I am "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Make straight the way of the Lord'"

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask Him, "Who are you?" He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" He said: "I am

'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

"Make straight the way of the LORD," '

as the prophet Isaiah said."

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose." These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

- John 1:19-28

In yesterday's reading, we began readings in the Gospel of John. John is known as the Theologian in the East, and so we are introduced to the true divine nature of Christ. In his prologue to the Gospel, we are told that in the beginning, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John the Baptist bore witness to the Light. This is the Light that gives light to all people coming into the world - but the world did not know Him, nor did His own receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, 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 wrote, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John the Baptist said, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.' " The Evangelist writes, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask Him, "Who are you?" He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." We begin with a kind of inquisition, and it sets the tone for what is to come with Jesus and His ministry. John the Baptist is a towering figure in his time and place, with many disciples and followers, among them the earliest disciples of Jesus. So the religious authorities send people to inquire of him: "Who are you?" John's humility is the hallmark characterization of his dynamic personality: "I am not the Christ," the Messiah, the Anointed One all are awaiting.

And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." My study bible notes, "The Baptist is a prophet, but not the Prophet, the messianic Moses-like figure expected by the Jews (Deut. 18:15, 18)."

Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" He said: "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the LORD," 'as the prophet Isaiah said." John comes to prepare everyone for the One who is coming. He knows the time, he anticipates what is to happen -- his ministry will lead others to Christ.

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose." These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. Bethabara is also Bethany, the place where Jesus' close friends, the family of brother and sisters Lazarus, Mary and Martha live. My study bible says of the Pharisees, they "refuse to repent. They see neither Jesus as the light nor the Father whom He revealed (8:19). Practicing external religion, they lack inward enlightenment. . . . John baptizes with water as a sign of repentance, but baptism with the Spirit can come only through Christ."

Let us view this scene for ourselves, from our perspective. John is baptizing with water. Everyone is coming to him. He's baptizing a baptism of repentance, in preparation for Christ, the One "whose sandal strap he's not worthy to loose." John in his lifetime was widely revered as a holy man by the people; his ministry was a kind of sensation in a time when people were looking to the promised Messiah for deliverance. But not to the Pharisees. They just can't see it. They're a part of a structure that regulates, and oversees, and John's a kind of wild card. Indeed, we know about his wild appearance from other descriptions in the Gospels. He preaches in the desert, the wilderness, where he makes his home. John is ultimately an outsider, and radically so. His humility in sharp contrast to the Pharisees whom we know from the Gospels, his radical commitment to service, his deference to Christ -- all these teach us about John the Baptist. He's a figure of whom, at the very least, it can be said as Jesus will say of Nathanael, he's "an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile." Widely commanding respect and reverence in his own time, John comes to us today as an example of service, a commitment to God that knows no other commitments. He's the prophet that will end the Old Testament prophets, and the greatest of them. Jesus will call him the one who returned in the spirit of Elijah. God's work can never be contained. John is a prime example of how God may come to us, the wildness of the Holy Spirit. In a time when all is codified, regulated and restricted, the Holy Spirit comes to us through John, and breathes out upon all who can hear the power of the One who is to come. Can we hear him?