St. John was gift from God

The Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of saints every day.

Sunday of All Saints is the day when all of the saints are recognized.

Who are the “all” of the saints?

They are all of those who have believed in the true God from ancient times, from Adam to Christ and from Christ to the present day, have lived according to his will, applied his divine commandments in their lives, and when there was persecution preferred to be sacrificed.

These ancient and new saints are countless.

They are like the stars of heaven.

Some of them are known while others, most of them, are unknown.

The Orthodox Church celebrates these saints one by one separately and together.

Among them is St. John the Forerunner, whose birth is celebrated this Sunday.

St. John the Forerunner is the greatest saint of the Old Testament.

He is the brightest star of the ancient world, before the coming of Christ. Christ Himself said it.

He said that no one like John was born among men (Matthew 11:11).

John considered himself to be very small and humble before Christ, saying that he was unworthy to bend down to untie “the latchet of the shoes,” which is to say the strings on the shoes of Christ (John 1:27).

All of St. John’s life was an uncommon life. It was a life that excites the imagination of all.

John was a great man.

His birth alone suffices to prove that John was great because, as the Gospel says, he was born because of a miracle.

What miracle?

St. John was born to old parents. Elizabeth, who was said to be 70, gave birth to a child: she gave birth to John. This is the miracle.

When Zachariah, the priest, his father, heard from the angel that his wife Elizabeth, who had not had a child in her youth, was going to have a baby now in her advanced age, he did not want to believe that such a thing would happen. He was punished for this unbelief and became mute.

His tongue was loosened and he spoke the day when the name of the child was given.

“How do you want us to name the child?” the relatives asked Zachariah. Zachariah wrote the name “John” on a tablet.

As soon as he wrote it his mouth opened and he spoke and composed a poem. This was a poem filled with a divine message, a God-inspired poem, a poem of prayer, a poem of prophecy.

Zachariah prophesized what this child would become (Luke 1:68-79).

The birth and life of John were a miracle.

When the time came, John left home and went into the desert, which was beyond the Jordan River.

For many years, he lived a very strict existence. His residence was the caves. His drink was water of the Jordan River. His food locusts. His clothes were hard, made of camel’s wool. His companions were the wild beasts. The book he studied was nature and all that God created. His joy was prayer. The hope that filled his heart was that the word, the Christ, would come and that he himself would prepare the people to receive the Redeemer of the world.

When the time came, John began to teach the people. His preaching was repentance.

He called people to abandon their sinful lives to be baptized in the waters of the Jordan River, and to decide to live another life, now that Christ would come to establish his kingdom, which is to say his Church.

John’s preaching was a preparation for the Christian life in Christ.

That is why all the disciples of John also became disciples of Christ.

John the Forerunner was wondrous for his birth; wondrous for his ascetic life; wondrous because he was enabled to baptize Christ in the water of the Jordan.

When he learned that the king left his lawful wife and was living with another woman (the wife of his brother) John fearlessly appeared at the palace and stopped the king personally.

He paid with his life for that because he was arrested, imprisoned, and finally beheaded.

The only and dear child of Zachariah and Elizabeth was called John, a Hebrew name that means God’s gift.

In reality, John proved to be a gift of God — a benevolence to humanity.

All children are God’s gifts. God brings them into the world, through their parents, to do good, to please their parents, and to benefit humanity.

Unfortunately, some children do not have good parents.

Society presents children with bad examples everyday, and so many children have gone off the good road that Christ has designed.

They become corrupted and become a curse and a calamity on humanity with the crimes they commit.

Mothers and fathers must pay attention to their children. Nourish them with the education and admonition of the Lord. Plant in their hearts the love of God.

Protect children from bad associations, and children will be God’s gift to you and to society.

The Rev. Daniel Rohan is pastor of St. Mark Orthodox Church in Liberty.