Testify Cousin!

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’  I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.”  John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’  I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29-34 NASB)

John the Baptist has testified to the messengers from Jerusalem, and now he does so to his own disciples.  The way the gospel writer presents it, the baptism of Jesus has already taken place, and the followers of John weren’t there to witness it.  So the Baptizer describes it for them and tells the importance of it.  The irony is that John the Baptist is related to Jesus, and from the other Gospels, knows who He is.  It seems that he really understood who Jesus was only at the baptism event.  The irony is brought out by the Gospel writer in that he uses an old verb.  It used to mean to see, but now is only used for knowing.  By choosing that verb, John the Apostle brings out the limitations of knowledge based on seeing.  John the Baptist had seen his cousin before, but still didn’t know Jesus until he baptized Him.

John the Apostle was using John the Baptist to make a clear statement about who Jesus is, and lending weight to that statement with the Baptizer’s notoriety.  But what does that mean for me, and tell me about Jesus?  First off, John’s testimony is part of the important thing here.  Jesus is the Son of God, and that was revealed to John at the Baptism.  This forms the completion of the linkage between the Apostle’s reference to the “Word of God” and the person of Jesus.  This is the single most important element in John’s testimony.  Jesus walks among them, just like so many others.  Jesus looks like others, He does the things others do, and isn’t remarkable in any other way. Even His cousin doesn’t see Him for who He is.  Finally, to John the Baptist He is revealed as the Son of God.  I doubt the irony is lost on the Baptizer.

Still, even though John knows Jesus because they are cousins, he also seems to know something of who Jesus really is even before he baptizes Jesus.  When Mary shows up to Elizabeth, both pregnant, John leaps in his mother’s womb.  He knows, somehow John knows Jesus is more than just some guy.  I think that even then, the Holy Spirit formed a connection between them.  Yet, John says he did not “know” Him.  When Jesus arrives to be baptized, John says that he needs to be baptized by Jesus; clearly he knows Jesus is important.  Here again is a partial vision, slowly clearing for the prophet, finally resolving itself around Jesus.  The glimpse becomes a clearer, yet puzzling vision.  Even so, there had to be indications before, just not enough to make it irrefutable in John’s mind.  It took a dove and a voice to make him completely sure.

What glimpse do I gain of my Master here through the testimony of these two John’s?  I see several things.  First, I see my Master is a Lamb of sacrifice, but this time for the whole of creation.  The reason that is important is that John wonders later on, yet here seems to know that Jesus came to be sacrificed for all.  Do I forget the basic things I once knew of my Master?  Does my faith waver while waiting?  Is my Master ever not the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?  With His sacrifice what else can I add to make me acceptable to my Master; how can that not be enough?

I also see that my Master is not easy to understand, even for those close to Him.  I see that His own cousin only had a minor glimpse into who He was and what He had come to do, yet was His forerunner to prepare His way.  I can be used by my Master without perfect knowledge, as long as I obey.  I have to accept that I will never know all there is of my Master, but I will strive to always know more of Him.  Yet I have to accept that it’s not my knowledge but my obedience that makes me of use to Him.  Knowing Him is eternal life, I can only assume knowing Him more is a more abundant life.  That’s great for me, but others are blessed as I obey Him.

What does it take for me to confess that Jesus is the Son of God?  I have confessed that He is, that He is my Lord, and that He has been raised from the dead.  And I didn’t need a dove and a voice at the River Jordan to gain that knowledge.  I read about it though.  The testimony of John the Baptist still has the effect of forerunning redemption.  It still carries weight.  What will mine carry after I’m gone?  Or will it carry anything?  After all, it is not about me or even my testimony.  It’s about the One I testify about.  Do I live a life that lends weight to the truth of my Master? 

The view of my Master’s face is more glorious in this passage.  I see more of the juxtaposed holiness and immanence of my Master.  He is all Holy, yet also lives within me, a seemingly strangely profane person.  But He makes me holy by His very presence.  I tarnish that holiness by my profane living, and He purifies me as I confess.  The Master of the universe, all matter, and every living thing, lives within me.  He does so by choice.  He is no longer far off as the stars, or infinitesimally small as a quark.  I can experience Him, He is close, and I am never out of His grasp.  He loves me, He has my back, and He calls me to be at His service.  Excuse me while I get my towel.

Answers, Short and Cryptic, Given While You Wait

This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"  And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."   They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."   Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"   He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,' as Isaiah the prophet said." 24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.   They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"   John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know.   "It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."   These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. (John 1:19-28 NASB)

In the story of Jesus there are people who…are just plain frustrating.  Actually Jesus is one of them.  In this first chapter of John, I meet another.  John the Baptist sort of reminds me of Baptist preachers I have known.  Having been one once, I have met more than my fair share.  In this passage he seems to be having fun frustrating his inquisitors.  He answers their questions, but he doesn’t seem willing to give them answers that will satisfy their purpose.  When asked who he is, he quotes Isaiah 40:3, a verse referring to the return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem; a verse on redemption and the road home.  Still, it is a stretch right here.

