THE SECOND MESSAGE OF JOHN - “I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.”
Once, some of John’s disciples pointed out that Jesus was baptising and everyone was going to Him. John had the same problem as Jesus - his disciples not grasping what he repeatedly told them. John was preparing the way for Messiah, but those protective disciples didn’t get it. John (cue eye roll) reminded them, “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’” John was glad people were going to Jesus. His mission was being fulfilled. “He must increase; I must decrease.”
We can learn from this. It’s not about me, it’s about Jesus. We seek to do a great job for the Lord, not get praise for ourselves. He must increase; we must decrease. Christ is more important than our service for Him. Jesus is centre of attention. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
More of a tangent, than an attempt at exegesis, this message of “He must increase; I must decrease” reminds me of something Clive said last year. "The people in our church over 50 are mostly white; the people under 50 are mostly from ethnic minorities. We must get used to seeing more ethnic minority people involved in ministry and this will change how we do things." Ministry goes beyond standing up front in church, but in that too “white” people may decrease and “non-white” increase. Ministry isn’t something white people inherently do to others. We’re one in Christ and God’s gifts are not distributed ethnically. I wonder if we have untapped preachers, leaders, singers amongst the Iranians, Pakistanis, Africans, West Indians (as well as Brits)?
Jesus was a very different Messiah than John expected and John came to doubt. He was in prison, so maybe we can forgive him his uncertainty. Adversity crushes the spirit and tests faith to the limit. John needed reassurance so sent some disciples to ask Jesus if He really was Messiah after all. Jesus replies: “Go back and tell John what you are hearing and seeing: the blind can see, the lame can walk, those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor. How happy are those who have no doubts about me!” Jesus redirected John’s thoughts. John was fixated on Isaiah 40. Jesus points him to Isaiah 61. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” We look back and see a developed understanding of the first and second coming of Christ. John was totally unaware of this. In the midst of troubles, we can’t see how they’ll resolve. We need encouragement to trust God; we need to know, “is this Christianity malarkey a load of old guff or is Jesus who He says He is?” No matter how convinced we are of God’s goodness when things go well, we easily forget it when trouble comes.
When baptising Jesus, John saw the Spirit descend and stay on Jesus, as God told him in advance. Yet he came to question whether Jesus really was Messiah. This is a warning. We’re to be confident in God’s power to keep us but not complacent, as if we’re untouchable. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. He sought to devour Jesus. He sought to devour Peter. He sought to devour John the Baptist. Are we immune? Philippians 2:12-13: “Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.”
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