The True Messiah (John 1:6-9)

Imagine you are attending a seminar, a conference or a talk by someone popular.  Or imagine you are watching the Oscars.  Have you notice how much effort the organizers exert to identify the presenter of the Key Speaker or the Best Actor or Actress?  Did you notice all the efforts they have to put in so that they can introduce that special person, that Best Actor or Actress, that Key Speaker very well?  For the Oscars alone, the presenter is almost always an A-Lister in Hollywood.  That’s how special the message is.  That’s how special the person who is about to be introduced.  And it’s never about the presenter.

Just recently, I was invited to deliver the commencement address to the graduating class of my elementary school.  The Principal and almost all the teachers went to our home to talk to me and my parents.  Probably to get a glimpse of how I am at home or the kind of person before the eyes of the people who know me and are close to me.  They asked questions about my current work, the works I had, the schools I’d been, awards, affiliations, etc.   These people wanted to know a little more about me before they present me to the graduating class – before I give my message. 

I think there’s more than just courtesy in there.  I believe that what they've done was due diligence.  Those people wanted to know me better so they can introduce me better.  But to make their work a bit easier, I asked my wife to draft the introduction and gave it to the school as guide.  Who would know me better than the very person I spend all of my time and secrets with. 

Join me as we take a first look on how Jesus was introduced by John the Baptist.

†In the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“God sent John the Baptist to tell everyone about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.  John himself was not the light; he was only a witness to the light.  The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was going to come into the world.”  (John 1:6-9 NLT)

John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin from His mother’s side.  John was a little older than Jesus - by merely three months.  If you are like me who grew up in the province and with closed family-ties, then you might be close to your cousins as well.  Jesus and John did not come from well-off families.  Probably, they grew up together.  I Imagine Jesus and John as kids, playing in the dirt during summer and enjoying themselves running and dancing together under the rain.  I can even imagine the two of them talking about the pretty girls they meet.  They are both humans after all.  I don’t know what was John’s profession but I know Jesus became a carpenter.  They are about thirty years old when something happened.  John was called to be in the wilderness.  He threw off his clothes and dressed in camels’ hair instead.  His food?  Locusts and honey.  John became a mad man in our today’s standard.  A crazy one crying out for the people to repent and turn away from their sins for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Imagine you are in a country under foreign rulers and your prophets of early days promised you of a deliverer, a Messiah that will liberate your nation.  Scholars said that during this time in Jesus’ life, there were a lot of people who claimed that they were the promised Messiah – the one promised to unite and rule the kingdom of God just as David did in his time.  Many of these so called messiahs failed.  Of course we know, that because we know who the True Messiah Is.  

So during those times, John was so bold asking people to turn away from their wicked ways.  Could he just be another one of those so-called messiahs?  Probably that was what the people were asking then.  They came to the Jordan River to see John the Baptist and hear his message.  Many believed in him because we know he had his own disciples.  But I still believe there were skeptics who went there to question if John’s message was true?  If he is the promised prophet who will come before the Messiah?  Or if he is the promised Messiah?  John became popular those days.  We can almost see him both as a hero to his people and a threat to the rulers of that time.  He might have won a few friends but he certainly had a lot of enemies.

People who were desperate for a savior, people who wanted liberation from the foreign rulers, people who were tired of poverty, hunger, illness, and persecution were looking for miracles – looking for hope.   And they thought they found it by the Jordan River through John the Baptist. 

But from among the many nameless faces in the crowd gathering around John, his beloved cousin came silent as a cat.  John was a flickering light of hope during those times, but a “nameless face in the crowd” would change that forever.  John was about to become a channel of a Divine Message far greater than what he had been preaching all this time.  The True Light was about to reveal Himself to the world through “mad-man John.”  And what makes John special to be called as the presenter of the True Light of the World was not any of his heavenly visions or divine appointments, but because he was related to Him by blood.  They were childhood friends.  They probably grew up together.  They knew each other well.  That what makes John the Baptist special to be called to announced the forthcoming salvation. 

In our world today, we see a lot of “John the Baptists.”  These are the people who preach about Jesus.  We see them on televisions, on concert halls, on lavished buildings, hear them on the streets, on radio, and read about them and their messages on books, magazines and the internet.  Today, they no longer shout in the wilderness.  They no longer wear clothes of camel hairs nor eat locust and honey.  Today, many of them wore expensive designer clothes, eat delicious foods and drink the best wines.  They no longer sleep in caves of the wilderness because they own big and grand houses. 

These modern John the Baptists still shout the same cry the first John shouted about 2000 years ago.  “Prepare a straight pathway for the Lord’s coming (Jn. 1:23).”  We hear them alright, but like the people of the old, some of us listened and act, some just stood and wonder.  Is it because we grew too used to their messages or is it because they don’t really know this Jesus they are talking about?

Next time we hear of a modern John the Baptist, care to take some time to listen to his message.  Does he really know who is this Jesus he is referring to?  Would he trade everything he has, put on a camels’ hair as robe, eat locusts and honey, and live in caves to get his message across?  I’m sure there are some who will.  But many will fold.  Why?  They really don’t know who Jesus is because they never had the experience to sing and dance and cry with Him out in the rain. 

Test these voices that cry-out in the wilderness.  There is only One True Light – and He’s not one of them.  So before you put your trust in that flickering light in the dark; listen, think, and search for the One Who Gives Light to Everyone – that’s Jesus and there’s no one else. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  Amen! †