2 January 2015 - from the beginning

“I baptize with water;
but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” 

John knows his mission is to prepare the way of the Lord. He is popular. The people of Jerusalem and all of Judea go out to him (cf. Mat. 3:5) even though he's in the middle of the desert. Even the Pharisees and Sadducees can't stay away. If they can't accept his message at the very least they can't ignore it. It is easy for people in a situation like the one in which John finds himself to make a subtle shift in message. Even if the content of the message isn't entirely different it becomes more about the person delivering the message than the message itself. But not with John. When folks become popular they usually ride the momentum and try to increase. As a result the actual message they have decreases. But not with John. He is faithful to his anointing of the Holy Spirit which is on him since birth (cf. Luk. 1:15). This special anointing is to prepare the way for "the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit" (cf. Joh. 1:33).

And now we ourselves are baptized with the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation. We must now be faithful to this anointing just as John the Baptist is faithful to his. We hear from the beginning the truth of who Jesus is. We hear that he brings us into relationship with his Father. We hear the promise of eternal life. We don't need anyone to teach us anything new. We need to rediscover what we already know. Yes, we are anointed. Yes, we know the truth. But this anointing and truth are able to transform us more than we have allowed so far. At the most basic level they keep us free from error. But at a deeper level they guide us into a relationship with Jesus that is personal. We "confess" him, not like a crime about which we are embarrassed, but like confessed love. We "remain in him", not just in what we hear about him. And when we have Jesus we have the Father, too. We have the anointing and the truth that makes this possible but we are often content with too little. We are content to just know things about him when we are called to remain in him. We may talk up the truths when the real content of the message is neglected. The real content of the message is a person. Because of that, the message has power, if we'll use it, to keep us in such a close relationship with that person that we remain in him.

The LORD wants us to fan into flame the gift we have received through baptism and through the laying on of hands (2 Tim. 1:6). It isn't just in the time of John the Baptist. The LORD wants to make his salvation known now, today, starting with you and I.

All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.