The Significance of the Holy John the Forerunner of the Lord

“«There came a man sent from God; his name was John»” (Jn. 1:6). It has been said above that the light of the promise shone in darkened mankind, supported and broadened by providential arrangements of the Lord himself. For all this, this was a light giving weak illumination of the divine order of things. At the last thrust of darkness and the multiplication of false lights, the state of the spiritual condition before the Lord’s manifestation in the world cannot be called other than dim. And for five hundred years before the birth of Christ prophecies ceased as well. Amid such dimness, the sudden appearance of true light would have blinded everyone, even those capable of receiving it. And thus John is sent before him as the morning star before the sun, shining with borrowed light to gradually make ready through gradualness to receive and true light.

“«He came for a witness, to testify to the light»” (Jn. 1:7). The prophets from afar pointed to the promised one: but since Israel was raised on the prophets, there had to be a nearest prophet, a nearest pointer, who would give tangible assurance that there is the one promised and whom all await. This was necessary for the greatness of the work and for the great danger from not recognizing. Not recognizing someone unindicated, they could make excuses: now there is none. John is a mirror that gathered all the rays of prophetic light and directed them upon Christ the Savior. To oppose it is possible only through stubbornness and blindness. How important was the testimony of John in the chain of God’s testimonies about himself was shown by the Lord himself, who repeatedly turned his discourse to John, especially when, in the last discourse to the Jews in the temple, he wished to convince the blinded; and the experts in the law could say nothing against it (Mt. 21:23-27, Mk. 11:27-33, Lk. 20:1-8).

“«So that all might believe through him»” (Jn. 1:7). The nearest indication of the one promised was all the more necessary because the promised one was to appear under a very great veil of humility. Those having sound eyes, like Simeon and others, could have seen and understood him of their own (Lk. 2:25-32). To those blinded there was nothing to say: they remained in blindness even at John’s testimony. But the majority of souls immature and dim-sighted, unable to recognize the promised one by themselves, could go after him by the unquestionable indication and be finally assured of the truth through communion with him. John was for them an indispensable guide. From this class even the Apostles were, and then all others. The first class embraces the chosen, very few in number.

“«He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light»” (Jn. 1:8). As the time drew to a close, there were those in Israel who awaited deliverance, and among pagans there were many who thirsted for true illumination, as testified by their acceptance of the old revelation. Therefore, when the sent John appeared, those sensing the approach of spiritual revival were stirred and flowed to John in hope in him to meet the sought deliverance from darkness and consoling illumination by divine light. But he was not that of which they hastily thought; he was not light but only sent before him as his herald and Forerunner. As a servant of truth sent from the true God, he himself testified to this without hesitation, and from himself sent all to the true light. Souls thirsting for light were like maidens; and he, as the friend of the bridegroom, sent them to this Bridegroom. God was pleased to establish such an order of the manifestation of true light—that there be a Forerunner, an indicator of it. And in this order is testimony to truth; in it is testimony that John is from God; and insofar as he is from God, so from God is he testified by him. Falsehood could not have such an order. Neither could a false messiah withstand a Forerunner without suspicion and confusion; nor could a false forerunner stand in his false forerunning without claiming himself a higher title. In this lies truth, that the Forerunner, himself so lofty, humbly declines from himself the higher title, saying that the one all await is not he but comes after him, the one he will point out and truly has pointed out.

Such is the significance of John in the economy of the establishment of the saving path for us poor ones!

But this order, begun once, does not cease. John, sent from God to testify, did not leave the stage and will not depart to the end of the age. The true light is in the Lord. But no one comes to it without witnesses. Apostles replaced John, and after them, shepherds and teachers—and in the Church there is always testimony indicating the unerring light in the Lord. Is a soul troubled in conscience and seeks a reconciler—the shepherd points him to the cross and in the mystery of penance reconciles him with God and establishes peace in him. Does he grow weak in struggle and seek strengthening—the shepherd points him to the source of life-giving powers in the mystery of the body and blood of the Lord and gives him to drink of them, joining him with the Lord through communion. How many need indication and explanation of truth! The shepherd points out this truth to them in the voice of the Church, which is the echo of the voice of its very head, and quiets the troubled and troubling doubts. The shepherd is a bride-leader of souls; therefore woe to shepherds who stay souls coming to them. The organ of the shepherd’s word—the prophetic and apostolic utterances; and therefore woe to shepherds who invent their own images of utterances! And woe to souls who, instead of these appointed indicators, content themselves with or follow their own unreliable individual perceptions or the indications of self-appointed leaders!