The only real problems about this passage have to do with some details about the wording of the back and forth questions, and where it took place.  The frustrating nature, short answers, and cryptic quote are all attested very early on.  The passage remains one of those elements John has included for one of those audiences long gone with issues long forgotten.  Today, no one really views John the Baptist as the Messiah or as having been the forerunner of someone who is yet to be revealed.  In the Apostle’s day, that was still an issue, and enough of one that he includes these elements right up front.  But there is still something I find here.

My best view of my Master in this passage comes in the cryptic quote.  John’s view of himself comes from his calling, and so it comes from my Master.  It’s an odd view, and one that illuminates for me a character of my Master, the assignments He makes, and how I should respond within His assignment to me.  The passage John quotes is from Isaiah 40.  So I will start with that element.  Then I will pick apart John’s answers, especially the last one.

Isaiah 40 is the segue chapter between the prophecies referring to events during Hezekiah’s reign and those referring to the period of the Exile of Judah in Babylon.  It is in the second section of Isaiah that are found the Servant Songs that eventually refer very clearly to the coming Messiah and less and less to the nation itself.  It is in this section that the return of the Exiles becomes the focus, and encouragement for those in captivity.  It begins with the “Highway of Yahweh through the desert”.  It introduces this “Highway” by quoting a voice calling out in the wilderness.  The voice uses a simple Hebrew poetic line with two parallel feet. 

The Baptizer only quotes the intro and the first foot.  The second foot, “Make smooth in the desert a highway of our God” is left unquoted.  The piece unquoted is the part specific to the return of the exiles.  The first, by itself, can be interpreted more widely.  It just seems out of context to use it this way.  Yet in this verse in Isaiah, who the voice in the desert might be isn’t clear either.  Is it a third party observer of the return?  Is it the prophet writing?  Is it the returning exiles?  It just seems out of place somehow in the chapter.  So, why is it there?  Well, my Master seems to have applied it to His servant John.

The Inspiring One has applied this verse to the “forerunner” of His Son.  He rejected the title of “Elijah” yet he filled that role.  He rejected the title of “The Prophet” yet he is certainly like one of the prophets.  His reference for himself comes from a passage that is an odd one considering the people of Israel are not in captivity or exile.  And considering their current historical setting, those words could be inflammatory.  It could be interpreted to refer to the Roman occupation, and a coming overthrow, an event that doesn’t happen.  Does John see himself as the forerunner of a successful rebellion against Rome?  Again, it doesn’t seem so.

I get the impression from John’s responses that he really isn’t completely clear on his role either.  From passages after this one, I discover that he has been waiting for someone and some event.  Even he isn’t sure who is coming, nor what he will do.  He’s not the Messiah, he’s not the Prophet, he’s not Elijah, but instead he’s a voice preceding the redemption by God of His people.  I can imagine being John, having clarity right up to the point where I know something important is coming, but not being given the vision of what that important thing will be.  Perhaps John is simply passing on his frustration to his inquisitors.  With all John does know he is keenly aware that there is a lot he doesn’t know.

How willing am I to be obedient in a “fog”?  How willing am I to follow the will of my Master knowing it’s not the end but the beginning or middle, with only so much vision, with the sense that I am not getting the complete picture, and therefore with the knowledge that I won’t be there for the finale.  I would have to accept that this path He has put me on is not about me, but instead about Him, His purposes, and His plan.  I so want to be in there, mixing it up, and showing off really.  He so wants me in the background, supporting, and obedient.  I’m not even as peculiar a character as John, so I blend better than he did.  I can easily be lost in the set dressing.  And that is how it should be.  The center stage is now set for the Word becoming flesh.  The stage is set for Someone else.  Come Lord Jesus, live Your purpose through me.

Merry Christmas!

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.   John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'"   For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.  For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.  No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.  (John 1:14-18 NASB)

While what has been said so far is overwhelming, this is not all John has to say about my Master.  The Incarnation was for Paul an “emptying”, and for John, the Eternal Divine Word becomes flesh.  Having described the power and majesty existing before all else, existing with God, and being God, John turns now to the “pitching of tents”.  “The Word became flesh…”  He wasn’t before, but now He is.  All the glory and majesty described earlier lay contained in the baby resting in a feed trough in a stable, in a small town, in a small region of a small country, of a wide wild world which took no notice; we missed the whole thing. 

