 The Rt Rev Jack L Iker, SSC, Bishop The Rev Mark A Stockstill, SSC, Vicar Office 325.356.2997 Vicarage 325.356.2198 Cell 325.330.2411 mstockstill@fwepiscopal.org |
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John the Baptist was the son of Zachary, a priest of the Temple in
Jerusalem, and Elizabeth, a kinswoman of Mary who visited her. He was
probably born at Ain-Karim southwest of Jerusalem after the Angel Gabriel
had told Zachary that his wife would bear a child even though she was an old
woman. He lived as a hermit in the desert of Judea until about A.D. 27. When
he was thirty, he began to preach on the banks of the Jordan against the
evils of the times and called men to penance and baptism "for the Kingdom of
Heaven is close at hand". He attracted large crowds, and when Christ came to
him, John recognized Him as the Messiah and baptized Him, saying, "It is I
who need baptism from You". When Christ left to preach in Galilee, John
continued preaching in the Jordan valley. Fearful of his great power with
the people, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Perea and Galilee, had him arrested
and imprisoned at Machaerus Fortress on the Dead Sea when John denounced his
adultrous and incestuous marriage with Herodias, wife of his half brother
Philip. John was beheaded at the request of Salome, daughter of Herodias,
who asked for his head at the instigation of her mother. John inspired many
of his followers to follow Christ when he designated Him "the Lamb of God,"
among them Andrew and John, who came to know Christ through John's
preaching. John is presented in the New Testament as the last of the Old
Testament prophets and the precursor of the Messiah. His feast day is June
24th and the feast for his beheading is August 29th.