Born To Be Wild

Living in radical nonconformity with this world

06/24/2017

Luke 1:57-66, 80 

          When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, "No. He will be called John." But they answered her, "There is no one among your relatives who has this name." So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, "What, then, will this child be?" For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.

          In 1968, the year before I was born, the rock band Steppenwolf recorded a hit song called, “Born to be wild.” It was the first heavy metal song and ushered in an era of new music calling for a radical nonconformity with the world, symbolized by riding motorcycles, long beards, and tattoos. Do you remember the refrain? It goes: “Like a true nature’s child / We were born, born to be wild / We can climb so high / I never wanna die.” I believe we all go through that stage at some point in our lives, where we want to be radically counter-cultural, nonconformists. But eventually we return to be less wild and more “with it.”

           Today we celebrate the birthday of St. John the Baptist, and he’s the one, who like no one else, was truly “born to be wild.” What do I mean? His conception by Zachariah and Elizabeth is miraculous because they are advanced in age and Viagra had not been invented yet. His name – John – is radically nonconformist because no one else in his family has that name, and that was the custom at the time. And where does John spend his young adulthood years? The gospel answers: “The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation.” Steppenwolf sang: “A true nature’s child, born, born to be wild.”  That’s John the Baptist.

         But John did not live a radical life just for himself; he came to blaze a new trail that others should follow, through the waters of baptism. Of course, it would be at Jesus’ hands that baptism would achieve its full flower, but John showed that finding and following Jesus would require a radical nonconformity with this world. Romano Guardini exquisitely explains: “Since the memory of man water has been the dual symbol of life and death, womb and grave. Christ preserved the symbol, Christianizing it with the Holy Spirit. Thus baptism came into the world. From it the new man steps – into the new beginning in faith and grace.” But Guardini goes on to insist that baptism causes us to live differently from others, saying, “He who lives only in himself, in ‘the world,’ who has never ventured the step into the new existence, can see, hear, note the acts of one living in faith, but he will never understand their origin or purpose” (The Lord, 170-71). In other words, baptism beckons us to be “born (again) to be wild,” and with a far greater wildness than bikes, blues and barbecue. Baptism makes us radically non-conformed to this world, and simultaneously radically conformed to Christ.  Those always go hand-in-hand.

           If you’re looking for examples of those who are spiritually “born to be wild,” you don’t have to look very far. Just glance at our seminarian poster, and see men who, like John the Baptist, give up personal goals in order to achieve Jesus’ goal of ushering in the Kingdom of God: men like Dc. Stephen Elser. Or, think about people who suffer serious illnesses, like cancer, but carry their crosses with a smile: like Henry Udouj, Anne Danko, Bill Etzkorn, and Stacy Forsgren, who didn’t want people to know how sick she was. People who get up early for daily Mass at 7 a.m., instead of sleeping in, even during the dog days of summer. I mean, who does that?!  You do that.  But why do you do that? Because you have been baptized, and now you feel the call to be “born, born to be wild,” living a radical nonconformity with this world, a nonconformity from which we will never return to be less wild and simply “with it.”

            Today we extol the virtues of St. John the Baptist, and try to follow his example of finding and following Jesus by choosing to live our baptismal call to be counter-cultural and nonconformists. When we are born in baptism and become spiritual wild, we can “climb so high/ I never wanna die.”  We will live forever.  I just hope and pray St. John will forgive me for comparing him to Steppenwolf.

Praised be Jesus Christ!