John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
The Gospel of John begins with an early Christian hymn… John 1: 1-5 “1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Recently Rabbi Jason Sobel explained that these verses meant that all of creation came through Jesus who was the Word. He also explained that though we think of Jesus’s earthly father as being a carpenter- he was more likely was an architect. I am still trying to mull over this information.
The hymn turns into telling us who John was. We know him as John the Baptist. A cousin of Jesus. There are six months between them. John, himself, was a miracle baby who was born to parents too old to have children, but they had John. John went into the wilderness, had an odd diet, and wore odd clothes, but people listened to him so much that Herod Antipas and the High priests got concerned. They sent people to question him in Bethany where John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing. It went something like this.
“Just who are you?” Those men asked of him.
“I am not the Messiah,” John the Baptist responded. He kept on preaching.
The men demanded, “Are you Elijah?”
John the Baptist answered, “I am not.” He kept preaching.
The men are frustrated, “Are you the Prophet?”
John turned and said, “No,” and he kept preaching.
There was anger in the men’s voices, “Just who do you think you are?”
John turned and looked at them and maybe had a slight smile, “I am the voice in the wilderness.”
This the men knew because it came from Isiah and was a prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah.
For a moment they were bamboozled because of what he said, and they finally asked, “Then why are you baptizing if you are not the Messiah, Elijah, or the Prophet?”
John the Baptist answered, “I baptize in water, but there is One among us that you do not know. I am not worthy to untie his sandals.”
The men left frustrated and thought maybe just maybe John the Baptist was not thinking straight, but yet they heard his sermon, and maybe deep inside their souls they knew this was not the truth that they thought, but they chose not to believe. How often do we hear the truth and tell ourselves it is not.
Two of the followers of John the Baptist were John, one of the sons of Zebedee, and Andrew, brother of Peter.
The next day, Jesus walks through the crowd to be baptized by his cousin. As he approaches, John the Baptist says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John the Baptist has just announced that Jesus is the Messiah. In Genesis 22:7-8, which is where Isaac asked his father Abraham where is the Lamb for the sacrifice. Abraham says the Lord will send the Lamb for the sacrifice. What John the Baptist is saying is that this the Lamb that God sent that is mentioned in the Torah. The cleansing away sins with water is mentioned in the Bible, and was a custom of the times.
John the Baptist says, “I am not worthy to baptize you.”
Jesus answered, “This is to fulfill the law.”
After Jesus was baptized, in the other three gospels it states that God said that this was His son with whom he is well pleased. In John the Baptist preached that he saw a white dove come out of heaven and lighting on Jesus and that was how he knew that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit.
This is the story of John the Baptist. The men listening went back to tell what they had heard.
But what does this mean for us now… many think this is a piece of fiction. I pray for those who read this that think that way. I pray that fiction disappears, and the Truth is exposed to them in such a way they cannot deny it. They may not be able to say it is the Truth but they may still deny it… it is the way of people. I stopped denying the Truth. It is how I came to know that Jesus is the Lamb of God.
As we take day by day the walk towards Easter, we need to remember how this story began. This is where Jesus’ ministry actually begins. His walk towards calvary begins at this moment. It will take three years to get there, but this is where it begins.
For us now, contemplate about this journey that Jesus is embarking on, and that he knows what the outcome will be. This will not be an easy journey, but it is one that He will complete.
Today’s Question:
What did baptism mean to you before you accepted Christ, and what does it mean now that you have accepted Christ?
Ever in Christ’s Love,
Mary Elizabeth Todd
February 19, 2024 & June 12, 2024
Ruhamah United Methodist Church Bible Verses 