The Nativity of John the Baptist: A Rookie Anglican Guide
In preparing to write on the Nativity of John the Baptist, I found relatively few readily available materials. And that seems fitting. John’s nativity rarely receives extended meditation and reflection. After all, he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
Yet between the Magnificat in Luke 1 and Christ’s birth in Luke 2 comes the Baptist’s birth, and it holds great riches. Likewise, John’s life offers a treasure chest of meditation and help for the Christian life.
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The Origin of the Feast
First, let’s briefly consider how this Holy Day (a “Red Letter Day” in our tradition) came to be. The Church celebrates the Baptist’s birthday on June 24, precisely six months before our Lord’s nativity on December 25. Scripture gives the reason, even if the actual date of Christ’s birth remains uncertain. At the Annunciation—celebrated on March 25—the angel Gabriel told Mary, “Behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren” (Luke 1:36). Six months plus three months brings us, as expected, to June 24.
Ancient and medieval Christians also saw a parallel in the midsummer timing of John’s birth. They connected John’s arrival with the Summer Solstice—the day of maximum sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere. John was that “burning and shining lamp” (John 5:35), yet his light remained penultimate: preparatory and momentary. Like the summer sun after the Solstice, John’s light appears and quickly fades.
Still, his brief light shines. Let’s consider the treasure chest of John the Baptist’s birth and ministry. The Collect of the Day, found on page 629 of The Book of Common Prayer (2019), will guide us:
Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent, boldly rebuke vice, patiently suffer for the sake of truth, and proclaim the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
“Wonderfully Born”
First, the day’s collect calls John “wonderfully born.”
The Visitation between Elizabeth and Mary tells us that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb (Luke 1:39-40). Even there, John announces another birth. His love for the Savior’s conception and birth has made him a unique icon of life. The reader may know that the feast day of the Nativity of John the Baptist coincides with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade and the resulting protection for unborn life. Many Christians dedicated to the sanctity of life, after persevering in prayer for so long, saw a living connection in this. Deacon Georgette Forney, writing on behalf of Anglicans for Life, put it this way:
Now, we are good apostolic Christians. We believe in the communion of saints. We believe that St. John is still praying for us and praying with us in this cause for life.
As I’ve already mentioned, Roe vs. Wade was overturned on St. John’s Feast Day. So as good apostolic Christians, we are always looking back. We look at history and we see God’s providential hand moving in history. When the whole Christian world saw what had happened on St. John’s Day, we collectively said, “Hey, he’s still praying for us!”
“Icon Dedication,” Anglicans For Life, accessed June 19, 2026, https://anglicansforlife.org/icon-dedication/.
So John the Baptist, in his wonderful birth, stands as an icon of life. In fact, the Church liturgically remembers the earthly birth—rather than death—of only three people: the Virgin Mary, Our Lord himself, and John.
He “Prepared the Way… That We May Truly Repent”
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 1:4
We may say that the first and last word of John’s ministry was this: “Repent.” John’s purpose was to present to the Lord a people ready for the Messiah. He stands as the hinge of the Old and New Testaments and fulfills the prophets’ call:
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
Mark 1:2-3
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.’”
St. Augustine of Hippo saw John as the opening of a great but temporary Voice, set against the lasting permanence of the Word, Christ Jesus. He also delighted in the contrast between John’s proclamation and Zechariah’s silence after he doubted Gabriel’s words:
This is the opening of Zacharias’ voice at John’s birth, just as it is the tearing of the veil at Christ’s crucifixion. If John were announcing himself, Zacharias’ mouth would not open… John is a voice for a time, Christ is the eternal Word in the beginning… The sound of the voice has served its purpose, and has passed away, as if it were saying: This joy of mine is fulfilled. Let us hold on to the word, let us not lose the word deeply conceived.
Augustine of Hippo, “Sermons – Sermon 293: On the Birthday of John the Baptist,” SermonIndex.
And what did this voice cry? Repentance. Today, repentance remains the groundwork of the authentic Christian life. Without repentance, we cannot hold onto the Word of Life, Jesus our Lord.
