FRANKLY SPEAKING
by Frank Crocitto

Through this continuing meditation upon the life of John the Baptist, I urge you—in these times when hollow and grasping men are celebrated—to remember and emulate greatness. —Frank Crocitto

While the life and being of John the Baptist may have been a mystery to some, its significance was clear to his cousin, Jesus, who praised him and his mission to the gathered multitude in these ringing words:

“What did you go out in the desert to behold?
A reed waving in the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
A man wearing expensive clothes?
The people who live high and wrap themselves
in luxury are promenading in their palaces.
But really, what did you go out to see?
A prophet? Yes, indeed! Yes, I tell you!
And far more than a prophet!
John is the man about whom it is written:
‘Look, I am sending a messenger of mine
before thy face,
And he shall make ready thy way before thee.’
I tell you this—among all of those ever born of woman
there’s none greater than John!”

John stood for something and never wavered. He was a solid entity whose every manifestation was in line with his purpose, down to the clothes he wore. As a prophet his mission was to rouse people out of their stupor, out of their fascination with irrelevancies, out of their aimlessness, and to open themselves to a new world. This he did. But he did more: he stepped into a prophetic future and became the means to get it going. He marks the end of one era as well as the beginning of the next.

Because John knew his aim and purpose and kept to it, his life had a completeness, an integration. From his first recorded pre-birth act (leaping for joy in the womb of his mother when Jesus, also unborn, came near); to his shrinking into the background when Jesus stepped into the limelight (“He must grow greater,” he declared, “but I must grow less”); to his quiet submission to Herod’s executioner’s axe, John journeyed through his life as if he were walking with a light through a dark, pre-hewn tunnel.

A life like John’s is like a crystal that can be turned and examined facet by facet. Through a slow, contemplative turning, the inherent meaning and beauty of the life stands revealed.

There is a diagram that has been popularized and bastardized in recent years called the enneagram. Because it presents at a glance the whole of a process, with its interconnected dynamic of inner forces as well as the major impulses that initiate and sustain it, the enneagram is an invaluable tool for illuminating any real process.

The form of the enneagram presents the inextricable blending of two essential laws. The numbers along the circumference express the chronological sequence of The Baptist’s life. The key points in the life appear as an octave and receive the syllables Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si. The points on the triangle mark the entry of energy that support the progress of the octave. The inner lines trace an unseen inner flow of force through points 1-4-2-8-5-7.

At 9 DO His Conception
The circumstances surrounding John’s entry into the stream of time are highly charged—with drama and flutterings of the supernatural: living in Judaea during the Roman occupation and the reign of the unstable King Herod is an elderly, childless and God-fearing couple—Zechariah, a priest, and his wife, Elizabeth. While Zechariah is officiating at the Temple, an angel appears informing him that his barren wife, though aged, is to bear a son and that this son—to be named John—is destined to be a prophet who will usher in a new age. Zechariah’s dubious response to the angelic announcement results in his being struck dumb.

At 1 RE The Foreshadowing
While John is still in his mother Elizabeth’s womb, she receives a visit from her cousin Mary of Nazareth, in Galilee, who also is carrying a newly-conceived child. This child, too, has been heralded by an angel, and is to be named Jesus. As a sign of the bond and future relationship between the two unborn babes John leaps for joy in his mother’s womb.

At 2 MI His Birth
In recognition of the blessed and miraculous nature of John’s birth, all their neighbors and kinsfolk rejoice with the elderly couple. Eight days later, at the child’s circumcision, he is given his proper name, at which time Zechariah’s speech returns. This second miracle sets the well wishers to wondering what sort of extraordinary destiny awaits the babe.

At 3 His Commission
So John grows up and becomes strong in spirit and in due time goes into the desert. There, in that breeding ground and school for prophets, the word of God comes to John. He receives and accepts his prophetic commission—to herald and pave the way for the Great One who is to come, the Messiah.

At 4 FA The Mission
John, fearless and fiery, begins his mission by the Jordan River warning his listeners to change their ways and prepare themselves for the One to come and His Kingdom. To those who submit he gives a good, cleansing dunk into the Jordan. Pharisees and Sadducees come, the officially religious; soldiers come, too; and tax collectors, Rome’s revenue service; and so does his imperturbable cousin, Jesus. John feels confident that Jesus is the Messiah whose coming he has been heralding.

At 5 SOL The Confrontation
Filled with holy fire, John embarks upon the course that enables him to fade out of the picture. He confronts King Herod and unrelentingly denounces him for all his deeds, particularly for his incestuous marriage to his brother’s wife. The confrontation foreshadows the clash that Jesus himself will have later with the religious establishment in Jerusalem.

At 6 The Imprisonment
Unable to withstand the embarrassment and humiliation of John’s public criticisms, the vain, corrupt, maniacal King Herod “the Great” arrests the prophet and claps him into a dungeon.

At 7 LA The Confirmation
In prison, foreseeing his imminent end, an uncertain and desperate John sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus to confirm that he is indeed the one who is to come. Jesus assures his cousin that he has fulfilled his mission by pointing out the obvious:
“Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are purified, deaf persons hear, the dead are awakened and the poor have the Good News proclaimed to them.”

At 8 SI His Death
During a royal feast a well-soused King Herod becomes so aroused by his step-daughter Salome’s dancing that he vows to reward her with whatever she wishes. At her mother’s instigation Salome asks for the head of the Baptist. Herod, bound by his publicly proclaimed word, acquiesces. Thus John is executed and joins the pantheon of slain prophets. His head is delivered to the palace on a platter.

Finally, there is a point at the center of the enneagram that signifies the axis of its meaning. Though few of John the Baptist’s utterances were recorded, there is one that stands out as the axis of his being out of which his whole life unfolds, and because of its simple, profound truthfulness still resonates with those who are awakening:

“A man cannot achieve anything unless it has been granted to him from Heaven.”