This Is He! (John 1:30)

 


Saturday, December 28, 2024


Psalms 143; 146

Isaiah 30:1-14

John 1:19-34


Observance: Holy Innocents


This Is He! (John 1:30)


Yesterday we considered God’s story of life, the universe, and everything as if it were a movie. You cannot just come in halfway through and expect to understand everything that is going on. Today, we get an idea of who the main character is, and what role we play in this story.


John the Baptist must have been an imposing figure. Sure, he lived in the wilderness, wore a camel hair shirt, and ate locusts and wild honey. But there is something about the type of man who can command such attention without even trying. You know the type – we have been fed enough movies from Hollywood to tell when the leading man in a movie was casted well or not. John the Baptist must have been the type of man who could enter a room and suck all the oxygen out of any muttering; he knew what was what, and wasn’t afraid to tell it like it is.


A delegation was sent to him. Not the so-called “leading men” of Jerusalem – they were afraid of this larger-than-life character. The men who are good at arguing, at using words, at playing people according to their own interests: these were the men who were sent to John the Baptist.


Scheming doesn’t work on this type of man, though. Look at how he responds. At every turn he diminishes himself and talks up the Lord. You can’t trap God, and John the Baptist is not even worthy to be the slave who unties God’s sandals. John the Baptist is bulletproof, because God is bulletproof.


When watching this scene of the story, what does this mean for the part we will play? When our character enters the story, who are we? John the Baptist gets a mention in all four gospels – a singular honour. And yet the role he plays is to continually point away from himself and towards Jesus. Our names don’t get mentioned except in general, and then only if we believe in Jesus. Are you comfortable with your role in this story? Are you doing what God expects – to point away from yourself, and towards Jesus?


Lamb of God, who took away every single last one of my sins: you rank before me, because you were before me. Humble me in your perfect peace, so that I may become lesser in order for you to become greater.

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