There is this character, which many cultures, norm in society, even religions regards this as one of the virtues, and that is: humility. Humility is a virtue which no one or any system (that I know) despise it - But this is what the Bible told us: that everyone (humanity) has sinned - meaning there is no real goodness in man.
“..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” - Romans 3:23
“This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.” - Ecclesiastes 9:3
and even if there is “goodness” in man, that “goodness” is not pure (is not goodness at all).
“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..” - Isaiah 64:6
Think about it! Is there really humility in humanity, apart from humility that we have in Christ? Humility without Christ, is in essence a self-gratification / self-centered / self-love act. People are doing it for many reasons but in the end, it comes to self-centeredness in themselves. They could be doing it because of they thought that they will get reward by doing so after they die, or they took pride in themselves because they want to be labeled as a good person by society, or maybe for humanity reasons that they feel good just by doing it, etc - again in the end, all of the those reasons comes down to self-gratification, isn’t it? There is something in you that you want to get, out of your action to be humble, whatever it is. In other words, your humility is not pure enough.. you are trying to get something out of it for yourself (by doing it).
The Book of John, is a book which John the apostle wrote and its purpose is stated in John 20:31 which says “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John wrote his letter so that we believe that Jesus is the Messiah.. and he started his letter by telling us who Jesus is: Jesus is what he called as the Word; this Word is the light, the creator, the life; this Word is eternal and he became flesh, and was rejected, but this Word is the Son of God. We found those statement from John 1:1-18, and then John continues from verse 19-42 by giving testimony about Jesus, and he started his testimony by writing to us the testimony of John the Baptist (different John) who was John’s the apostle teacher himself. When we read this part of scripture regarding John the Baptist, we will find that the way John wrote about John the Baptist is different from any other synoptic gospel did: John seems does not care enough about who John the Baptist is - he did not tell us the miraculous story of the birth of John the Baptist, he did not tell us what John the Baptist did before the time he wrote the event in his book (John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea - he wore only a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey). Indeed that’s not John’s focus here.. John only told us that there was a man sent from God and whose name was John (the Baptist). John was interested in John the Baptist's’ testimony about Jesus! and that’s what he wanted to tell us today.
I guess to expose and learn about the life of John the Baptist, in focusing on his life rather than Jesus - will not give a justice to this text because that is not the purpose of it, which we won’t - But we could learn through the life of John the Baptist in relation to Jesus the Son of God - because that’s what John wanted to tell us that here is the man sent from God; a man that you can trust his testimony because Jesus himself regards John the Baptist highly: “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” - Matthew 11:11
John the Baptist gave the testimony in the book of John in 3 days. The first day from verse 19-28 to the Jews, the second day from verse 29-34 to the public, and the third day from verse 35-42 to his disciples.
So the testimony began on verse 19 when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him (John the Baptist). Now a bit of side notes that every time John wrote the word “Jews” - he did not mean it to be in ethnic sense; John always refer Jews to the group of people which is the enemy of truth; the enemy of Jesus. So these Jews sent their subordinates to ask John about his identity. First they asked if John was the Messiah (later we will find this is their intention from John’s answer). John said with boldness that he is not Christ. Then they asked if John was Elijah, and John said “no” because simply he is not Elijah but John (his name is John not Elijah) - although we know that in Luke 1:17, God said that John will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah - he has the spirit and power of Elijah, but to John himself he knows that he is not Elijah, and therefore he said “no”. Then again they asked if John was that prophet who has been foretold in the Old Testament - again he said “no”. So “Who are you?” they asked - and John replied “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” John said that he is just a voice.. not more than that. A voice is nothing by itself.. it won’t be there unless our vocal cords, which is directed from our mind supports it. If our mind decided not to say it, or our vocal cords does not supporting us to speak, then there is no voice. I started to realise it myself because as i wrote this i felt sick, i lost my voice, and i can barely speak. Voice won’t exist by its own.. it needs something else to direct the voice, and it won’t last forever. The voice will be there as long as there is still message that needs to be delivered - when there is no message that our mind wanted to tell, then there is no voice (and just silent). This is how John portrayed his life - he is just a voice. His life, and his existence depends on God who gonna give the “message” to him for him to tell. In fact, he continues to say that in relation to this Word (Jesus), he is not worthy - “he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” John first said that he is just a voice, then now he said that he even not worthy enough to untie Jesus’ sandal. In other words he is saying he is even worse than a slave, in relation to Jesus. This is the character of a faithful preacher - humility.
John the Baptist was so humble not because he wanted to gain something (or get reward) out of his good deeds, he did not do it because he had pride in it, but he did it because he knows who he is in comparison to Jesus. I played badminton, and i used to have pride on myself because i thought i am good, after i realise that many people are far better than me. When this better player was around me, I dare not to take pride on myself, because I know I am nothing to them. This is that John based his humility on - he was humble because he knows that Jesus is the true light, and he was just a witness to this light. John’s existence is as a voice who cried “make straight the way of the LORD!”. John knew that attention should be given to this Jesus not him. This is a true humility - an act of humility because knowing it never be about us.. but it is about God. What about our life? Do we take the center of the attention? or do we realise that there is God who is far greater than us, that He is the true light, that we should bear witness upon?
John’s testimony did not stop here, but he goes on to tell the Jews on day 1 when the Jews asked him why did he baptise with water? John responded that “Hey.. it doesn’t matter about me, but among you stands the one you don’t know.. He is the one and He is HERE!” (pardon my translation to John 1:26 - but basically John wanted them to know that Jesus the one who is so worthy of your attention was there among them at that time). It was not John, but Jesus - “Hey Priests and Levites.. why bother about me?? The True light is here.. you should go and seek Him!”
Day 2, John the Baptist testify to the public there "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" Lamb is an animal that they know started from the Old Testament used for sacrifice. In Genesis, God provide a lamb for Abraham for an offering as a substitute for Isaac; in Exodus, God instructed the Israelite to sacrifice lamb so that they would escape from death. Jesus is our sacrificial lamb because He will bear what we can not bear so that we who sin would not have to face condemnation. John then said that this Jesus who is the Lamb of God is actually the Son of God - He is God Himself who came to seek the lost. So This is what John testified to them and to us today: Look at Jesus! He is the sacrificial Lamb! He will be the One who take away all of our sin! So Look at Him.
Day 3, John the Baptist told his 2 disciples that is Andreas and John (the writer of this book) - again it seems like John reiterate what he said in day 2. Indeed, but he said that not just so that his disciples look at him and that's it - John told them with the intention so that they follow Jesus - and they did what John said. Follow Jesus.. because He is the real thing! He is where life is! He is the Son of God. Don't just look at Him, but follow His footsteps..don't follow me (John) because i'm nothing..i'm just a voice.
This is the testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus to them and to us today that Jesus is the Son of God. He is here! (Day 1), Look at Him! (Day 2), and Follow Him! (Day 3). True humility is when we have Christ in our lives, because we know He is the one worthy to be praised, and to follow Him is what matters because of what He had done for us.
God Bless,
Paul
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