Baptist will become the great prophet who will pave the way for the coming of Jesus himself. Sensing that Israel was at a critical moment that would define its future, John went to the edge of the desert near the Dead Sea. This was the region from which Israel emerged long ago as God allowed them to enter the Promised Land and build a new people. John began to challenge a people who had lost their way to open their eyes and hearts and turn back to God. His baptism of repentance was a ritual signaling this change of heart. For several decades the people had languished under Roman rule and their leaders in Jerusalem had made many compromises. Now, John sensed, a new moment was coming, and a new leader was on the horizon who could restore Israel. When Jesus came from Nazareth to seek John’s baptism, John recognized that Jesus was the one, the holy one of God. Because of John’s unique role in announcing the advent of Jesus Christ, he is given a place of reverence in the four Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles. The church’s liturgical year marks not only his birth but his martyr’s death. The church also uses this occasion to reflect on the fact that each of us is called by God to live lives of purpose and meaning. The first reading from Isaiah is one of the most beautiful sections of the Old Testament. The prophet reflects on the mystery of his own call. He senses that God had set him apart from the very moment of his birth: “The Lord called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.” God called Isaiah to a horizon much broader than his familiar world: “It is too little, God says, for you to be my servant, only to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel. I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, when reflecting on his own unexpected vocation, he, too, appeals to this text and to the conviction that God had called him from the moment of his conception to bring the Gospel to the world. “What will this child be?” What is God asking of each of us? How, even now, can we bring more meaning and purpose into the circumstances where God has placed us?
About the Author Donald Senior was president emeritus, chancellor and professor of New Testament studies at Catholic Theological Union, 5401 S. Cornell Ave., until his death on Nov. 8, 2022.