13 December 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God.” Luke 1:63–64
The third Sunday of Annunciation celebrates a birth: John the Baptist. Elizabeth's neighbours and relatives hear “that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.” When the child is to be named, Elizabeth insists: “He is to be called John”, a name meaning “God has been gracious”. Zechariah, mute for nine months, writes it on a tablet, and at once his tongue is freed and he praises God.
The Old Testament readings prepare us. Abraham welcomes three mysterious visitors under the oaks of Mamre and hears the promise: “Your wife Sarah shall have a son.” The wife of Manoah, barren, is told by the angel that she will bear Samson, consecrated to God from birth, who “shall begin to deliver Israel.” These births are signs that God himself is preparing salvation. John is the last and greatest of them: the forerunner, consecrated from the womb, who will prepare the way of the Lord.
Paul speaks of “the mystery of Christ… that the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body.” He calls himself “the very least of all the saints”, yet entrusted with proclaiming “the boundless riches of Christ.” Like John, Paul's greatness lies in pointing to Christ.
The question of the crowd is ours: “What then will this child become?” Every child is a promise from God. Our families and parishes must help each child discover the hand of the Lord upon him or her. And Zechariah reminds us: when we finally obey God's word, our tongue is freed for praise.
Theme: “His name is John: God has been gracious.”
The birth of John the Baptist, prepared by the promises to Abraham and the birth of Samson.
“Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.” Genesis 18:10
“Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.” Luke 1:57–58
Apply: Welcome a guest or stranger with generosity this week.
“For you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” Judges 13:5
“All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.” Luke 1:66
Apply: Bless your children each night this week.
“The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me.” Isaiah 49:1
“He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God.” Luke 1:63–64
Apply: End each day's silence with a prayer of praise.
God is gracious; that is the meaning of this season.
Let us bless our children and praise the Lord.
Take-home resolution: Pray the Benedictus (Luke 1:68–79) each morning until Christmas.
Dear brothers and sisters, today we celebrate a birth. After long years of waiting, Elizabeth gives birth to a son, and her neighbours rejoice with her because the Lord has shown his great mercy.
The Old Testament readings show us that this is not the first time. Abraham, sitting at his tent in the heat of the day, welcomes three visitors and hears that Sarah will have a son. The barren wife of Manoah hears that she will bear Samson, consecrated to God. God's plan of salvation moves forward through children born by his grace.
At the naming, the relatives want to call the child Zechariah. Elizabeth says, “No; he is to be called John.” And Zechariah, who could not speak for nine months, writes: “His name is John.” Immediately his tongue is freed and he praises God. When we finally obey God's word, we too begin to praise.
“John” means “God has been gracious.” That is the message of this whole season. Christmas is not first our achievement; it is God's grace. And the people ask: “What then will this child become?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
Every child in our families is such a promise. Let us bless our children, pray for them, and help them discover the hand of the Lord upon them. And let us, like Zechariah, open our mouths in praise, for God has been gracious to us. Amen.
Children, when a baby is born, everyone is happy, right? When John the Baptist was born, all the neighbours came to celebrate!
His dad Zechariah couldn't talk for nine months. But when he wrote “His name is John”, suddenly he could talk again, and he praised God!
Your name is special too, and God has a plan for you. Say together: “Thank you, God, for my name and my life!”
Lord God, faithful to your promises, you gave Zechariah and Elizabeth a son and named him John, for you are gracious. Bless the children of our families, lay your hand upon them, and free our tongues to praise you. Amen.
This Sunday of the season of Annunciation celebrates a birth: John the Baptist. Three of the four readings tell of children given to women who could not hope for them: Sarah in Genesis, the wife of Manoah in Judges, and Elizabeth in Luke. Each time God's promise comes first, and the child arrives as pure gift, with a task for the whole people. In between stands Paul, who like John exists to point to someone else: the mystery of Christ, now open to all the nations. The line runs from a tent at Mamre to a tablet in Zechariah's hand, and its key words are welcome, promise and name.
Setting.
Abraham lives as a stranger in Canaan. God promised him descendants long ago (12:2; 15:5), and has just repeated that Sarah herself will bear the son (17:15–21). Abraham is ninety-nine and Sarah ninety (17:17, 24). Mamre is near Hebron, in the southern hills of Canaan. The story is told with a storyteller's care, and it leaves open a question which the reader only slowly understands: who are these three men?
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.” (18:1)
The narrator tells the reader what Abraham does not yet know. He thinks he is receiving passing travellers.
“He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.” (18:3)
Here it is the host who begs a favour of the guest. Compare Luke 24:28–29, where two disciples urge a stranger to stay.
“Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.”” (18:10)
The promise comes at the end of a meal, and Sarah overhears it behind the tent door. Just after the reading she laughs, and the Lord asks: “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” (18:14). The Greek of that verse is echoed by the angel's word to Mary in Luke 1:37.
How the Church reads it.
Hebrews 13:2 alludes to this scene: “by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Many Fathers saw in the three visitors a hint of the Trinity, and St Augustine notes that Abraham sees three yet speaks as to one Lord (in substance). Eastern iconography paints the scene in this light, most famously in the icon of Andrei Rublev. The Catechism says that Abraham's remarkable hospitality at Mamre foreshadows the annunciation of the true Son of the promise (CCC 2571), a fitting word for this season.
Setting.
