So they came to John and said to him,
“Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”
John answered and said,
“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ, but that I was sent before him.
Tomorrow we will celebrate the Baptism of the Lord and the end of the Christmas season. Today we hear the end of John the Baptist. It is an end in the sense of aim or goal; and in the sense of finality. He has finished what he must do.
In this passage, the Baptist dismisses the expectations people had about him. Many thought he might be the Messiah. As I understand, many Jewish rabbis today are instinctively suspicious of every expectation of a messiah and of anyone's claim to messiahship. There is nothing but trouble in them. A widespread, grassroots, expectancy leads inevitably to some charlatan claiming to be The One. Fools follow the fool and then trouble, bloodshed, and the death of both fools and innocents. "Just don't go there." the rabbis urge. Christians also have a sad history of false messiahs and premature apocalypse.
The four evangelists agree that John the Baptist saw and recognized Jesus, and then withdrew. He had finished his ministry. Arrested for denouncing Herod's marriage to his sister-in-law, he disappeared into an underground dungeon and was murdered.
The Baptist represents the last of the Old Testament prophets and points to the fulfillment of all Old Testament expectations. In the new age of the Gospel, Zechariah picks up the thread with his canticle:
...(God) has raised up a horn for our salvation
within the house of David his servant,
even as he promised through the
mouth of his holy prophets from of old...
The end (or purpose) of the Baptist is like yours and mine, "to go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins."
We prepare the way by our friendly, courteous manner which is ever-ready to overlook misunderstandings and forgive wrongdoing. Confident of God's providence, we can give generously and graciously. Freed of guilt and shame, we have no need to carry a grudge or withhold kindness. Like the Baptist, we must decrease while the Lord increases.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.