The Gospel for Wednesday of the fourth week of Advent is taken from Luke 1:67, 79 Zechariah, his father filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has come to his people to set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Savior born of the house of his servant David. Through his prophets he promised of old that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us. He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. This was the oath he swore to our Father Abraham to set us free from the hand of our enemies, free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all, all the days of our life. You, my child, shall be called the Prophet of the Most High.

For you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our God. The dawn from on high shall break upon us to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. This passage gives us a keen insight into what it means to be a prophet, to prophesy. As you listen to this, you wonder, how did Zechariah know that this would be the ministry of John? John’s ministry was so unusual, so radically different.

But it does imply that the Holy Spirit does reveal to people things they can’t fully understand yet, and yet they are assigned to all of us of a message that is coming not just from humans, but from the Holy Spirit, who is working through human beings, accomplishing the task of bringing salvation to the world. After your reflection, I will close with a prayer. Foreign. Closing prayer Father the beauty of a ministry like John the Baptist was to break with the old and introduce the new. It never ceases to be necessary. Always we’re called to renew our understanding from what we’ve been told to what we now know through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Bless us with the capacity to change. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.