This weekend the church celebrates the
birth of John the Baptist. Few people in the Bible were as colorful and
controversial—and passionate—as John the Baptist.
John was the first person in Scripture
to acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord. When Mary, pregnant with Jesus, greeted
Elizabeth, pregnant with John, Elizabeth exclaimed, “As soon as the sound of
your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy!” (Knowing John’s
personality, Elizabeth’s belly probably quivered like a sack full of puppies.)
John’s divinely ordained mission in
salvation history was that of forerunner. His job was to prepare the way for
the coming of the Messiah. It was only a supporting role in the grand story of
God’s relationship with mankind. However, he played the part with passion and
joy, and most importantly, he did not upstage the star of the show.
John the Baptist lived a counter-culture
lifestyle and didn’t care what anyone thought about him. He lived in the
desert, and as Matthew’s gospel explains, “John’s clothes were made of camel’s
hair….His food was locusts and wild honey.” (This is weird, even by California
standards.)
John was also brash and bold. When the
respected religious leaders from Jerusalem came to see him, he shouted in their
faces, “You brood of vipers!” Later on, he publicly denounced King Herod’s
adulterous affair, and as a result was quickly tossed into prison. Soon after,
Herod had John executed.
Although John’s brashness and boldness
were obvious to anyone who came near him, his greatest trait, the one which
guided his life the most, was humility. Now wait a minute, you say. Humility?
John wasn’t humble. He was loud and obnoxious and he drew a big crowd wherever he
went. How can you say humility was his greatest trait?
Well, we need to remember the true
definition of humility. Being quiet and shy does not automatically make a
person humble. Humility is being unconcerned about yourself—not comparing
yourself to others nor worrying about what they think of you.
The opposite of humility is pride (the
first and worst of all sins). Just as loud and brash people can be humble—if
they are unconcerned about themselves—quiet and reserved people can be filled
with sinful pride.
John the Baptist was not concerned with
typical prideful thoughts, such as: “What’s in it for me?” “What will other
people think of me?” “Does this camel’s hair robe make my butt look big?”
As John was baptizing people in the
Jordan River, some wondered whether he was the long-awaited Messiah. John
quickly refuted the idea. “I baptize you with water for repentance,” he
declared. “But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose
sandals I am not fit to carry.”
John easily could have parlayed his
popularity into greater power and influence. But as soon as Jesus appeared,
John knew it was time to step aside and let the true star have center stage.
When Jesus came to John to be baptized,
John was stunned. He tried to deter Jesus and said, “I need to be baptized by
you.” A prideful person never would have done that.
John the Baptist is a wonderful role
model for all believers. His only desire was to do God’s will. He didn’t care
about himself or what others thought about him. He directed everyone’s
attention to Jesus rather than to himself. And to make things a bit more
exciting, he didn’t hesitate to point out hypocrisy when he saw it, whether he
was confronting pompous religious officials or the secular ruler of the land,
King Herod himself.
We all should follow his lead: seek
God’s will, and do it boldly, passionately, and most of all, humbly.
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