This week we think about John the Baptist. Well look at the passage that follows, along with some others listed below.
John 1:19-34
Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ.’" They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ " Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" "I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel." Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."
What is the overall point of this passage?
How would you summarize it in a sentence or two?
How does it fit with the entire Gospel?
What is the point of emphasis regarding John? What is his role?
Our main focus is on John (the Baptist, though he is not called this in this Gospel), so consider also these passages:
John 1:6-8, 15
John 3:22-30 (also possibly 31-36 – unclear if these words belong to John the Baptist or John the Gospeler)
John 5:33-36
John 10:40-42
What else is on your mind this week?
Sunday, April 06, 2008
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14 comments:
The title for this week’s blog post comes from John 3.30.
He must become greater; I must become less.
Of course John is talking about Jesus. I think these words could be very helpful to all of us.
What do you think?
I see the passage as meaning that God must be the most important thing in my life and I must be less important than all others. As humans we tend to put more importance on ourselves when Christ needs to be before all else. Tough to do since we are selfish by nature.
I really enjoyed our small group last night. I hope everyone else participating in small groups had the same experience.
Enjoy your week!
Diane Slone
LIFE Groups, by all accounts, are off to a super start! I’ve heard from almost of the leaders and from several participants. Everyone seems pleased.
Thanks, D., for your words. I think you are exactly right.
It is interesting to read all that John the Gospeler says about John the Baptist. One of favorite lines in the entire Bible is from John 3:30:
“He must become greater; I must become less.”
What words to live by!
As I get older I find that I have a lot less interest in calling attention to me and what I can do. I hope it’s maturity, but it’s probably just getting old and losing some of my desire and energy. Ha ha.
I think everyone in ministry has the temptation to seek glory for themselves. The approval of man is seductive and leads to multiple problems. I have failed here, especially when I was younger. At least I never made the news with my failures! [I am thinking televangelists.]
Even now I want to be very careful. It’s hard sometimes to see our own motivations for doing things. Is this really for God, or is it about me?
I think John, though he says the right thing (most of the time), probably had a hard time with some of the shift in popularity from him to Jesus. I say that based on Matthew 11:1-6.
What do you think?
I know that I do not enjoy being the center of attention and try hard just to fade into the background. When I was younger that was different.........I wanted to be "noticed" but now, not so much :o). It may be about age or it could be because as we mature we realize that some things we do, we don't want to draw attention to!! Do you think that the saying "opposites attract" is true because if both people are trying for the spotlight they will clash with each other? Just a thought.
Diane
I think as we get older we begin to see the bigger picture. The one where we realize that the most satisfaction and joy come from watching things develop. We may be the instigator of the project, but watching other people grab hold and take the idea for their own is immensely satisfying. Then it doesn't matter that it belonged to you, it's seeing it become accomplished. I also think it is quite humbling to remind ourselves often that God can quite literally use the jackass next door (NOT your neighbor, remember the Old Test. story...) :)
Good post, Anon! I think you described my understanding of life and ministry in the last 2-3 years. I have also often been the “non-neighbor” you describe; more often than I want to think about.
Had a good, interesting day yesterday. Among and around the things I am about to describe were some good times of study and reflection.
Nobe and I went to the funeral of Jackie’s mom. It was a very moving experience. The preacher did a great job, but the most moving part was when Matt and Cassie stood up and read a tribute that they had written. Wow! There was not a dry eye in the place. Matt read with a great deal of composure, and the words were so powerful.
I had the thought during the funeral that the words of John the Baptist, “He must increase; I must decrease,” are so important at moments like this. If you try to handle death and grief on your own, then you are in trouble. He must increase. I must decrease.
Last night another board member (Warren C.) and I went to the Annual Meeting of the Davies Martin REMC. Why? Because we are faithful members of the coop, of course. Well, maybe not. Maybe it was because they gave away tons of really cool prizes? (appealing to the members greed to get them to come I presume – sure worked - 450+ in attendance) Nope. And we didn’t win anything anyway.
Here’s the real reason we went: REMC’s Roundup program (where electric bills are rounded up to an even dollar amount and the rounded up amount given to charities) awarded Capstone Ministries a check for $4,000! We are going to use this money to expand our ReGeneration Store into the building next door.
The highlight of the evening was not the check, however. It was seeing John and Deb E. John led the invocation and then Deb, with her absolutely beautiful voice, sang the national anthem and then led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. It was really neat. John is one of the Board of Directors.
So what you up to?
Can I confess a fear I had last Sunday?
You remember I used the expression several times, “He pitched his tent among us”? This is an extremely dangerous phrase. There is was a YouTube video that went around a few years ago where a minister, talking about Lot pitching his tent toward Sodom, got a couple of letters moved around in his mouth in a most unfortunate way. “Pitched” became “pinched” and the “en” of tent got replaced with an “i”. Poor guy. He said it. Hesitated and then asked, “Did I just say what I think I said?”. It just got worse from there. You may have noticed that every time I used the phrase on Sunday I paused first. Now you know why.
I heard you actually did say that way Allen....? Pat A
I don't get the reference to matthew 11 1-6. a little help please.
Good question, Anon.
Here’s the text:
After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”
It seems in this text that John is complaining about being in prison. He knows who Jesus is, but he is having trouble with the fact that Jesus is not doing anything about his situation. The question John asks is, I think, a complaint. “If you are the Messiah, then why don’t you don’t something for the one who prepared your way, your good ole cousin??” John is having trouble understanding why his faithfulness, his deference (“He must increase; I must decrease”) is not being rewarded better. [His question is sometimes our question, isn’t it?]
My point is bringing this passage up is that it shows that John, even though he said the right things in John’s gospel, still struggled with natural human emotions, even doubts. Kinda like us.
The answer of Jesus is instructive. I think he is essentially saying, “John, it’s bigger than you; it’s about the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven is breaking into earth – look what’s happening. Be less concerned about your personal physical situation and rejoice with the inbreaking of the Kingdom.”
We discussed this last night in my class, saying that we would like to think that John smiled an “oh-I-get-it” smile as the words of Jesus sunk in.
I hope that helps explain my earlier post.
As we live by the words, “He must become greater; I must become less” we will still struggle with wanting it to be about us. That’s natural. We are called, however, to constant deference, to constant death to self. The rewards for doing this are out of this world.
I came across these neat words this morning. They are from Peggy Noonan, one of my favorite political writer/commentators. She also wrote a book about Pope John Paul. Last week she was in Vatican City and heard the present pope speak.
He spoke of the distilled message of John Paul's reign: "Be not afraid," the words "of the angel of the Resurrection, addressed to the women before the empty tomb." Which words were themselves a condensed message: Nothing has ended, something beautiful has begun, but you won't understand for a while.
Love those last works, words of hope, words defined by the Resurrection:
Nothing has ended, something beautiful has begun, but you won't understand for a while.
“Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.”
Great biblical directive, but what about the situation in our church family? Sunday we will likely announce the new births of at least 3 babies, including a twins (assuming their safe arrival tomorrow), and at the same time we have to tell of the death of twins born too early.
How do you handle that?
Allen,given the recent baby situations in our church family. and given we should know what happened was Gods will and what will happen tomorrow is also Gods will then the words you quoted above should hold true. "Nothing has ended, something beautiful has begun, but you won't understand for a while". Still hard to justify and accept but true indeed.
with Love through Christ...
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