011820-B Jn. 1. 29-42
IT’s me, JOHN THE BAPTIZER.
The son of Zechariah and Elizabeth—originally from the Judea Hill Country…
You can find me most days, along the Jordan’s BANKS.
Or, in the area of the DEAD SEA… That’s MY TURF.
YOU won’t believe WHAT just happened to me.
“THIS is ridiculous, I tell you!”
How much “SLACK” do I give them?
How much ROPE? Do I wait for them to come back?
C’mon…REALLY?
I suppose it is “my entire fault” ACTUALLY.
You know, I AM KNOWN for “opening my BIG MOUTH” and “saying the wrong things” AT THE wrong times…
Sometimes, “stuff” just COMES OUT…
And, once it is OUT THERE…it is OUT THERE.
Sometimes, there is NO HOLDING BACK…there is no capturing it and reeling it back in…
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT: There I said it.
I never expected THIS, though!
Talk about “FICKLE…”
Talk about people not being FULLY COMMITTED…or having FOLLOW THROUGH…anymore…
They just LEFT.
They UPPED and walked away…
No, LOOKING back, either…
No, fond FAREWLLS…
No, NICE knowing you…
No THANKS! For all that you taught us…
No, thanks for instilling “a greater prayer life in us…”
NOPE, none of that, they just “walked away…”
I am still IN shock…honestly!
I would have never expected it from THEM…
THESE GUYS were solid.
They were RIGHTEOUS DUDES…
You do understand they were MY DISCIPLES, right? (They studied under ME!)
Boy, it didn’t take much DID IT?
Maybe…perhaps…they “WANTED OUT” OF HERE and didn’t know how to TELL ME. So when they saw “an opening”…they JUST split…
Faster than you can say, “Jumping Jehoshaphat” they were GONE and OUT of SIGHT.
Here ONE minute. Gone the NEXT…
That’ll teach ME.
I should NEVER have said anything.
I should have never drawn THEIR ATTENTION TO HIM in the first place! MY BAD.
But for some reason, there was no holding it in.
I mean, there he was, THE RABBI, Jesus of Nazareth…walking along with this BIG CROWD of people following him.
I merely said, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away THE SIN of the world!”
That’s … ALL IT TOOK.
You know, I think they thought “about that” ALL NIGHT LONG.
It was like some kind of an obsession…or something…
So the very next day, I spied him again!
And again, all I SAID was, “Look, here is the LAMB OF GOD.”
And the next thing you know, I am standing all alone…by myself.
They disappeared.
I looked and THEY were following HIM.
A couple of my BEST disciples…vanished, gone, no MORE.
NOW apparently, they are followers of HIM.
What did I say?
Yeah, people are talking about him as Messiah…as being God’s anointed one.
People are talking about his SIGNS and the WONDERS he performs.
People are saying he is MORE than a PROPHET. Some are talking about great HEALINGS…
He DOES draw massive CROWDS…and the people are following HIM from village to village.
But “two of my OWN disciples” – gone just like that…
John, John, John you have to watch that mouth of yours, or SOME DAY, it will REALLY GET YOU INTO some “serious” TROUBLE!
AND. as for the Rabbi, if I was YOU, I would keep my eye on him…he has stirred “the hearts” and “the minds” of all the people.
If he is “half” of what people say about him, this is going to be REALLY GOOD.
I’d keep my eye on him, if I were YOU…Amen.