Humility is
one of the greatest traits exemplified by John the Baptist. It seems he almost
spends more time telling us who he is not rather than who he is.
In John 3, he makes the classic statement
that to me makes him so very admirable as an example: “He must increase, but I
must decrease.” (John 3:30) (Of
course, he was speaking of Jesus in this instance as The One Who must
increase.)
Well, truly
John was the leading proponent of Jesus’ increase. John was the one who
was charged with creating the pathway into the human heart Jesus would cross
over.
It was the
reason John was created. It was the very nature of his calling. And – by the
way – what if the nature of his calling also meant he would be arrested and
eventually beheaded. That Jesus, once introduced, would be the last Man
standing? (You could say once the sun has risen there is no longer any need for
the moon.)
Was John
simply discarded by God once the need for his ministry was at an end? I suppose
some might look at it that way – but once John was beheaded he went straight
into heaven. There is no way he would have been upset with that outcome of his
ministry.
But when
your ministry has drawn a massive crowd, through its freshness, and also
through its abrupt truth-telling even to those being drawn to it – might there
not be a very human tendency toward making all this last? (The fame, the notoriety,
the acclaim, the power?)
Even the
religious leaders saw John the Baptist as a force to be reckoned with. They
came out to HIM. They came to see what HE was about, not the other way around.
What they
saw must have shocked them. Here they found the son of a priest wearing
outlandish clothing telling people, (all people – every person,) they MUST
repent. Even the Jews. Especially the Jews. Especially the Jewish leaders. And
he held the crowd by the force of his calling, right up to the moment his
calling ended.
Then he
stepped into the shadows, just as it had been prophesied of the one crying in
the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the LORD.”
-Pastor Bill
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