The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ 

    Luke's Gospel gives us some further indication of the specific length of the time between the beginning of 

John's ministry and the beginning of Christ's Ministry. The Gospel of Luke was not merely written by Luke; 

all of Sacred Scripture was first and foremost written by God. Thus God can explain to us, through the Gospel 

of Luke, truths which even Luke did not understand when he wrote his Gospel. And, unlike any other writer, 

God can speak to us though events, which were guided and preordained by God's Providence and Wisdom. 

The arrangement of the events themselves, as well as the words which describe those events, contain God's 

message to us. 

    Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless; Elizabeth was called  barren  by some people (Lk 1:36). They were 

able to conceive a child only by the intervention of God, who sent an angel to announce this to Zechariah. 

Therefore it was God who decided when John the Baptist would be conceived and born. 

    Mary of Nazareth was a virgin. She was betrothed to a man named Joseph (Lk 1:27). But when the angel 

Gabriel told Mary that she would bear a son, she did not assume that her husband Joseph would be the father; 

instead she asks,   `How can this be, since I have no husband?'   (Lk 1:34). The Virgin Mary had no husband 

in the usual sense of the word, because she had no intention of giving up her virginity. Thus the Virgin Mary 

had no plans to bear any children until God revealed His plan to her through the angel Gabriel. Mary did not 

choose when the Incarnation would occur, she merely accepted God's plan. God chose the timing of the 

Virgin Conception of Jesus Christ. 

    God could have had John the Baptist be conceived and born at a later or earlier time. John could have been 

years older, or years younger, and still completed the task of his ministry to prepare the way of the Lord. But 

God chose to have the conception and birth of John precede the Holy Conception and Birth of Jesus by 

between 5 and 6 months (for details, see chapter 5). 

    The Gospel of Luke repeatedly refers to the length of time between John's conception and the Incarnation 

of Christ. Sacred Scripture reveals that after Elizabeth conceived,  for five months she hid herself  (Lk 1:24) 

and then the angel Gabriel announced Christ's Virgin Conception to Mary (Lk 1:26). The words of the angel 

Gabriel reveal the timing between John's conception and Jesus' Incarnation:  this is the sixth month with her 

who was called barren  (Lk 1:36). The angel Gabriel's words mean that it is sometime during the sixth month, 

not that six full months had been completed. So the length of time from John's conception to Jesus' 

conception was more than 5 months and less than 6 months, i.e., 5 months plus some number of days. 

    Sacred Scripture, in the words of the angel speaking to Zechariah, says that John the Baptist would  go 

before  Jesus to prepare for his arrival (Lk 1:17). Again, in the Gospel of Mark, God tells us that John would 

prepare the way for Jesus (Mk 1:2). The ministry of John the Baptist prepared the way for the Ministry of 

Jesus Christ. John went before Jesus as His messenger and herald. 

    God wanted John the Baptist to  go before  Jesus, not only in his ministry, but also even from the very 

beginning of John's life, because John's entire life was dedicated to preparing for Christ Jesus. Sacred Scripture 

emphasizes that John's conception occurred between 5 and 6 months before the Incarnation because this 

timing is a part of John's call to  go before  Jesus Christ to prepare His way. John the Baptist was conceived 

and born for that very purpose, to go before Christ, and so it was fitting that, even in his conception and birth, 

John prepared the way for Christ Jesus. 

    God chose to place noticeable emphasis in Luke's Gospel on the length of time between John's conception 

and the Holy Conception of Christ. Perhaps the reason for this emphasis is that the length of time between 

John's conception and the Incarnation foreshadows the length of time between the start of John's ministry and 

the start of Christ's Ministry. The order and timing of these events was chosen by God and is full of meaning. 

Sacred Scripture tells us that the conception of John the Baptist preceded the Holy Conception of Jesus Christ 

by just over 5 months. This indicates that the ministry of John the Baptist also preceded the Ministry of Jesus 

Christ by about the same length of time, about 5 to 6 months. (The words of Blessed Anne Catherine also 

support the idea that the Baptism  of Jesus occurred only a few months after John began his ministry; see 

chapter 7 for more on this point.) 

    The Ministry of Jesus lasted about 3  years and Jesus died at Passover, which is in the springtime. So, the 

Ministry of Jesus must have begun in the autumn, along with His baptism by John (as Blessed Anne Catherine 

also says).

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 If John the Baptist's ministry began about 5 or 6 months before Jesus' Ministry, then John's 

ministry must have begun in the springtime of that same year. The Gospel of Luke reveals that the ministry of 

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