December 23/Fourth Wednesday of Advent
He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed.
~ Luke 1.63
The other day I came across a list of baby names that my husband and I had compiled more than twenty-five years ago, as we awaited the birth of our first child. All of them were family names (although we did rule out using the name of my forebear Orange!). Many cultures around the world have specific customs around the naming of children. The new baby is christened with a saint’s name, or called after a tribal leader, or named for an illustrious ancestor. In Luke’s telling of John the Baptist’s birth, the relatives and neighbors of Elizabeth and Zechariah arrive for the circumcision and naming of the new child, born so improbably to this aged couple. One can almost see the villagers streaming from their houses to celebrate this blessed event. They bring with them the assumption that the couple will follow the dictates of tradition and name the baby after his father. “They” first try to impose their views on Elizabeth, indicating their expectation that this baby will follow in Zechariah’s footsteps as a priest. When that fails — Elizabeth replies quite definitively, “No. He will be called John” — the group seeks a second opinion from Zechariah, who had been struck dumb in his encounter with God’s angel nine months earlier. He, too, signals that he and his wife will follow God’s direction and name the baby John. It takes courage to stand up to the expectations of others, whether they are family or friends, colleagues or patients or students. Other people sometimes think they know what’s best for us — and we for them. But the expectations that matter are those of God, not of the neighbors; those instructions are what we should listen for and seek to follow in our lives.
Lord of all places and times, help me keep the claims and expectations of others in perspective, and listen only for your guiding voice within me. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122320.cfm
To hear the choir of Norwich Cathedral sing “On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-n_iUv9NII
