Daily Lesson in observance of the feast day of St John the Baptist

Today’s Daily Lesson is in observance of the feast day of the Nativity of St John the Baptist and comes from Malachi chapter 3 verses 1 through 5:

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

5 Then I will draw near to you for judgement; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

It’s midsummer, the half-way point after Christmas and the traditional day for observing the birth of John the Baptist, who was born six months prior to his younger cousin Jesus. 

With the coming of John the Baptist we see a thoroughly moral reformation at work. John shows up with his wild-eyed social vision and suddenly all the cruel, malicious, and ungodly things the larger society had grown to tolerate and even accept were suddenly seen for what were. With John no more would liars, adulterers, those who exploit the poor and oppress the alien, and the religion which gave blessing to it all be stomached. With John the fullers’ soap would cleanse the moral conscience of the nation and a new code of ethics would be demanded. 

We are living now in an age of John the Baptist. In recent years our conscience been awakened to and deeply troubled by the economic disparities in our nation and world. We have been awakened to the sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse which have for so long been pervasive in the church and society. And we are now beginning to see how lies and false accusation in the public square have grown cancerous to the integrity of our most important social institutions. 

It is the age of John in which we are living; and John comes to us yet again with his refiner’s fire and fullers’ soap to cleanse and reform us once more. This is a sign which will be opposed by a strong minority — especially by the Herods of the world.  But it also be a sign which will be welcomed by the vast majority, and will eventually inaugurate a fundamental shift in the moral and ethical consciousness of the entire society. 

Like always, this current age of John will unsettle many things, leaving no person or institution untouched. This will terrify and exhilarate at the same time. And we will all ask with today’s Lesson from Malachi, “Who can endure the day of [John’s] coming, and who can stand when he appears?”  And the answer to that will be the ones who hear the prophet’s words at his coming and take them to heart: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  Or, as another translation might have them, “Change your consciousness, for the kin-dom of God’s vision for our world is knocking at the door.”