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?"  "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 read the Prologue to John's Gospel, verses 1-18.  It tells us who Christ is, and sets out the theology that would be put into the Creed at the Nicene Council.  Some of the language of the Nicene Creed is taken directly from these verses.   It tells also of John the Baptist and his role as witness to the Light.  See Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

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?"  "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." John the Baptist was a towering figure among people in his own time, considered a holy man even by King Herod, who had John imprisoned and later beheaded.  So the interest of the religious leadership is a natural response to the powerful ministry which attracted all people in John's baptizing.  "Who is he?" becomes the important question, in a time when people await a deliverer and popular expectations of the Messiah are high.  John confesses that he is not the Christ, nor the Prophet, not Elijah, none of the "awaited" or "expected" figures.  My study bible points out that "John the Baptist is a prophet, but not the Prophet, the messianic Moses=-like figure expected by the Jews."  But John likens himself to "the prophetic forerunner of Christ spoken of by Isaiah (see Is. 40:3)," says my study bible.  He will announce that the Messiah is present in the world -- and also reveal Him in the verses to come.

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.  As usual, the questions of the religious establishment tend toward the authority of a person not among them to perform particular acts, and we will see this reflected in the questioning of Jesus.  Here, the question is about John's baptism, which other Gospels tell us was so widespread that even those among the leadership were coming to him at the Jordan for baptism.  John, in true saintly fashion, only points to the One who is to come.  His emphasis is completely on the Christ, and it is this great event -- the One who is even among them that they do not know -- who is the great One to come.  In the true voice of a prophet, this great holy man's words emphasize the truly expected one.  It is a statement of his humility.

Tomorrow Lent begins in the West.  As we think about John the Baptist's words it's important that we understand what a tremendous reputation he had.  It was so great that the religious leadership feared the people's response should they act against him, even when John was scathing to them.  Many of Jesus' early disciples were the Baptist's disciples first, as we shall see in the next few readings in John.  But the Baptist's hallmark is his tremendous humility before God.  He lived a life of radical poverty, so as to keep this service in mind.  When questioned by the leadership, he could have claimed any number of things because of the beliefs of people about his ministry, but true to his identity as forerunner and prophet, his reply is only concerned with Christ, whom he knows to be among them.  His eye is on his mission and his service to God, and his heart is wholly given over to this mission.  Let us consider, during Lent, what our missions are in the heart dedicated to God.  It's not a simple nor easy thing to give oneself over to God in the heart, but it is something to be worked at each day, especially through prayer.  The radical humility of John is simply a sign of the great dedication to something of which human beings are wholly capable.  But it starts in the heart and it starts with prayer.  Each of us has something to give to God, something through which God's light shines into the world.  This Lent, begin in the heart, simply with devotion, and with love.  That is how we "make straight the way of the Lord."