A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke. When Elizabeth's time for delivery had arrived, She gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives, upon hearing that the Lord had extended his mercy to her, rejoiced with her. Now you just keep in mind here what what's going ahead, that Elizabeth was a woman advanced in age, had been sterile all her life, had never been able to produce a child, and then quite suddenly she became a mother. Now when all her friends and family had assembled for the circumcision of the child on the eighth day, they intended to name him after his father, Zechariah.
Remember, Zechariah had been struck blind while he was offering his service in the temple. See, this is a public thing that had gone on. This wasn't something very secret. At this, his mother intervened saying, no. He is to be called John.
Her relatives and friends pointed out to Elizabeth, none of your relatives has this name. Then using signs, they asked the father, Zechariah, what he wished the child, his son, to be named. Zechariah signaled for a writing tab tablet and wrote the words, his name is John. This astonished everybody. At that moment, Zacharias' mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God.
Fear descended on all in the neighborhood and throughout the hill country. These happenings now notice, these happenings began to be recounted to the last detail. All who heard stored these things up in their hearts saying, what will this child be? And was not the hand of the lord upon him? The child John grew up and matured in spirit.
He lived in the desert until the day when he made his public appearance in Israel, and this is the gospel of the lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. The reason I am always emphatic about this sort of a text, and especially this one having to do with John, is this. You are aware, of course, of the assaults, the attacks that have been made upon what is called the infant testimony or the infant infancy text of Saint Luke.
Even by so called scripture scholars within the Holy Roman Catholic Church, they have been whittled away as if they had no value as recounting history. Now keep in mind that that when Luke wrote this, he wasn't writing five hundred years after the event, around eighty or ninety AD, maybe fifty years after our Lord's death. Furthermore, please notice how this text about Saint John, how it recounts the public knowledge of it. From the very beginning, from when Zachariah struck dumb and blind, from that very moment, there and from it goes back to the annunciation to our blessed mother when Mary says, how can this happen to me? And this messenger, whoever or whatever it was, I don't know, this messenger says, look, your cousin Elizabeth, that old woman down there who's been sterile from her all her life, her husband is advanced in years.
She is pregnant. She's going to have a baby. These people knew about babies. It was public knowledge. Now here's what happens.
That's only the beginning of the story. Here's some more. And notice how the how Saint Luke explicitly says, all of these happenings were recounted to the last detail. To the last detail. They weren't written down in a book and put down in a capsule to be read two thousand years later.
This was public knowledge. Now, just as a matter of common sense, if this stuff is nothing but a so called myth, then how did the people accept it when they when some of them were only one generation or two removed from the events? See, this is plain common sense. C. S.
Lewis said, you know, he said, The one thing you have to be aware of are scripture scholars. And he was he was devoted to the scriptures. So I rest my case as always, not on a single little sentence here, not on a paragraph there, but on overwhelming testimony. You either take this or you throw the whole caboodle out. And so here is the beginning of our Lord's mission.
Here we have the man who was first sent. In some parts of the world today is a great feast because they realize the importance of John. He was the precursor of Jesus before Christ was even born conceived. He was the precursor of Jesus even before Christ is born. And he is the precursor of Jesus when our blessed lord begins his ministry.
And so tie this in with with the with the infancy text about our lord. They all rise or fall together. I don't see how can you take out a bit here and a bit there? You can't possibly do it. You can't possibly do it.
Remember, today there are attacks upon the divinity of Jesus Christ. Keep that in mind. There are attacks upon his miraculous conception. There always have been. Why shouldn't there be?
There should be if people think of it. You'd say, how in the world could that happen? It couldn't happen. How in the world can you say Christ is present in a piece of bread that you could almost see through? How can that be?
It can't happen. Remember, when Jesus first said that, the people left him. They walked away. They could not believe it. And Jesus said to his chosen handful of selected disciples, will you leave me too?
Uncompromising. Uncompromising. To be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and he comes with excellent credentials. Not to explain everything, in many ways to explain nothing in a certain sense, Because what he has left us is beyond human explanation. It's beyond human comprehension.
That's the reason I respect somebody who stands up and says, I think that's a lot of nonsense. I can argue with him. Say, let so let us rejoice today. It is a great feast. Here we have something to illuminate our grasp of Jesus Christ.
Who was Jesus Christ? The son of God, truly the son of Mary. In the name of the father and of the son and the holy spirit. Amen.