The Philistines have ruled Israel for forty years (13:1), and this time, unlike earlier episodes in Judges, the people do not even cry out. The tribe of Dan is barely holding its land near the coastal plain; Zorah lies on the edge of Philistine country. God takes the initiative anyway. The mother is never named, yet the angel comes first to her, and she sees more clearly than her husband (13:22–23). The reading skips the longer story of Manoah's offering and goes to the birth.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son.” (13:3)
The words of barrenness are said plainly. God begins from what the woman lacks. Luke's angel echoes this announcement form when he speaks to Mary (Luke 1:31).
“It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” (13:5)
“Begin” is an honest word. The hero is strong, and also flawed, as the next chapters show. Yet Hebrews 11:32 names him among the people of faith.
“The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him.” (13:24)
The name Šimšôn is probably linked to šemeš, “sun”. Compare the growth notices for Samuel (1 Samuel 2:26) and John (Luke 1:80).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that God chooses those considered powerless and weak, to show his faithfulness to his promises (CCC 489), and that line of women prepares for Mary. Samson's flaws remind us that God's call is a gift, not a reward: the Lord works even through weak vessels. Luke's account of John draws on this story: “wine or strong drink” (Luke 1:15), a child set apart, and a promise of deliverance.
Setting.
Paul writes as “a prisoner for Christ Jesus”; his chains are the price of his mission to the Gentiles. In chapter 2 he has said that Christ broke down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. He begins a prayer here (3:1), breaks off to explain his own role, and returns to the prayer at 3:14. The passage is a long aside, and it contains the letter's definition of the mystery.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (3:6)
The secret is not a teaching for a few. It is the opposite: everyone is invited.
“Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ,” (3:8)
“The very least” renders a strange Greek form, a comparative made from a superlative, as if “leaster”. The word for “boundless” means that one cannot trace it to its end. The POC gives “hard to grasp” (ദുർഗ്രഹമായ).
“in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.” (3:12)
Parrēsia, boldness, is the frank speech of a citizen. A prisoner writes this: chains cannot take away access to God.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism reads these verses when it says that God's plan is fulfilled and revealed in the Church (CCC 772). Vatican II teaches that the pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature (Ad Gentes 2). The Church remains linked with Israel, whose covenant God has not revoked (CCC 121, 839). Paul's words on the wisdom shown “through the church” also fit the Eastern Churches: the Council says that such variety, far from harming the Church's unity, makes it clearer (Orientalium Ecclesiarum 2, in substance).
Setting.
Luke has set up two parallel stories: the announcements to Zechariah and to Mary, and now the birth of John and, in the next chapter, the birth of Jesus. Zechariah has been unable to speak since the angel's visit (1:20). A child's circumcision on the eighth day followed God's command to Abraham (Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 12:3). The custom of naming the child at that moment is reflected here. Family names were common; the relatives' surprise is natural.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.” (1:58)
Gabriel had promised this: “many will rejoice at his birth” (1:14). Her shame among the people is now over (compare 1:25).
“But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.”” (1:60)
Elizabeth speaks first and speaks firmly. Luke does not say how she knew the name, whether from Zechariah in writing or from the Spirit. The name does not come from the family. It comes from God, and it breaks a custom.
“He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed.” (1:63)
He does not write “let his name be” but “his name is”: the matter has already been decided by God. They have to motion to him (v. 62), which suggests that he may have been deaf as well. The word for his condition in 1:22 can mean both.
“Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God.” (1:64)
The first act of his obedience opens his mouth, and the first use of his tongue is praise. The words of that praise come in the Benedictus (1:68–79).
“All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.” (1:66)
The question stays open until chapter 3. Luke's readers know the answer: the voice in the wilderness.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism calls John the Lord's immediate precursor, sent to prepare his way, filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb (CCC 523, 717–718). St Augustine, in his preaching on John's birth, says that John was the voice and Christ the Word: the voice passes when the word has reached the heart (in substance). So the feast is not about John alone. He lives to make room for another (John 3:30).
Why does Elizabeth insist on the name before Zechariah can write it?
Luke does not explain, and we should not claim more than he says. Some think she knew by the Holy Spirit; others think that Zechariah had made it known in writing during those months. What matters is that husband and wife agree, against all the relatives, in obeying God's word (1:13).
Are the three visitors in Genesis 18 really the Trinity?
The text itself speaks of the Lord and of three men, and later calls two of them angels (19:1). Jewish tradition sees here angels sent by the Lord, and many Christians read it as the Lord with two angels. The Trinity is not revealed at this point in Scripture. But many Fathers, reading in the light of Christ, saw it as a hint, and so does Christian art. Both are honest ways of reading.
Was Paul the only one given this mystery?
No. He himself says it was revealed “to his holy apostles and prophets” (3:5). He sees his own call as a share in a gift given to the whole apostolic Church.
For us St Thomas Christians, Paul's “fellow heirs” is our own story. By our ancient tradition, St Thomas the Apostle brought the Gospel to Malabar, and Gentiles of this land became members of the same body. The Syro-Malabar season of Annunciation reads these birth stories slowly, so that we arrive at Christmas having learned how God works: with the barren, with the silent, with the small. At this Sunday's Holy Qurbana we can ask for Zechariah's grace, that our tongue may be opened in praise. We might also bless our children, and ask of each: “What then will this child become?”