| DAY 10 - JOHN THE BAPTIST |
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Even though the theme here is about a period near the end of John's life,
I'm using it here because it's great background music that sounds authentic to this
Biblical era - good for "grazing" the post. Of course, so is the ethereal piece below
from the soundtrack CD The Mists of Avalon. Authentic or ethereal? Your choice.
This is a cut from Askill: Salome, a soundtrack composed by Michael Askill, and used
by the Sydney Ballet Company in a modern dance/musical retelling of the story of
John, Herod, and Salome. The use of real Middle Eastern instruments is especially effective.
The soundtrack was released in '98 on the Black Sun Music label.
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John the Baptist:
Forerunner of the Redeemer
by Jeanne Kun
John the Baptist is one the central figures whom we meet over and over again
in the Scripture texts chosen for use in the Advent liturgy. He stands at the threshold between the Old and New Testaments, a bridge linking the two. In John we see the culmination of centuries of prophecy, anticipation, and preparation.
The Baptist appeared out of the dessert in the spirit and power of Elijah
(see Kings 1:8; Matt. 3:4; Luke 1:17). Thus Elijah prefigured John as a prophetic figure consumed with zeal for the glory of the Lord. As Jesus himself asserted, "'Elijah is indeed coming, and he will restore everything. I assure you, though, that Elijah has already come, but they did not recognize him and they did as they pleased with him. The Son of Man will suffer at their hands in the same way'. The disciples then realized that he had been speaking to them about John the Baptizer" (Matt. 17:11-13).
Not only was John's person foreshadowed in Elijah,
but his coming and role were foretold and announced by Isaiah and Malachi. John filled Isaiah's prophetic description as he came proclaiming a call to repentance: "I send my messenger before you to prepare your way; a herald's voice in the desert, crying, 'Make ready the way of the Lord, clear him a straight path'" (Mark 1:2-3; see Isa. 40:3). Malachi summoned Israel to repentance in the days after the exile and rebuilding of the temple and announced a coming day of judgment, the "day of the Lord", which was to be preceded by a special emissary of God: "Lo, I am sending my messenger
to prepare the way before me" (Mal. 3:1).
This verse from Malachi was directly applied to John by Jesus as he told the crowds
about John: "It is about this man that Scripture says, 'I send my messenger ahead of you, to prepare the way before you'" (Matt.11:10). Jesus continued, verifying that John's testimony was indeed from God: "I solemnly assure you, history has not known a man born of woman greater than John the Baptizer. Yet the least born into the kingdom of God is greater than he. From John the Baptizer's time until now the kingdom of God has suffered violence, and the violent have taken it by force. All the prophets as well as the law spoke prophetically until John. If you are prepared to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who was certain to come" (Matt. 11:11-14).
John broke the prophetic silence that had followed Malachi for several hundred years.
His message was remarkably like that of the great Old Testament prophets who had so often chided Israel for her sins and tried to waken her to true repentance. But his message went even further: John proclaimed that the good news of the kingdom of God was now at hand and exhorted his hearers to prepare for it by purifying their hearts.
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This is an abbreviated version
of a longer cut on the album
it comes from:
THE CELTIC CIRCLE,
a double CD compilation
from the Arista label,
released in 2003.
Written and sung by
Loreena McKennitt,
it was part of the soundtrack
of the film
The Mists of Avalon.
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From THE URANTIA BOOK
Edited from Paper 135
John the Baptist was born March 25, 7 B.C.,
in accordance with the promise that Gabriel
made to Elizabeth in June of the previous year.
For five months Elizabeth kept secret Gabriel's visitation;
and when she told her husband, Zacharias, he was
greatly troubled and fully believed her narrative
only after he had an unusual dream about six weeks
before the birth of John. Excepting the visit
of Gabriel to Elizabeth and the dream of Zachiarias,
there was nothing unusual or supernatural
connected with the birth of John the Baptist.
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When sixteen years old, John, as a result of
reading about Elijah, became greatly impressed
with the prophet of Mount Carmel and decided
to adopt his style of dress. From that day on
John always wore a hairy garment with a
leather girdle. At sixteen he was more
than six feet tall and almost full grown.
With his flowing hair and peculiar mode of dress
he was indeed a picturesque youth.
And his parents expected great things of
this their only son, a child of promise
and a Nazarite for life.
After an illness of several months Zacharias died
in July, A.D. 12, when John was just past
eighteen years of age. In September of this year
Elizabeth and John made a journey to Nazareth to visit
Mary and Jesus. John had just about made up his mind
to launch out in his lifework, but he was admonished,
not only by Jesus' words but also by his example,
to return home, take care of his mother and
await the "coming of the Father's hour."
After bidding Jesus and Mary good by at the end
of this enjoyable visit, John did not again see
Jesus until the event of the baptism in the Jordan.
In the so-called "wilderness of Judea" John
tended his sheep along a brook that was tributary
to a larger stream which entered the Dead Sea
at Engedi. The Engedi colony included not only
Nazarites of lifelong and time-period consecration
but numerous other ascetic herdsmen who congregated
in this region with their herds and fraternized with
the Nazarite brotherhood. They supported themselves
by sheep raising and from gifts which
wealthy Jews made to the order.
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From all John heard of the vice and wickedness
of Rome and the dissoluteness and moral bareness of
the empire, from what he knew of the evil doings
of Herod Antipas and the governors of Judea,
he was minded to believe that the end of the age
was impending. It seemed to this rugged and noble
child of nature that the world was ripe for
the end of the age of man and the dawn
of the new and divine age -
the kingdom of heaven.
The feeling grew in John's heart that he was to be
the last of the old prophets and the first of the new.
And he fairly vibrated with the mounting impulse to
go forth and proclaim to all men:
"Repent! Get right with God! Get ready
for the end; prepare yourselves for the appearance
of the new and eternal order of earth affairs,
the kingdom of heaven."
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This song is religious music of a totally different flavor - well, the entire CD is.
It's called Full Gospel Rockabilly, and features some excellent musicians
who call themselves The Found Cats.
Release was in '03 on the Golly Gee Records label.
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HIS CLOTHES WERE WEIRD.
HIS DIET WAS SPARTAN. You could tell
he'd spent years in isolation,
breaking loose from social conventions
to which the rest of us cheerfully adhere.
He was, in other words, a strangely free individual.
Fear had no claims on him,
so he could speak the truth as he understood it.
When he talked, he yelled,
and the topic of his rants was always religion.
If you saw this man on the street today,
you'd cross to the other side for sure.
Who would want to be a friend of John the Baptist?
Alice Camille, U.S. Catholic, Dec., '07
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Duet Lou Reid & Carolina sing an "ol' time" gospel song
from his '09 CD My Own Set of Rules on the Rural Rhythm label.
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