“Boldly Rebuke Vice”
Then comes the Baptist’s rebuke of sin. The collect primarily has John’s rebuke of Herod’s marriage to Herodias in mind (Matthew 14:1-12). Here, John models how to rebuke well. John Henry Newman, writing in the 19th century, takes up this theme in his sermon “Rebuking Sin”:
St. John the Baptist had a most difficult office to fulfill; that of rebuking a king. Not that it is difficult for a man of rude arrogant mind to say a harsh thing to men in power,—nay, rather, it is a gratification to such a one; but it is difficult to rebuke well, that is, at a right time, in a right spirit, and a right manner. The Holy Baptist rebuked Herod without making him angry; therefore he must have rebuked him with gravity, temper, sincerity, and an evident good-will towards him. On the other hand, he spoke so firmly, sharply, and faithfully, that his rebuke cost him his life.
John Henry Newman, “Sermon 24: Rebuking Sin,” in Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. 2 (1843; repr., National Institute for Newman Studies, 2007), Newman Reader. Emphasis added.
Newman goes on to say that in his own day—long before social media—pamphleteers loved to write anonymous rebukes to avoid retaliation from those they criticized. But God’s Prophet took another path. His rebuke was honest, open, and aimed at the good of the one criticized. Though we do not share John the Baptist’s exact mission, Newman draws a parallel to the Christian:
The single-hearted Christian will find fault, not austerely or gloomily, but in love; not stiffly, but naturally, gently, and as a matter of course, just as he would tell his friend of some obstacle in his path which was likely to throw him down, but without any absurd feeling of superiority over him, because he was able to do so. His feeling is, “I have done a good office to you, and you must in turn serve me.”
Newman, “Rebuking Sin.”
“Patiently Suffer for the Sake of the Truth”
John suffered patiently in at least two ways: through the decline of his ministry and through imprisonment by Herod.
In his day, John the Baptist was something of a celebrity. St. Matthew tells us that “Jerusalem and all Judea” went out to be baptized by him, “confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:5-6). Yet the Baptist is the antithesis of the celebrity pastor. When asked about his ministry’s purpose, he does not obfuscate, people-please, or tickle ears. He does not think more highly of himself than he ought. And when his disciples leave to follow Christ, he gladly releases them. John is the first in the Gospels to announce Christ’s identity: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” (John 1:29). This is the sum of his ministry: pointing. And when that pointing has its effect, he gladly recedes:
And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered … [T]his joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John 3:26-27, 29-30
Second, when Herod imprisons John for his rebuke, John continues his downward descent in faithfulness. In Matthew 11, John sends his disciples to ask Jesus “if he is the one to come” (Matthew 11:3). The Church Fathers tended to read this question as a challenge to John’s disciples, meant to resolve their doubts about Jesus. The Reformation tradition tends to read it as John’s honest question: “I’m in prison. You’re the Messiah. What’s the deal?”
Whatever reading we take, the result remains the same: John is faithful. He walks the long road of obedience, step by bloody step. He bends the knee to God’s permissive will. Martyrdom seals John’s faithful witness. Our Lord’s commendation of his cousin John says it best: “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11).
“Proclaim the Coming”
Readers may know C.S. Lewis’s essay “The World’s Last Night,” in which he helps his modern audience understand faithful living in light of Christ’s Second Coming. Throughout the essay, he interrupts his own narrative with the question, “But what if he came back tonight?” In this way, Lewis repeatedly brings his audience back to one question: What is the condition of my soul today?
In many ways, John the Baptist had the same calling. John arrests all who hear him—and still hear him—with God’s urgent call. His singular focus is to impress upon his hearers the weight of the present moment in light of the Messiah’s nearness. In the womb, he alerts the world to Christ’s presence. In life, he faithfully announces the Messiah’s nearness. In death, he proclaims the presence and worth of a greater Kingdom to come.
Likewise, though we do not know the date of Christ’s return, we know this: it is the next item on God’s agenda. The date has been circled, and it is, always and everywhere, soon. May we join John the Baptist in proclaiming our Lord’s coming and heed that call ourselves.
Image: The Nativity of John the Baptist, Tornobuoni Chapel, by Domenico Ghirlandaio and workshop, 1485–1490. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Digitally edited by Jacob Davis.
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