The Word with, being, and from the very breast of the Master of the universe shows up unannounced…oh wait, He was announced.  Well, He shows up in a strange place…oh wait; no, it was supposed to be in Bethlehem.  Okay, then He shows up to the lowest of parentage… but wait; no, they were still descendants of King David.  It happened as was announced, where it was supposed to happen, through whom it was supposed to happen, and even the part about a young virgin turns out as it was supposed to.  The Master of the universe enters human history as one of the human creatures and no one notices; well, almost no one.

In the star-lit heavens angels announce to local herdsmen, and in the East, the heavenly bodies reveal an Israeli King born of a virgin.  The shepherds take off to see, and so do the astronomers in the far off country.  One arrives that night, and the others take a few months, to years.  Why only them?  Why not the priests in Jerusalem, or the king in his palace?  The shepherds most likely worked for the wealthy priests or possibly the king.  But the important could not be bothered, and only the obscure took notice.

How often is my Master relating something to me so profound, it could change my life, and my face is buried in a book or computer screen, or television, and I miss it?  This cosmos swirls about at the beck and call of my Master, and He speaks through it to all His human creatures.  I should be one who hears, who sees, and who answers the message.  But am I?  Do I seek to hear His messages?  Scripture records His announcement of what will come, but do I look for those things?  Am I focused on the things of my Master, or things of my own?

The Word became flesh and camped in us.  How different is that today?  I don’t think it’s all that different.  Today, the Spirit of my Master lives within me, so, in a sense, He is still “camped” just in borrowed “flesh”.  Yet, I’m not permitting Him to have much control over this meat suit.  And it’s not just my suit, but of those I worship with and minister with, we all have this incarnation of the Master of the universe within us.  The Word is still flesh, still pitching His tent with us, just a lot closer than it was.  Now I am brought into God Himself through His Spirit.  And I’m MISSING IT!  I’m living my life, but it is NOT mine to live!  What am I doing?

The Baby resting in the smelly hay two millennia ago has brought the Creator and Master of all matter to live with His human creatures.  A helpless, yet fearless, baby lies forgotten by the world He came to save, and everyone’s okay with this?  Ironically, He seems to be.  He seems to want it that way or at least expect it.  Only the astronomers from the East bring royal gifts, everyone else ignores the event all together.  The shepherds come, but only briefly, and no one really believes them anyway, crazy old shepherds.  Jesus is content to sleep in complete obscurity.  Perhaps this is part of His selection process; another parable?

Still, this day, the minds of those around me and me are on the packages, the food, the kids, and the fun we have together.  Unless we work at it, the story is lost in the background, like the small stables and figures lost among the lights and pine needles.  The commercialism may not overtake the holiday for us, but sometimes the gifts outshine the Giver for me and my family.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  The story can be told first, of the best Gift of all.  Prayer of thanks can be said for what is received, thanking the One who truly gave, and has given every good and perfect gift.  It can happen, but only intentionally.

The Word has become flesh and lives within me, but the question remains, “Will I behold His glory, the glory of the Unique One from the Father full of grace and truth?”

Illuminating Children

There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.  He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.  There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:6-13 NASB)

In this passage the Light emerges to front center stage.  The Light is in the world yet misunderstood by the world; among His own yet rejected by His own; received by others who are then reborn by God Himself.  As if that were not enough to wade through, there is this illumination problem.  Either the True Light which illuminates every person is coming into the world; or this is the True Light which illuminates every person coming into the world.  This may seem like a semantic problem, but on the surface it could be seen to support an unorthodox belief.  In either translation, the True Light illuminates every person.  One implies potential illumination, the other actual illumination.  It is a matter of implied universalism.  Are all people illuminated, and therefore saved (universalism)?  Or do all people have the potential to be illuminated and therefore can be saved?

I think the context really argues against any sort of universalism since the rejection and ignorance is contrasted against the reception by those who become born of God.  So, really, I’m not bothered by either translation, nor am I bothered by some sense of universal illumination of God’s human creatures.  I think it works really well with the beginning of Romans where Paul claims that all people are without excuse for rejecting God.  While Paul points to a natural revelation, this common internal illumination works as well.  If the True Light illuminates everyone who comes into the world, then everyone is without excuse for rejecting or being ignorant of Him.  They reject or are ignorant of their own illumination by the divine Light.

Interpretations of possible translations aside, this selection of verses illuminate an amazing picture of my Master for me.  The first element to this beautiful image is the condescension of my Master to enter His own creation.  In Philippians, Paul says that He empties Himself to do it.  Here I see Him intentionally take on the scorn and apathy of His human creatures.  So, not only did He need to set aside the glory He had with the Father from before the foundations of the cosmos, He also has to endure little or no recognition, no thanks, from those He has come to save.  He is in His creation and it didn’t recognize Him.  He was among His own chosen people, and they rejected Him.  And yet He came.  He doesn’t leave in an offended huff, and stomp back off to heaven, obliterating all life on earth as He goes.   How unlike me He is here.  He is foreign, strange, and wonderful.

