When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son… On the eighth day [her neighbors and relatives] came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his
mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him. And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel. – Luke 1:57-66 & 80
John 1:6-9 & 15 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’ ”)
A King was on His way. And they might have missed Him, the King who would fulfill Old Testament prophecy and become the main subject of the New Testament. So John was sent as a herald. John is the bridge, the threshold between what had been and what was about to be. He is the precursor, the forerunner, the opening act, the appointed messenger, carrying the promise that the centuries of waiting and preparing and anticipating were about to come to a great and glorious fulfillment. In John, the prophecies began to be fulfilled. And a few people understood it — the early adopters, those quick to catch on. But even to these, his own disciples, he pointed to Jesus, the One whose sandal he was not fit to tie.
As great as the teaching of John the Baptist was, it was nothing compared to Jesus’ teaching. And how well John the Baptist understood his role and stuck to it. What amazing clarity of purpose. Yet we can learn from him too. We can learn that preparation for the Messiah (then as now) requires a conversion and a transformation of the heart and mind. We can learn that the focus is not on us or on anything that we have done or hope to do, not even if it is for God.
We can learn that our job, like John’s, is to grasp the big picture- the aerial view. To point all people to behold Jesus- this arial view highlights Jesus as the most prominent feature on the landscape of our lives- and it draws the map that leads all to him.
Prayer
“Holy Father, Your grace humbles me without degrading me and elevates me without inflating me. You offer me great dignity and worth; I am grateful that You have given me the astounding invitation to participate in something that extends so far beyond me. I can only revel in Your kindness, grace and compassion. I know that You can accomplish what is needed without me, and yet You invite me to participate in what will last forever. I ask You to guide me and to teach me how to fulfill the purpose of my life- to bring ‘glory to God in the highest’. I pray that, by Your grace, I will accomplish this work that you have prepared beforehand for me. In Your Son’s precious name I pray. Amen. “
– Phil.
