One wonders what it was all like from the view of John the Baptist:
I was so certain…I want to still be certain…but the experience of meeting him and the experience I am now in…I can’t seem to make them stand together in the same mind.
He came to me! It was so strange that he should come to me, but he did. I baptized the Lamb of God, the Messiah! I trembled as I did it, bewildered at having such a tremendous task in my hands. And right then and there the heaven’s opened! Jehovah spoke and the Holy Spirit settled on him! And it just stayed there on him!
It was all happening so dramatically and so quickly. Generations of hopes and expectations were finally going to break out in the world! The prophets spoke such great words of promise and hope for us, it seemed at times that all of it could only be stories, but here it was – happening in front of me! I was in the middle of it all!
As he continued up the river bank I wondered what he would say, what he would do. He walked up the bank…and he kept walking…and walking…he walked out of sight. Not a word to any of us. No call to arms, not a call to repentance, no great revelation, no summoning of angelic hosts to battle as in the days of King David. Where was the might and fire we were waiting for? Where the swift arm of God’s salvation? Where the strong hand of justice for the weak? Where the Messiah? That was him, right? I saw what I saw, I heard what I heard…that did happen…It did.
He came back! Doing miracles and teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven. He spent time with…sinners and traitors? With women? Ignorant tradesmen? What good, a fisherman? Can you fish for people? The unclean, prostitutes, tax collectors, Samaritans, what kind of Kingdom is he assembling??
And I, I sit in prison because I was unafraid to speak truth to power. Does Jesus know I’m here? It’s been so long…doesn’t he care what has happened to me? Doesn’t he care about the way things are? He must care…he must. Maybe he can’t do anything about it. But he is the Messiah, isn’t he? When will he stop teaching and healing and become king? Did I misread the signals? Is he the one? I send some old disciples to ask.
He sent me back a message…”You know what I have done. You know who I am. Trust me.”
Somehow when I heard his answer, it felt like the burden he was carrying was so much heavier than the burden of my own doubts. If believing in him will make his heart a little less heavy…I will lay my burden down, and I will be glad to have made his burden lighter. Even without understanding all that he does…I will trust who he is.
Rev. Joseph Hill
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