John the Baptist and Joyful Hope
AM Psalm 119:145-176 • PM Psalm 128, 129, 130
Micah 2:1-13 • Acts 23:23-35 • Luke 7:18-35
I often like the idea of poetry more than poetry itself. For as much poetry as I’ve read, there are few lines that really stand out to me, or move me, in the way people often think of poetry doing. In prepping for this Morning Reflection, with a gospel reading about John the Baptist in jail, I looked to a familiar source for helping interpret scripture in a more quiet, contemplative way, through the monk Thomas Merton. Again, much of his poetry is not for me, but when it’s good, it’s really good. What follows now is the last stanza for a poem he wrote entitled “The Quickening of St John the Baptist”:
“Cooled in the flame of God’s dark fire
Washed in His gladness like a vesture of new flame
We burn like eagles in His invincible awareness
And bound and bounce with happiness,
Leap in the womb, our cloud, our faith, our element,
Our contemplation, our anticipated heaven,
Till Mother Church sings like an Evangelist.”
The poem contemplates the moment John the Baptist, in the womb of Elizabeth, encounters Christ while being carried in the womb of Mary, and the leap of joy John gave when meeting the Lord. Bridging that moment with the gospel reading, we have John imprisoned, waiting for death, and doubting. He wasn’t looking to be spared from imprisonment and death; he was hoping that what he was dying for was worthwhile. His hope become buttressed by the those who sang like an evangelist – “the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them” (Luke 7:22). Through love, the good news comes for everyone. Whether contained in the womb or in prison, John was continually called to love by the joyful hope of the gospel, a hope that hold us all in birth, life, and death, when we listen for it.
Written by Nathan John Haydon
Nathan earned his Ph.D. in English studying medieval literature and languages from the University of Arkansas. He’s an Episcopal priest, adjunct professor, Benedictine oblate, and a lover of cats and coffee. In 2021 he moved from Fayetteville, Arkansas to St. Louis with his super smart scientist wife, Kathryn.