Saint John the Baptist: Forerunner of Christ

Saint John the Baptist is the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first witness to the Messiah of the New Testament. Christ himself declared of him: "Among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist" (Matthew 11:11). He prepared the way for the Lord, baptized him in the Jordan, and was martyred by King Herod Antipas for his public denunciation of the king's unlawful marriage.

Birth narrative

The infancy narratives in the Gospel of Luke (chapters 1-2) interweave the conception and birth of John with that of Christ. The Archangel Gabriel appeared first to John's father, the priest Zechariah, during his service in the Jerusalem Temple, announcing that his elderly wife Elizabeth would conceive a son who would be filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb and would "go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17). Six months later, the same Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary at Nazareth at the Annunciation.

Mary, newly informed of her own role, journeyed to assist her cousin Elizabeth at the Visitation (Luke 1:39-56, see the Visitation as the second Joyful Mystery). When Mary entered Elizabeth's home, John leapt in the womb at the presence of the unborn Christ. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, recognized Mary as "the mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43), the first explicit Marian title in the New Testament.

John was born about six months before Christ, traditionally at Ain Karem, a hill town outside Jerusalem. The Catholic liturgical calendar commemorates his birth on June 24, six months before Christmas (December 25). It is one of only three birth dates celebrated as feasts in the Catholic year: those of Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8), and John the Baptist.

The ministry in the wilderness

John grew up "in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel" (Luke 1:80). He emerged around AD 27 as a prophetic figure dressed in a garment of camel's hair with a leather belt, eating locusts and wild honey, preaching at the Jordan River in the wilderness of Judea. His message was a call to repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2). He inaugurated the practice of baptism with water as a public ritual sign of repentance and conversion of life.

The Jewish religious authorities sent delegations to question John, asking whether he was the Messiah, Elijah, or the Prophet. John denied being any of them, identifying himself only as "the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord'" (John 1:23, citing Isaiah 40:3).

When Christ came to the Jordan to be baptized, John recognized him and protested: "I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?" Christ insisted, "Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:13-15). John then baptized Christ (see the first Luminous Mystery, the Baptism of Jesus), at which the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and the Father's voice was heard.

After Christ's baptism, John's role diminished. On seeing Christ pass by the day after the baptism, John spoke the phrase the Catholic Church repeats at every Mass: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). He sent his own disciples to follow Christ, saying of him: "He must increase, I must decrease" (John 3:30).

Martyrdom

John publicly denounced Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, for marrying his brother Philip's wife Herodias in violation of the Mosaic Law. Herod imprisoned John at the fortress of Machaerus, east of the Dead Sea. According to the narrative in Mark 6:14-29 and Matthew 14:1-12, on Herod's birthday his stepdaughter Salome (Herodias's daughter) danced before the court. Herod, pleased, offered her anything she wished. At her mother's instruction, Salome asked for "the head of John the Baptist on a platter." Herod, regretting the rash promise but bound by his oath before the assembled court, ordered the execution.

John was beheaded at Machaerus around AD 28-32. The Catholic Church commemorates his Passion (martyrdom) on August 29.¹

Patronage and devotion

Saint John the Baptist is patron of baptism, of monks (the Catholic monastic tradition has long claimed him as patron because of his desert asceticism), of converts, of Jordan (the country and the river), of the people of Quebec (Saint-Jean-Baptiste is the patron saint of French Canada), and of tailors (from the camel-hair garment).

The Catholic liturgical commemorations of John the Baptist are extensive:

June 24: Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. A solemnity (the highest liturgical rank for a saint), not merely a feast.
August 29: Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist.
January 11 (Eastern tradition) and several other dates: commemorations of the various discoveries of his relics across Christian history.

The Catholic veneration of John the Baptist is one of the most ancient in the Christian world, attested in the patristic literature from the second century onward. His witness "He must increase, I must decrease" (John 3:30) is one of the most quoted Catholic vocational mottos, traditionally inscribed over the doors of Catholic seminaries and rectories.

For the Catholic understanding of baptism as a sacrament, see What is a sacrament?. For the central Marian-Johannine moment when John leapt in Elizabeth's womb at the approach of Christ in Mary's womb, see the Visitation.

Sources

For the principal historical sources outside the New Testament, see Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.5.2, which independently records John's death at Machaerus and corroborates the New Testament account. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 523-524, on John's role as the Forerunner. ↩