When I read about John the Baptist in John 1:19-28 I am struck by the humility of the man. Humility is not a popular character trait in our world. Everyone in our day wants to be attractive, popular, powerful, charismatic and influential. Many desire to be the center of attention or to make sure those at school or work recognize their greatness and properly promote them to positions of honor. And yet, John the Baptist repeatedly does the opposite. The "testimony" of his life is that he is a person desiring to deflect attention from himself to Jesus. What an amazing testimony!
We see that in this passage in a variety of ways. First, when confronted by religious leaders we are told that John openly and willingly confessed that he was not the Christ. This assumes that the leaders thought that he was the Christ, or at the very least had heard rumors that he might be the Christ. But rather than trying to gain credit for himself, he openly confessed that he did not have the needed credentials. In fact, he also openly admitted that he was not Elijah (who was expected to come before Jesus) or the Prophet (not sure who this refers to). Rather than seek to use his situation to advance himself, John the Baptist uses his situation to exalt Christ. He openly points to Jesus as the coming Messiah.
Beyond that, John seems to have a healthy understanding of who he was in light of who Jesus was. John not only refers to Jesus as the Lord, but admits that he himself is not even worthy of being allowed to untie Jesus' sandals. This was the role of a mere servant, so John places himself at the lowest of lowly positions when compared to Jesus. John the Baptist is not denegrating himself. Rather, he is simply seeking to remind people of just how great a man Jesus is.
How needed is John's attitude within the church today. What the church needs are believers who see themselves as lowly servants of Jesus, rather than treating Jesus as though He were their servant. What the church needs are pastor's who willingly admit that is the agenda of Jesus that drives the church, not their personal pet projects. What is needed in the church are leaders who consider it an honor to be treated as a servant and humbly accept their role as servants of Jesus within the church. When the church is filled with this kind of humility of spirit, it becomes a place of peaceful service rather than a place of competition for individual attention. May God grant all of us this humility of spirit...beginning with me!
It is interesting that you would point out the humility of John. Before rereading the passage, the first thoughts that pop into my head about John the Baptist is a guy with crazy clothes, munching on insects, and irritating the Pharisees. (Too many flannel board stories in Sunday school or Hollywood movie scenes!) But John's humility is truly the key to his witness. If he wasn't able to step aside from his own ego, no one would see past him to Jesus. This week I hope my witness will be to step aside so that others can see Jesus more clearly.
ReplyDeletep.s.-- A great start for our church-wide Bible reading! I hope everyone will get involved!