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Saint John the Baptist is one of those figures in the Bible where we only hear from him for just a little bit, and sometimes that’s the case in the kingdom of God. People are being prepared for a long period of time for a relatively short time on the stage; but what they do on that stage has repercussions into eternity and affects all of us. John is one of those characters. In the Gospel reading in Luke chapter 1, we hear about the birth of John in a little town outside of Jerusalem today called Ein Karem, and it talks about the naming of John. Nobody in his family had that name, but his father said that, basically, that’s the name he’s going to get. But what I want to draw your attention to is the way the Gospel reading ends; it ends by saying, “He was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.”
And so, when we find John the Baptist coming on the scene with the baptism of Jesus, we know that for many years prior to that, he was in the desert, in the quiet, in the still, out of the spotlights. CNN, Fox, and all the other channels didn’t even interview him. But what was he doing? He was being prepared for something special. Maybe that’s your story. Maybe you don’t feel like you’re on the frontlines all the time, but God wants to use you in a special way. Preparation is the name of the game in this week’s readings as you listen to the story of John the Baptist. Being out in the desert for all those years and coming on the main stage for a relatively short period of time, we’re reminded of what Isaiah says in the very first reading, Isaiah 49:1-6: “Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The Lord called me from birth; from my mother’s womb, He gave me my name.” Sounds like John the Baptist, doesn’t it? “Called me from birth, gave me a name.” “He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow; in his quiver, he hid me. You are my servant,” He said to me, “Israel, through whom I show my glory.” I want to isolate that one phrase: “He made me a polished arrow; in his quiver, he hid me.”
Now, of course, a quiver is the place made out of leather where you would store the arrows before you would shoot them. The idea is that you would make arrows and then they would be stored in the quiver, waiting for just the right time. And that’s what we see in John the Baptist, who, as the scripture says, “was in the desert” quiver “until the day of his manifestation to Israel.” The arrow is in the quiver until the master needs that arrow, and I want to challenge you as I’m challenging myself this week: Are you a polished arrow in the quiver of the Lord? There’s a process to becoming a polished arrow. It starts with a stick. The first thing you have to do is take off all of the rough edges. You have to have everything on that stick pointing to a head, which is Christ. If our lives are focused on Jesus and everything in our life is sanded down and polished to conform to the head, we will be that arrow that God is calling us to be. But there’s more: Not only is there a fine polishing, but we also know that there are feathers, the cresting, the feathers at the end, which, by the way, are taken from only one side of the bird. And what do those feathers do? They ensure accurate flight. That’s the Holy Spirit who comes alongside us and leads us and guides us. We have the notch where the bow fits into the back of the arrow. Something interesting: years ago, I talked to a man who is a master arrow maker, and he said, “The most critical point,” even the markings are important. It’s a sign of who you belong to, who that arrow belongs to. But he said, “The most important point,” the two points, actually, are: number one, that arrow must be flexible. If it’s too stiff, it can go off in one direction; too flexible, off in another direction. There must be a balance to our lives.” But he said, “You’ll never know if an arrow is really going to do the job until you take the power from the string of the bow and it hits that arrow. If it is not made properly, it will crumble, it’ll explode, but if it can withstand the transference of power from the bow, you have a good arrow.”
I want to encourage you today to focus on being that polished arrow in the quiver of the Lord because one day you just might feel His hand on your life, and even if it’s for a relatively small period of time, the repercussions from your faithfulness can be very, very great. Right now in your life, it might be the raising of your children. It might be your grandchildren at some point. It might be something at work, but God wants to use you, and our job today is to prepare as John was prepared in the wilderness, in the wilderness until the manifestation to Israel.
Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church 