PICTURING  IT: 

THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Picturing It: The Birth of John the Baptist.”

Today we celebrate the Birth of John the Baptist. There are only 3 birthday  celebrations in our Church calendar: Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist – December 25th, September 8^th and today, June 24^th.

What to speak on, what to preach about,  in a short 2 page homily?

I like to pick a topic or a theme – that will teach me something – having preached on this feast day – all these years and try to be helpful.

PAINTINGS

Last  night I decided to look at paintings of the scene – so I simply typed into Google, “Paintings: Birth of John the Baptist.”

I expected to find some rich wonderful paintings from the 1500’s onwards – and I was not disappointed.

They are those big classical paintings one sees – with great gold colored ornate wooden frames in the famous art museums around the world. Some paintings were commissioned – by the rich and famous – like the de Medici’s; some hung in churches or were part of elaborate altar pieces.

I read today’s gospel and the other 2 readings – a half-dozen times – along with the commentaries on line under the paintings. I noticed many of the paintings were just picturing two verses of today’s gospel: Luke 1:57-58.

A FEW THOUGHTS THAT HIT ME

The Bible is a rich source for subjects for all kinds of paintings – and John the Baptist is quite prominent in many Christian paintings. That tells me that he is very significant in several ways – connecting us to Jesus and to Mary – at the time of Jesus’ birth – and then the paintings of scenes in the Bible when both Jesus and John are adults and starting out with their preaching and prophetic lives.

The amount of religious paintings tell me that religion was part of the ordinary life of folks of Christians in Europe up to the Enlightenment – based on the subject for paintings before and after that.

Religious paintings are very much the Bible - which is all words – put into pictures – pictures that tell stories.

They also are a valuable look see at what folks were wearing – as well as what beds and pots and pans and chairs at the time of the painting looked like.

Since births were at home, one sees the prominence of women in a birth – especially in this story – especially  because of the age of Elizabeth.

It is a good reminder: when going to the big art museums, make sure to stop to study the classics – because they have stories on the canvas – and see if we can pick out reasons for what’s in the paintings. JacoboTintoretto – in his painting from the 1550’s – has a cat and a chicken – right there on the floor –down front – but I have no clue to the why of their presence in the painting.

Murillo’s Birth of John the Baptist in  - was done  in Seville in the 1660’s. It features  his use of light – very bright light white. We see this strongly in the picture – in the cloths used in washing John the baby. Then there’s a tiny puppy in his painting – and he’s all white. What was Murillo saying? Perhaps the purification rite baptism is being hinted at.

Cute thought: at every baptism – there are while cloths and  candles – but there are also family,  relatives and friends, who take an enormous amount of pictures. So back then without cameras, we have paintings. So there is something in us  - to capture pictures of important events.

CONCLUSION

Check out your photo albums – and slides – and black and white pictures and find any baby or  baptismal pictures of you – and check out who’s who in the pictures – and what has happened to us and them since. Were everyone at our baptism saying what we heard of John in today’s gospel: “What then will this child be?” 

Well, what did we become? What happened? Did we decrease and Christ increase?

Did we become a chicken or a car or a cute little puppy dog?  Did we bring light – especially the light of Christ to our world?