St. John the Baptist Worshipful Master - My Brethren: Erected to God and dedicated to the Holy Sts. John. Again we go through the ritual of remembering that we are guided as men and Masons by the Sts. John. In December, we reflected upon what it meant to be guided by St. John the Apostle. As the 24 th of June approaches, we now look at St. John the Baptist. While we commonly refer to this Doctor of the Church as the Baptist, there is evidence that a more proper title may be the forerunner or precursor. Who was this man who started life as the son of Zachary, a high priest, and Elizabeth, the aunt of Mary who was the mother of Jesus? Who was this man whose life was ended by being beheaded and having his head served on a platter at a vicious celebration of unbridled power and rash judgments? First, what does the name John signify? The Aramaic name Jehohannan means Jahweh has mercy. God has mercy. John reminds us that it is our duty, as ones made in God s image, to have mercy. When we hear the name John, it must remind us that our duty, as men, is to recognize, first, that we are creatures whose divine destiny is to be merciful. The quality of mercy is not strained. Secondly, John is described as one who lived a very ascetic life. He did not participate in parties, and celebrate through eating and drinking. This is in contrast to the life of Jesus who was known to be one who enjoyed the pleasures of life. The point is to remind us that there is diversity in the way 1
each of us views life and that difference does not make one of us better than the other. It also cautions us to be very careful by getting hung up on the moralism of external matters. These are not the things that are of importance to living a life in concert with our Creator. So what did St. John the Baptist stand for? As I have offered in previous reflections, the core of St. John the Baptist s message is that each of us must always challenge public immorality. His head was served upon a platter because he would not stop challenging the public abuse of power by those in authority, specifically Herod Antipas. He teaches us that if we do not challenge the unbridled power of government agents or officials, our virtue, as men and creations of the Almighty, is compromised. Indeed, he reminds us that we will often suffer for this, it is our duty and our right to challenge such abuse of power wherever it occurs. St. John also communicates at least four additional requirements if we are to live in harmony with the nature which the Creator put in us, as ones created in his image. First, he challenges us to avoid the practices of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who wanted to be praised and rewarded for their pietistic practices. He warns us that all sectarianism which professes a self-righteousness, to have the way, the truth, and the light, is a front for hypocrisy, that is a front to hide the desire of one person to exercise unprivileged control over another - the root of all evil. Indeed, the love of power, often represented by the love of money, is the root of all evil. Secondly, he warns us against the self-righteousness of privilege. He 2
warns us not to forget that to whom much is given, much is required. As men and Masons we are privileged. We cannot become self-righteous and believe that we somehow deserve this privilege without responsibility. No, our lodge is built on the principle of charity. We must give our second cloak to one who has none. Thirdly, he warns us against trusting in national privilege. Patriotism in its real sense is not blind allegiance to power. We must never succumb to abuse of unbridled patriotism. He admonished the agents of government to only require of citizens that which government had a legitimate right to expect. Excessive intrusion into the lives of citizens through excessive taxation or personal intrusion or regulation must be challenged. Lastly, he stressed to us that our ordinary state of life is our divine purpose. This ordinary state of life is one which is characterized by faithfulness to God as characterized by faithfulness to our fellow man. This is manifest through honesty and dependability in the fulfillment of all our duties. We are not men of excuses, but men of honesty, dependability, and humility. We are men who recognize that all of us fall short of our best selves, and sin each day. We accept the sin of our neighbor, we confess our own sin, and move on with humility and persistence. These lessons of St. John the Baptist are relevant today. We live in a time when the big lie is accepted. I believe that there is more self-righteous fundamentalist sectarianism operating today than at any other point in my lifetime. Public abuse of office has become a joke. The newspapers and 3
electronic media carry stories of public theft, fraud, and abuse of power every day. We, as men and masons, must not follow blindly these false prophets. What is our life focus if we are to learn from St. John? First, we must recognize the evil of self-righteousness in ourselves and others. When a politician espouses his great virtue and the lack of virtue of his opponent, we must recognize and not buy the big lie. When we, the wealthy, scream about having to share too great a portion of our wealth, we must remember the maxim of progressive responsibility for the common good as independent means increases. We will refrain from engaging in moralistic judgmental arguments reflective of sectarian positions. We men, as masons, must be about the business of bearing good fruit. The St. John fires, lit on June 24, remind us to be about practicing charity, rooting out of our lives self-righteousness, blind nationalism, selfishness, greed, and pietism. The fires should burn from our lives these false goals of the great deluder. As we recognize that life was not easy for St. John the Baptist, the life lived in accordance with the highest principles of our Creator, and masonry, will not be easy. We must confront the evil in ourselves and in our society. Evil, ugliness, in our hands, through our efforts must be turned to good and beauty. We, as Speculative Masons, living stones, are human temples erected to God and dedicated to the Holy Sts. John. When the world looks at us, what do they see? Do we reflect those qualities of this saint who martyred his life to fight evil in this world? Are we humble, charitable, modest, and frugal? Do we disassociate 4
ourselves from the self-righteous, the pious, the vengeful, and the gaudy? Are our lives those that reflect the speculative use of the square, compass, and level? If we are dedicated to St. John the Baptist, our lives will be powered by the Holy Bible. We will meet on the level with all men. Our passions will be circumscribed by the compass of modesty and charity. We will part from each transaction with any man, especially a brother, having squared our actions in such a way as to promote peace and brotherhood. Lord have mercy on me, a sinner. We then can say that we are dedicated to at least one of the Holy Sts. John. Thank you, Worshipful Master, for the privilege of reflecting on the lessons of St. John the Baptist with the brethren. James A. Taylor, J.D., Ph.D., P.M. 5