John 1:6-8 NIV
[6] There was a man sent from God whose name was John. [7] He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. [8] He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
When we carry out important legal transactions, such as marriages or property purchases or the like, there is a group of people who are very important, whom we simply can’t do without:
Witnesses.
They confirm our identity. They confirm that we are of sound mind. They confirm that we have the right to carry out the transaction.
We need them, otherwise our society can’t function.
This principle isn’t new. It’s been written into law since ancient times (Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15, see also Matthew 18:16; John 8:17).
The amazing thing is that despite all we have seen about Jesus, and all He did on earth, He still needed a witness.
That witness was His cousin, John. But there was a lot more to Him than just being a relative of the Saviour. The author of this Gospel – a different John – broke off from his discussion about who Jesus is to suddenly start talking about John the Baptist, so there must be some significance here.
There are three aspects to John and his ministry that we will explore through these verses.
The first is His Recommendation:
John 1:6-7 NIV
[6] There was a man sent from God whose name was John. [7] He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
And what was that recommendation?
John 1:29-31 NIV
[29] The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! [30] This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ [31] I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
His recommendation ought to be the same as that of every believer:
1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV
[1] Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
In other words, I am not the person you should follow. You should follow Jesus. You should only follow me while I follow Jesus.
John’s recommendation was that he was not the Messiah. He was not Elijah. He was not someone so important that they should follow him and stick with him. He only prepared the way. He prepared the way for them to follow Jesus.
Matthew 3:1-3 NIV
[1] In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea [2] and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” [3] This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ”
And what were those straight paths?
They were the paths of repentance.
John's recommendation – his message – was that their hearts should be prepared to receive their Messiah through repentance.
That is why John says this about John the Baptist:
John 1:8 NIV
[8] He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
John’s job was not to steal the glory, but to set the stage. He was not supposed to hog the spotlight, but to give way as soon as Jesus revealed Himself.
Why?
Because John was not the Saviour of all mankind. Jesus was.
This humility is something every Christian, and indeed every Christian leader, ought to emulate.
But as well as John’s recommendation, we should also examine His Responsibilities.
John had a very specific role to play in the salvation story. You see, four hundred years earlier, the witness of the Old Testament ended with these words:
Malachi 4:5-6 NIV
[5] “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. [6] He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
So the Israelites had in their mind – and many still do – that for the Messiah to come Elijah had to return first.
You see, there is something very interesting about Elijah: he didn’t die. We see that in 2 King’s 2:1-12. The prophets who were with Elisha when it happened carried out a thorough search for his body, but could not find it (2 Kings 2:15-18). So you can imagine, then, that it would be easy for anyone to put the events of Elijah’s miraculous departure with Malachi’s prophesy and come to the conclusion that the actual Elijah of the Old Testament would return.
And return he did, on the Mount of Transfiguration, where, of all things, he discussed Jesus’ departure with Him and Moses (Luke 9:28-36, see also Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:1-10).
But that did not fulfil the prophecy.
John did. As Jesus outlined to His disciples:
Matthew 17:10-13 NIV
[10] The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” [11] Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. [12] But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” [13] Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.
Why was that?
Look at their clothes:
2 Kings 1:7-8 NIV
[7] The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?” [8] They replied, “He had a garment of hair and had a leather belt around his waist.” The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”
Matthew 3:4 NIV
[4] John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Look at their ministries. In both cases, they spoke a message of judgement and repentance, a calling of people to return to their God (Matthew 3:7-12; Luke 3:1-18).
Look also at what happened to them. Both of them were persecuted by those in authority (1 Kings 19:1-2; Luke 3:19-20; Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29).
John fulfilled this role to the letter, even if it meant he would not survive.
I wonder, are we as committed to the will of God in our life?
As well as John’s recommendation and role, we lastly see His Redundancy.
And this speaks volumes for his humility. This really is quite something.
We need to set the picture. John’s ministry is not in market places or city gates or stadiums, but in the wilderness by the Jordan.
Remarkably, he is still pulling huge crowds (Matthew 3:5-7; Mark 1:5; Luke 3:7). News of him even reached Herod (Mark 6:20).
So this is big. Really big.
John is particularly clear on what happened next. The Pharisees began to see John and Jesus as being in competition with each other (John 3:26), even to the extent that they were childishly keeping score between them, as if they were playing sports (John 4:1-2).
So how will John react to this?
John 3:27-30 NIV
[27] To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. [28] You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ [29] The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. [30] He must become greater; I must become less.”
That is the remarkable thing. Despite the overwhelming popularity of his ministry, which was starting to wane, John did not battle to regain supremacy. Instead, he accepted that this was the right thing to happen.
He accepted the gradual phasing out of his own ministry in favour of Jesus'.
Now, I have been in this position. I have to be honest, this is not at all easy. The loss of my position as a missionary in Romania impacted me deeply because I had gained a lot of dignity and self-respect from it. I did not react well to losing it, I have to say.
But I learned from the experience. I had a ministry for almost four years, delivering children’s talks to the children in our church. I loved it. I had a great time. But that ministry came to an end. I was hurt by it, of course I was. It’s always hard to say goodbye to something you love.
But I have come to realise that there are seasons in life and God has the right to move you into, or out of, the spotlight as He sees fit.
I have also experienced actual redundancy, actual loss of job. No amount of money can compensate for seeing something you have built up over the years handed over to another person. It hurts deeply. But in life, we have to accept that God sometimes moves us on.
The humble acceptance of the temporary nature of John’s responsibilities and the way he gracefully allow God to move the spotlight onto Jesus has always spoken to me very powerfully, and posed a tremendous challenge to my ego.
I’m sure it will challenge you too.
Christmas is a strange time of year. Each year we try to do the very best we can with the food, the decorations, the gifts. We try to prove ourselves to our relatives and our children time and time again, as if they hold mastery over us. We are desperate not to disappoint.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing at all wrong with doing a good job.
But at Christmas we go beyond that. We stop being Mary and start being Martha (Luke 10:38-42). We try to hog the spotlight and take it away from Jesus and onto all we have done.
We do the precise opposite of John.
His recommendation was that people follow Jesus, not him. Christmas is not at all about us: our level of hospitality, generosity or perfectionism. It is, and absolutely should be, all about Jesus.
His responsibility was to fulfil the role he received as part of the plan of salvation, even if that meant losing his own life.
That calling ultimately led to his redundancy, to slipping off into the shadows and letting Jesus take centre stage.
When we see these aspects of how John lived, it challenges every aspect of how we view Christmas, especially in the more decadent, materialistic west. His lifestyle is a harsh rebuke on the way we live and our attitude towards the things God has given us.
Maybe it’s one we ought to listen more carefully to this Christmas.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, your cousin John presented a strong challenge to the people of his day. I find his lifestyle no less of a challenge today. Help me to apply the lessons to how I celebrate Christmas. Amen.
Questions
1. Who was John the Baptist? What role did he have to play?
2. What was his message?
3. Why is this relevant today, especially to how we celebrate Christmas? What was the most striking part of this meditation for you?
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