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The patron saint of our parish is Saint
John the Baptist. Our original church was built in 1889
following the April 22, 1889 Land Run which opened the Indian Territory to
settlers. Father Nicholas Scallan, working
in the territory at the time of the Land Run, asked four Catholic men to
build a Catholic Church in Edmond. Land was obtained on the southwest corner
of First and Boulevard and the church was built. The church was dedicated,
with a Mass, on June 24th, 1889, the feast of St. John the Baptist, thus making
St. John's the first church of any denomination to be built in the
Oklahoma state. more parish history...
Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest
of all those who had preceded him: “I tell you, among those born of
women, no one is greater than John....” But John would have agreed
completely with what Jesus added: “[Y]et the least in the kingdom of God
is greater than he” (Luke 7:28).
John spent his time in the desert, an ascetic. He began to announce the
coming of the Kingdom, and to call everyone to a fundamental reformation
of life.
His purpose was to prepare the way for Jesus. His Baptism, he said, was
for repentance. But One would come who would baptize with the Holy Spirit
and fire. John is not worthy even to carry his sandals. His attitude
toward Jesus was: “He must increase; I must decrease” (John 3:30).
John was humbled to find among the crowd of sinners who came to be
baptized the one whom he already knew to be the Messiah. “I need to be
baptized by you” (Matthew 3:14b). But Jesus insisted, “Allow it now, for
thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15b).
Jesus, true and humble human as well as eternal God, was eager to do what
was required of any good Jew. John thus publicly entered the community of
those awaiting the Messiah. But making himself part of that community, he
made it truly messianic.
The greatness of John, his pivotal place in the history of salvation, is
seen in the great emphasis Luke gives to the announcement of his birth and
the event itself—both made prominently parallel to the same occurrences in
the life of Jesus. John attracted countless people (“all Judea”) to the
banks of the Jordan, and it occurred to some people that he might be the
Messiah. But he constantly deferred to Jesus, even to sending away some of
his followers to become the first disciples of Jesus.
Perhaps John’s idea of the coming of the Kingdom of God was not being
perfectly fulfilled in the public ministry of Jesus. For whatever reason,
he sent his disciples (when he was in prison) to ask Jesus if he was the
Messiah. Jesus’ answer showed that the Messiah was to be a figure like
that of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah. John himself would share in the
pattern of messianic suffering, losing his life to the revenge of Herodias. |