And then this Character of ironic mistreatment does the next most amazing thing.  He gives to those who do receive Him this right or authority to become born of God.  This is amazing, not only because it clearly not from anything human, but also because it is so much more than adoption.  Here the adoption is done through rebirth, even more than regeneration, perhaps more than transformation, those who received the Illuminating Word are given the power to be born of God.  The irony is driven by the opportunity cost paid by the ones apathetic and rejecting Him outright.  What could they have possibly gained through their rejection that could in any way compare to what they would have gained?  It’s crazy, they are crazy, and yet they, and often I, consider John and the Master of the universe crazy.  It is a sad irony full of death and evil.

I have been given the power to become born of the Creator of the universe.  I have been given this by the Creator Himself, by His choice, for receiving the Illuminating Light having come from beside Him.  It is the single most amazing thing about my life.  Everything else is mundane and common.  The only remarkable thing about me is my rebirth by my Master.  It comes not from my will, nor from my desires, but from my Master.  It is a gift He chooses to give.  My only claim to it is that it comes as I receive His divine Illuminating Word, Jesus.  I simply receive, and He keeps on giving.  I am overwhelmed by more than my senses can process, than my imagination can reach, and more than my reason can explain.  My only response is to let it wash over and through me, to submit to my Master’s work.  I can only let Him illuminate my soul with Himself.  I shatter in the process, but from the shards is formed a better creation.  Sure it hurts, but it also heals.

In the Beginning...

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (NASB)

This is one of the most beautiful passages for me.  It carries hope and peace for me because it takes me to when there was nothing but my Master, and He begins creation.  J.R.R. Tolkien depicts creation as a symphony concert.  But I can also imagine it as an unaccompanied solo by the greatest Tenor with boundless range and richest timbre.  I am carried there and the first impression given is the presence of my Master, described as a duality at this point in order to introduce the Word as the Leading Character. 

John demonstrates technical mastery in his description here.  The verbs to be are all in the imperfect tense.  What that means is that he has brought the eternal quality of the existence of God to the forefront.  This tense is explicit in the ongoing nature of the action (here existence), and as it is imperfect, it is left open at both ends.  This is exactly as it should be describing the existence of God, leaving no room for a time when this existence is not going on.  Only the verbs relating to creation of anything are left behind in the past; the existence of God transcends the past entirely.

Much is made of the term John uses for Jesus, Logos.  I like best the connection he draws between both Gentile and Jew when using this term at the point of creation.  For the Jews, creation happened through the word of God.  For the Gentile, “the word” is the rational structure underlying the world.  John ties both to Jesus and posits both philosophies in the Person being introduced.  I am immediately given the background of this Character as the Creator God, yet also in the presence of God ("with" used here does not mean "among" but "before" or "in the presence of"), and like any understanding of God, having no beginning or end. 

It is a rational problem for a human mind to regard anything to be distinct pieces yet singular, yet John does not shrink back from this conundrum, but places it squarely before me.  God is what and Who He is, not merely what or Who I can comprehend.  This is comforting because it is consistent with this immense and immensely complex universe I live in.  It answers the paradoxes, the ironies, the dilemmas, and overwhelmingly offsets the abundance of evil I see in others and myself.  It’s going to be okay because my Master is even more incomprehensible and complex than this life.

And in this passage, this infinite God, the Word, carries the light of the life of humanity, shining in the darkness.  Hope based in the Person I worship is brought immanently to me and is the life given to me as a gift.  I have light and life, and that in the Word.  If this light and life is in the Word, then this Word is also in me, or rather I am in Him since I live in the sphere of this life and this light.  John loves the preposition in.  It is a preposition that unmistakably conveys a position within something else.  I am in my Master wherein both life and light are.  But this light and life is the light of men, of people.  It’s more than my sphere.

The light, the Light of men, means that I don’t live in this sphere alone, and I don’t live with just those who recognize this sphere.  The darkness cannot grasp (with both the idiomatic and literal meaning that conveys) this light, but that does not mean it is any less the light of men.  The Word is Master, and I recognize Him as such.   But that does not make Him any less the Master of those around me.  He is Master regardless of the submission of others.  He is not threatened by the rebellion of His human creatures any more than He was of the deceiver, the accuser, Lucifer.  The Master retains mastery in the midst of apparent chaos.

And so I have hope.  And so I have peace.  As Jesus enters the world in a stable fearlessly, so I enter my day carrying this assurance that my Master remains Master over all; even the numbskulls I will encounter today.  My response should be love because I am freed to fearlessly love, even numbskulls.  I am a numbskull loved by the Master of the universe, the Life and Light of His human creatures.  What chaotic event should cause me fear?  What expectation should I have that I can control anything, but rather I should expect my Master’s control over all to be complete.  I have peace and I have hope because the Word is infinitely eternal.