24 June 2026 - his name

Today's Readings
(Audio)

When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
“No. He will be called John.”

At first, Zechariah had been unable to trust the revelation of the angel and speak in agreement with the revealed plan of God for him, resulting in him losing his ability to speak until the episode in today's Gospel. Somehow it was this very imposition of silence that created the conditions in a faithful response could take shape. In a way, he represented the whole human race, reiterating our doubts over and against God's desire to set us free. But in silence we can no longer fill the noise with the repetition of our own ideas and what we believe we know. We are open to the voice of God speaking something new into our lives and the world. And hopefully we can eventually express our own assent to that new thing, just as did Zechariah. No longer tied to the curse of past infidelity, he wrote in agreement with the new thing God was doing "John is his name". From there blessings were immediately unleashed, and with them his tongue was loosed. It was now safe for him to speak, since he was so overwhelmed with the goodness of God that he was too preoccupied to with it to even remember his former doubts.

Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.

The clarity with which John's name pointed to the revelation of Gabriel, and therefore to the new thing God was doing in the world, was a clarity that defined the whole life and mission of the Baptist. He was utterly unambiguous about what he came to do, about the lamb of God to whom he pointed, the one's whose way he prepared. The typical human pattern would have been to take some of the credit oneself for one's greatness and popularity. But John insisted on decreasing that Jesus could increase. Like his father Zechariah's words, he would subside so that the true Word could be heard and recognized. He possessed a supernatural fixation and focus on the core of his mission that must have been highly compelling to those who encountered him. 

We know that outside of the Kingdom there were none born of woman who are greater than John the Baptist. But this was not in virtue of any great miracles or other mighty deeds that he accomplished. It was all based on his faithfulness to the mission entrusted to him by God, his willingness to become less rather than more. He was willing to set the stage for the one whose coming mattered most and then step aside when he arrived. We who are within the Kingdom of Jesus are called to a similar kind of greatness. It might not be fantastical or flashy. But it must be faithful and focused on the person of Jesus himself. We still live in a world that insists on repeating its own doubts and despair as though they were a prophecy or an incantation. But we have something new to say, and genuine hope to offer. May we, like Zechariah, learn to agree with the word of God. And then may we, like John, live it to the fullest.

CeCe Winans - Goodness Of God