{"id":2422,"date":"2019-09-10T01:30:25","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T07:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/?p=2422"},"modified":"2019-09-10T01:31:19","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T07:31:19","slug":"among-those-born-of-women-there-has-not-risen-one-greater-than-john-the-baptist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/?p=2422","title":{"rendered":"Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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John was called by God to be the forerunner of his Divine Son, to usher\nHim into the world, and to prepare mankind by repentance to receive the\nRedeemer, whom the prophets had foretold at a distance through every age from\nthe beginning of the world, never ceasing to instill in the people of God faith\nand hope in Him by whom alone they were to be saved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first St. John led a most austere life in the wilderness, exercising\nhimself in prayer and meditating on the high mission he was called to perform.\nIn the thirtieth year of his age, John came from out his seclusion. This was\nalso the age at which the priests and Levites were permitted by the Jewish law\nto begin the exercise of their functions. Clothed in camel’s hair, held to his\nperson by a girdle of raw leather, the man of the desert, who knew not the\nluxuries of a dwelling-house, nor the taste of cooked food, himself subsisting\non locusts and wild honey, comes to the thinly settled banks of the river\nJordan, and preaches repentance, baptizing all comers\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

John was received by the people as the true herald of the Most High God.\nAll classes of people came and listened to him. Among them were many Pharisees,\nwhose pride and hypocrisy, which rendered them indocile and blinded them in\ntheir vices, he sharply reproved. The very soldiers and publicans, or\ntax-collectors, who were generally persons hardened in habits of immorality,\nviolence, and injustice, flocked to him. He exhorted all to works of charity\nand to a reformation of their lives, and those who addressed themselves to him\nin these dispositions, he baptized in the river. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The baptism of John differed entirely from the great Christian sacrament\nof baptism, as the first was an emblem of the effects of living in the fear of\nthe justice of God by abstaining from evil deeds, whilst the latter wholly\ndelivers us from the original sin and the consequences, and makes us the\nchildren of God, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When St. John had already preached and baptized about six months, the\nLord Jesus went from Nazareth, and presented Himself, among others, to be\nbaptized by him. The Baptist knew Him by a divine revelation, and, full of awe\nand respect for his sacred person, at first excused himself, but at length\nacquiesced out of obedience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saviour of sinners was pleased to be baptized among sinners, not to\nbe cleansed Himself, but to sanctify the waters, and to manifest Himself to the\nworld, which was represented in the great mass of people which came to John. And\nJohn bear witness of Him<\/em>. Pointing Him out before the Jews, John said, Behold\nthe Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world<\/em>! John the Baptist\nreproved the vices of all men, no matter who they were, with an impartial\nfreedom and in a fearless spirit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He disclosed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and uncovered the\nprofaneness of the Sadducees; he denounced the fraud of certain government\nofficials, \u2014<\/em><\/strong>i. e.<\/em> the publicans,\u2014<\/em><\/strong>the rapine\nand licentiousness of the soldiers, and the incest of King Herod himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Herod had unlawfully taken unto himself Herodias, the wife of his\nown brother Philip, who was still living. When the saint said to the king, It\nis not lawful for thee to have her<\/em>, Herodias set herself against him, and\ndesired to kill John. Herod reverenced John as a holy man; therefore he dared\nnot harm him. Nevertheless he had the saint within his reach, in prison, for he\ncould not bear to have the sore spot of his weak conscience tampered with. St.\nJohn faithfully completed his mission, and he understood when his time was up;\neven before this, he said, Jesus must increase, but I must decrease<\/em>.\nWhile in confinement the righteous preacher was still anxious to bear testimony\nto the glory of the Saviour; we read furthermore in the Gospel that, on hearing\nin prison of Christ’s wonderful works and preaching, John sent two of his\ndisciples to Him for their information, not doubting but that Christ would\nsatisfy them that He was the Messiah; and that by His answers they would lay\naside their prejudices, and join themselves to Him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herod continued to respect John; he would sometimes send for him, and\nlisten to him with pleasure, though he was troubled when he was admonished by\nhim for his faults. In the meantime Herodias sought an opportunity to compass\nthe Baptist’s destruction. An occasion at length fell out favorable to her\ndesigns. It was on the birthday anniversary of the king, when he made in his\ncastle a splendid entertainment for the nobility of Galilee. During a sumptuous\nrepast, Salome, a daughter of Herodias by her lawful husband, danced before the\nguests, and so pleased the king by her dancing, that he promised her, with the\nsacred bond of an oath, to grant her whatever she asked, though it amounted to\nhalf of his dominions. The damsel consulted with her mother, and she dispatched\nher daughter with haste, to demand that the head of John the Baptist be brought\nin to her at once on a charger. This strange request startled the drunken\ntyrant himself. He, however, assented, though with reluctance, but for the\nsake of his oaths, and of them that sat at meat<\/em>, he ordered a soldier of\nhis guard to strike off the head of St. John. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way the bloody head of the holy prophet was brought into the\nhall, where they ate and drank and made merry with music, and it was given to\nthe young dancer, who took it and carried it to her mother. No doubt Herod had\nno thought of the oath, while giving it, that it was a sinful one, but he\ncommitted a much greater sin by keeping his oath. And thus it was that John the\nBaptist, the man of the desert, ended his life, one of the chief causes of his\ndeath being a sinful supper. But, by God’s mercy, he was not put to death\nbefore he had fulfilled his great duty as the forerunner of our Lord Jesus\nChrist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The many virtues of St. John, those of a martyr, a virgin, a teacher,\nand a prophet, were exalted in praise by Christ Himself, when he said to the\nmultitudes of the people: Assuredly,\nI say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than\nJohn the Baptist<\/strong>..<\/strong>.<\/strong> (Matt. 11:11)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When his disciples hearing that John was executed in prison, they came\nand took his body and laid it in a tomb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The misfortunes which befell Herod after the death of John the Baptist,\nthe Jews said were punishments from God for the murder of his servant. Aretas,\nthe King of Arabia, and the father of Herod’s first wife, struck a deadly blow\nat the army of the Galilean ruler. Soon after this the Roman emperor banished\nHerod into exile… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Sebastian Dabovich<\/a> (excerpt\nfrom the sermon)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John was called by God to be the forerunner of his Divine Son, to usher Him into the world, and to prepare mankind by repentance to receive the Redeemer, whom the prophets had foretold at a distance through every age from the beginning of the world, never ceasing to instill in the people of God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t