A LAMB AND A DOVEReading: John 1: 29-37
John the Baptist was a rather strange, lonely man. He was prophetic and fiery, but he was also, paradoxically, a mystic. His whole life was dedicated to one purpose, to prepare the way for the one who was to come after him. At first glance one might be excused for thinking him to be a tragic figure, most of his life being spent in the wilderness of Judea, obviously in prayerful preparation for the day when he began to proclaim his message of repentance. He had a short time of great popularity when people flocked to hear him and to respond to his preaching and to be baptised. Then Jesus came. John stepped back and, not long afterwards, was arrested, imprisoned and executed by order of Herod Antipas. While he was in prison doubts assailed him as to whether Jesus really was the Messiah, or whether people should look for someone else. Jesus’ message back to him must have reassured him, but also, I believe that what John saw in the spiritual realms on the banks of the Jordan some time before must have sustained him. On the day that Jesus came to him by the Jordan River, John said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” And later he said, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know then he was the one, but when God told me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘When you see the Holy Spirit descending like a dove and resting upon someone, he is the one you are looking for. He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Son of God.”
Jesus’ journey was to lead him like a lamb to the slaughter, to take upon himself the sin of the world, to willingly submit to death so that all people who ever were or are or are yet to come might be given the opportunity to be Kingdom people. John ‘saw’ this in the unseen world. He also ‘knew’, confirmed for him by the vision, that Jesus was the one who would baptise in the Holy Spirit, who would empower those who believed to be his witnesses in the world. Before people could fully receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus had to return to heaven via the cross. That is what we remember and relive in these weeks coming up to Easter.
John the Baptist’s mission was over, his life cut short, you might think. Yet Jesus said of him, “I assure you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the most insignificant person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is.” John prepared the way. Jesus is the Way, the way to the Kingdom, to the Father. Jesus is the Lamb who takes away our sins and the sins of all the world. And he sends the Holy Spirit to empower us to live as an Easter people whose song is ‘Alleluia.’
But thanks be to God for John the Baptist who was the first to bear witness to Jesus, and whose faith, courage and sense of destiny and purpose still inspire us today.