John the Baptist was the voice crying out in the desert to prepare the way of the LORD. He was the one who would go before the LORD to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. He leaped with joy even in womb of his mother Elizabeth when he first met encountered Jesus. He was humble enough before Jesus that he could scarcely honor his request for baptism But he was obedient enough to honor it. Yet he was not without trials. From prison he sent his followers to make sure that Jesus was the one on whom they waited after all, that they had he not done what he had done in vain. Even so, he never gave up. He let himself be strengthened and held firm until the end.
Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,
those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God.
John didn't have much in the way of credentials to impress the worldly. Compared to the educated elites he must have seemed foolish. Compared to the authorities he doubtlessly seemed weak. But God chose him just for these reasons, to shame the wise, to shame the strong, to reduce to nothing those who are something so that no human being might boast before God. It was this contrast between worldly expectations of greatness and what people discovered in John, whom they recognized as a prophet, that silenced other voices. This meant that the voice crying out in the desert could be heard. That voice in turn had to decrease so that Jesus could increase. John, by virtue of his nothingness was the perfect one to first proclaim Christ.
What of us? Are we preoccupied with wisdom and strength? Do we imagine that these are the means by which our own era will be saved? From John we learn that if we are unwilling to be seen as foolish and weak, unwilling to be despised, we will not be able to have a meaningful impact. Any worldly wisdom or strength will not be able to point to the only possible solution, Jesus Christ. Instead it will result in human projects which begin, perhaps, with promise, but which can never entirely fulfill the longings they are meant to solve.
We must learn from John to be willing to decrease so that Jesus can increase. Most of us would have a hard time finding a ministry imprisoned by Herod. John might well have given up at that point and retired from the prophetic roll. It would have even been easy to give in to despair. But when John was tempted to despair in prison he turned to the Word of God, by asking his disciples to go on his behalf to Jesus.
Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. (see Matthew 11:4-5).
The assurance given by the Word of God himself helped John to find strength that could not come from wisdom and strength of this world. It gave meaning to a ministry that seemed hopeless, that appeared most likely to be futile in the eyes of the world.
Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,
and kept him in custody.
When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,
yet he liked to listen to him.
This last small ministry of John might have seemed to be futile. It was certainly not recorded in history that Herod ever really amended his life. Perhaps he did when he eventually died in exile. Perhaps having had his own power and the pretense of wisdom stripped from him made him respect the prophet he had killed all the more. But regardless, John died a martyr's death. It was not simply contingent on the success of specific actions of his, but as an entire life marked by fidelity that he would be known. This entire life was given as a witness to Jesus. But had he not been willing to be faithful even in the small and ignominious role he had at the end, his whole life could not have been thus offered as we in fact the case, as a pleasing sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the LORD.
When his disciples heard about it,
they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
Imagine instead a John who wouldn't say things hard for Herod to hear, but instead stoked his ego, buttered him up, and tried to persuade him to release him. Perhaps then he could get back to the business of his real ministry? This is the end of worldly wisdom and strength: compromise. It would have been a compromise to his whole identity as witness and prophet. But there was no compromise in John.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust.
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