St. John the Baptist, the kinsman of Jesus and the son of the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, is the only saint other than the Virgin Mary whose birthday is celebrated by the Church in a liturgical feast. Other saints are remembered by the day of their death when they entered the kingdom of heaven.
Like the announcement of the birth of the Savior, St. John’s birth was announced by the archangel Gabriel (Dan 8:16; 9:21; Lk 1:19, 26). John’s father received the news of his son’s impending birth while he was serving in his priestly duties at the Temple in Jerusalem. Since the time of King David, the descendants of Aaron, who were the priests of the Sinai Covenant, were divided into twenty-four clans of priests (1 Chr 24:7-17 [8-18]). All the twenty-four clans served in the Temple during the celebrations of the three great pilgrim feasts: the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Weeks (which was also known in the Greek language as Pentecost), and the week-long Feast of Shelters (also called Tabernacles) (Ex 23:14-17; Deut 16:5-17; 2 Chr 8:13), but during ordinary time in the liturgical calendar, each priestly clan took turns serving in the Temple for one week from Sabbath to Sabbath. It was during the weekly course of the priestly clan of Abijah (1 Chr 24:11; Lk 1:5), when the priest Zechariah was chosen by the drawing of lots to be the one with the honor of lighting the golden Altar of Incense which stood in front of the Holy of Holies. This honor was probably a once-in-a-life-time event for a priest. It was the during the daily Tamid service (Ex 29:38-42; Num 28:4-10; Sir 50:1-21), when the designated priest lights the golden Altar of Incense with coals from the sacrificial alter and prepares to burn the sacred incense (Ex 30:1-9), that the angel suddenly approached Zechariah: Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense (Lk 1:8-11).
The angel boldly announced to the elderly priest that God had heard his prayers, and he and his barren wife would become the parents of a son. The angel instructed the terrified Zechariah that he was to name this child Yohanan (John), which means “Yahweh is gracious” in Hebrew. Then the angel told Zechariah that the child would be filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb, and his life would be dedicated entirely to God’s service in the spirit of the great prophet Elijah (Lk 1:13-17).
When Zechariah protested in disbelief, the angel silenced the priest’striking him dumb and telling him that his inability to speak would continue until the birth of the child. However, just before silencing Zechariah, the angel revealed his name: And the angel answered him, I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God (Lk 1:19). The revelation of the name of the angel was all Zechariah needed, coupled with the reference to the prophet Elijah, to understand the significance of the birth of his son and the promise of the Anointed One who was to follow. This was the same angel who revealed the coming of “the end” to the prophet Daniel (Dan 8:16) and prophesied to Daniel, at the time of the afternoon* Tamid sacrifice (Dan 9:21), the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah (Dan 9:25-26). All the promises of the prophets concerning the coming of the Messiah and the events that would announce His coming must have filled the mind of the old priest. According to the prophet Malachi, it would be in the spirit of the prophet Elijah that one chosen by God would be sent to herald the coming of the Messiah (Mal 3:1-5; 4:5-6 [3:23-24]). Zechariah now understood that his son was the one who was promised to prepare the covenant people to receive their Messiah-king who would come to fulfill the promises made to the Patriarchs and to establish and everlasting Davidic kingdom of the New Israel (Gen 12:1-3; 28:14; 2 Sam 7:16; Dan 2:44).
According to the Tradition of the Church, John, the last of the Old Testament prophets, was born June the 24th circa 3/2 BC. He was thirty years old when he began his mission to call the covenant people to a baptism (ritual purification) of repentance in order to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah and the promised “new covenant” (Jer 31:31-34). St. Luke recorded that John was thirty years old in the fifteenth year of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea (26 – 36 AD). The Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar died on the 19th of August in 14 AD. He was succeeded by his adopted step-son Tiberius. The fifteenth year of Tiberius’ reign therefore was from the 19th of August 28 AD to the 19th of August 29 AD. Thirty years earlier gives the date of 3/2 BC (depending upon whether the year is counted from the liturgical year in the spring or the civil year in the fall). Scripture tells us that John was six months older than Jesus (Lk 1:36-37). Since the early fourth century AD the Church has celebrated Jesus’ birthday in a special Christ-Mass on December the 25th and St. John’s birthday six months earlier on June the 24th.
*The “afternoon” Tamid service was an “evening” service for the Old Covenant people; the lamb was sacrificed at the ninth hour (3PM: Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 14.4.3) and the liturgical service ended at about the eleventh hour (5PM). The next day began at sundown and therefore from noon onwards until sundown the day descended into evening.