06242020 – St. John, the Baptizer
The story of John is deep. It is multilayered. It does not take a Rhodes Scholar to see the similarities.
This may indeed surprise you.
But then again, it may not.
John’s story is Jesus’ story “in a nutshell.”
The two stories have so much similarity between them.
John is more than just a prelude. He is more than just a preview of what is to come. John is more than just a “warm act” awaiting the real celebrity to take the stage.
If you have ever read the “Synoptic Accounts” of Mark, Matthew and Luke…or have been in worship in the weeks before Christmas, then, you already know and “get it” that John comes before JESUS in order “to prepare the way.” It is a message that is hard to miss. It is a major theme of Advent.
But John is anything but transparent. The Baptizer fulfills his mission in multiple ways and on several levels, at the same time.
You know that John proclaimed a message of “forgiveness” or of “release.”
Later, when John is escorted off of his world-wide-stage, Jesus will proclaim the same message.
For both of them it was all about the complete forgiveness of sins…all sins.
Even though their lives were lived differently they both had similar societal ethics.
John required that people give to the poor.
Jesus required that people give to the poor.
John shouted that people needed to deal justly with their neighbors…with all of their neighbors.
Jesus picked up on and proclaimed the same message. Your neighbor is everything. The foreigner is everything. You treat ALL PEOPLE the way you yourself was not to be treated.
Their ethics were remarkably similar.
John was a “BIG DEAL” in the eyes of a lot of the people. Jesus was a “big deal” in the eyes of a lot of the people. Both of them had their own set of disciples.
As a matter of fact, it is thought that Andrew and Peter were originally disciples of John…leaving John behind to follow Jesus.
Ultimately, John will announce that he is not the “Messiah” the “Anointed One” because he was still-to-come.
An even broader outline shows even more similarities…as well as the fate of Jesus.
You may remember John’s birth was nothing short of miraculous. His mother was an “old-barren-woman” and his father a priest who served in Jerusalem.
The angel Gabriel makes an appearance.
You know that Jesus’ BIRTH is even a bigger DEAL. Jesus being born from a girl barely a woman and impregnated by the Spirit of the Living God.
Again, Gabriel makes an appearance.
People are in awe and wonder about both of these usual births.
John leaves mother and father and turns his back on the TEMPLE and the ministry of his father, for the hill country and wilderness. Jesus ABANDONS mother for an itinerant life of preaching, teaching, healing, and miracles.
Both will become huge successes and will be highly popular with the Jewish people in general. Both will tick off the religious and the political leadership.
John is born 6 months before Christmas Eve.
Both men will face execution…and public disgrace.
John is indeed the fore runner, but he is so much more. “The JOHN STORY” is more than a prelude. It is almost in a sense “prophetic.”
Elizabeth and Mary are kinswomen. John and Jesus are cousins.
John was so important in the life of the early church that only two saints are assigned two calendar dates. The first is Joseph, the second is John.
John is so much more than just a warm-up-act for Jesus. I “assume” that John showed Jesus “how to die with dignity and grace.”
The two stories are intertwined…from beginning to end. John is Jesus’ story in a nutshell…minus the resurrection, of course! But then, you knew all this. Amen.