John’s Gospel (the disciple of Jesus – not the baptizer) begins so majestically – so cosmologically. Instead of Mark’s Gospel that begins so quickly, Matthew’s Gospel that begins so genealogically, and Luke’s Gospel that begins so methodically, John gives us the big sweeping picture that ties together Genesis - with all it’s dazzling displays to of the Creator – with a humble arrival of that Creator come in the flesh of a baby lying in a manger in the remote town of Bethlehem.
And yet in the middle of John’s poetic telling of how the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, there is the baptizer named John (though we’ll technically dig deeper into those verses tomorrow). John the Gospel writer uses simple word pictures like the “Word” or the “light,” and yet these words were packed with meaning far beyond their common usages we tend to think of in our own experience.
And when you tie the grand imagery of the Apostle John with the work and mission of the John the Baptist, what you end up with is one simple word: WONDER. First of all I find myself WONDERing how much this baptizer named John, who spent his ministry seemingly somewhat isolated, could have understood John the Gospel writer’s first verses of the book of the Bible that shares his name. If the wilderness preacher had read the first fourteen verses from the first chapter of John, how much would he have understood? Would he have grasped that the Word who was with God, and was God, was Jesus? Would he have connected the light that gives light to all humans, with Jesus as the Light of the World – God’s Son come in the flesh? Or would much of these verses simply have flown right over the locust-eating preacher’s head?
Now I’ll admit that if we simply try to answer those wonderings of mine from these same fourteen verses of John’s Gospel, we’d have our opinions and your answers to those questions might even answer mine, but I’m not sure they’d have solid Biblical backing. So let’s move beyond these fourteen verses to other sections of the Gospel writers telling John the Baptist’s story, and I believe we can significantly to this discussion.
For example in both Matthew’s and Luke’s telling of the beginning of John’s public ministry, John the Baptizer says: "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:16 but Matthew 3:12 says basically the same thing). And then further into the first chapter of John’s Gospel, John the Baptizer cries out: "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' (John 1:29-30). A man who comes after me (Jesus is born six months after John, but he was before me – because John understands Jesus is God’s eternal son.)
And yet in the middle of John’s poetic telling of how the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, there is the baptizer named John (though we’ll technically dig deeper into those verses tomorrow). John the Gospel writer uses simple word pictures like the “Word” or the “light,” and yet these words were packed with meaning far beyond their common usages we tend to think of in our own experience.
And when you tie the grand imagery of the Apostle John with the work and mission of the John the Baptist, what you end up with is one simple word: WONDER. First of all I find myself WONDERing how much this baptizer named John, who spent his ministry seemingly somewhat isolated, could have understood John the Gospel writer’s first verses of the book of the Bible that shares his name. If the wilderness preacher had read the first fourteen verses from the first chapter of John, how much would he have understood? Would he have grasped that the Word who was with God, and was God, was Jesus? Would he have connected the light that gives light to all humans, with Jesus as the Light of the World – God’s Son come in the flesh? Or would much of these verses simply have flown right over the locust-eating preacher’s head?
Now I’ll admit that if we simply try to answer those wonderings of mine from these same fourteen verses of John’s Gospel, we’d have our opinions and your answers to those questions might even answer mine, but I’m not sure they’d have solid Biblical backing. So let’s move beyond these fourteen verses to other sections of the Gospel writers telling John the Baptist’s story, and I believe we can significantly to this discussion.
For example in both Matthew’s and Luke’s telling of the beginning of John’s public ministry, John the Baptizer says: "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:16 but Matthew 3:12 says basically the same thing). And then further into the first chapter of John’s Gospel, John the Baptizer cries out: "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' (John 1:29-30). A man who comes after me (Jesus is born six months after John, but he was before me – because John understands Jesus is God’s eternal son.)
What all this tells us is that John the Baptist would not have been puzzled by all this “Light of the World” or “Word became flesh” talk at all. Instead he would have responded in the same way that God desires us all to respond - with WONDER. No longer are we talking about our random or not-so-random thoughts and questions, but we’re talking about marveling at the story of God’s sending of His Son to be our Savior. To have a “John the Baptist” Christmas is to get swept up in that very WONDER.
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