Luke 1:76 — Community Reflections

LUKE 1:76 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;”

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him — the transition to direct address to the infant John is the Benedictus's second movement. Prophet of the Most High (prophētēs hypsistou) identifies John's vocation: he will go before the Lord to prepare his way, fulfilling the Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1 promise. The prophet of the Most High anticipates the question John will later be asked: are you a prophet? and the answer Jesus gives: more than a prophet.

Church Fathers on Luke 1:76

In prophesying of the Lord he rightly addresses the prophet, showing that prophecy also is a gift of the Lord, in order that he might not, while enumerating public benefits, seen to be so ungrateful as to be silent of his own. Hence it is laid, And you, child, shall be called the Prophet of the Highest.
Ambrose · 4th century

The reason I suppose that Zacharias hastened to speak to his son, was because he knew that John was shortly about to be a sojourner in the wilderness, and that he himself should see him no more.
Origen · 3rd century

Unless indeed Zacharias be supposed to have wished as soon as he was able to speak, to proclaim for their instruction who were present, the future gifts of his son, which he had long before learnt from the Angel. Let the Arians however hear that our Lord Christ, whom John went before prophesying of Him, Zacharias calls “the Most High,” as it is said in the Psalms, A man was as born in her, and the most highest has established her.
Bede · 8th century

Read all 6 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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