"And thou, Child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest": the Benedictus and acknowledging the Forerunner

The whole of the hymn, however, having been uttered upon a peculiar occasion, and under extraordinary circumstances, and the latter part being addressed to the infant Baptist in particular, and referring solely to his immediate office, it is seldom read after the second Lesson. In its place therefore with the greatest propriety, we generally use the hundredth psalm, called Jubilate Deo.

So said John Shepherd, in his 1796 A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England, of the Benedictus. Secker, in his mid-18th century Six Sermons on the Liturgy of the Church of England, admitted that "we use the more frequently" the Jubilate rather than the Benedictus.  Part of the reason for this was precisely because the Benedictus "was uttered on the birth of John the Baptist", necessitating this note from Secker:

The people, in repeating it, should remember, that the words, "And thou, Child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest," belong, not to our Saviour, but to the Baptist. 

I confess that Secker's warning has more than occasionally crossed my when leading Matins and using the Benedictus; although I also tend to much more frequently use the Jubilate when leading Matins. This eve of Saint John Baptist's Day, however, is an appropriate occasion on which to consider afresh the Benedictus and its celebration of "the Prophet of the Highest".

The witness of the Gospels is that the proclamation of Jesus Christ must necessarily include John the Baptist:

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea - Matthew 3:1; 

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee - Mark 1:1-2;

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias - Luke 1:5; 

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John - John 1:6.

This reflects the earliest apostolic proclamation, which the Acts of the Apostles echoes in its accounts:

Beginning from the baptism of John - Acts 1:22; 

That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached - Acts 10:37;

When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel - Acts 13:24;

John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus - Acts 19:4.

In other words, the particularity of the Benedictus, its celebration of the birth of the Forerunner and his ministry as "the Prophet of the Lord", draws us into a significant and prominent theme inherent to the Gospels and the early apostolic proclamation. 

In addition to this, and closely related to it, in celebrating "the Prophet of the Lord", the Benedictus also brings us to recall how those who recognised John as the Prophet were particularly drawn to confess Jesus as the Christ:

Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus - John 1:35-37;

And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John - Acts 18:24-25;

And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism - Acts 19:1-3.

In the words of the Benedictus, therefore, we enter into the Gospel accounts and their insistence that acknowledgement of the Forerunner is an inherent part of the proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth; we echo the earliest apostolic proclamation and its recognition of John's place in the story of Jesus; and we recall that the communities which had gathered around John, and preserved his memory and teaching, were among those who  Jesus as the Christ.  

This points to the significance the Benedictus can have at Matins.  If it is entirely excluded from Matins - if it is not used regularly in daily prayer and at least occasionally at Sunday Matins - the liturgy is deprived of an acknowledgement of the Forerunner, whose prominent place in the history of salvation is clearly witnessed to in the Gospels and in Acts. We then lose something of how the rhythms of the daily office root us in key readings of the Scriptures as, when, for example the Jubilate at Matins and Cantate Domino at Evensong unite us to the praises and hopes of Israel, fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.

On this eve of Saint John Baptist's Day, therefore, may we receive the Benedictus with fresh gratitude, rejoicing in "the Prophet of the Highest", "wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy Son, our Saviour".

One last point is also worth mentioning. The Benedictus is, of course, the most obvious and explicit acknowledgement of the Forerunner at Matins. Alongside this, however, there can be another, admittedly less explicit, acknowledgement of John at Matins and Evensong. Amongst the penitential sentences, at the opening of Morning and Evening Prayer, is Matthew 3:2, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". These are not the words of Our Lord but of the Baptist. Their use is another means of recognising the place of the Forerunner and his teaching in the Church's confession and prayer.