Meditation for January 23, 2008

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

John 3:25-30

 

Knowing Who You Are, As You Respond to God's Call

 

25 Now a discussion about purification arose between John's disciples and a Jew.  26 They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him."  27 John answered, "No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.  28 You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.'  29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom.  The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice.  For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.  30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

 

 

At the beginning of all four Gospels, John the Baptist is standing on or near center stage.  (See Matthew, Chapter 3; Mark, Chapter 1; Luke, Chapters 1 and 3; John, Chapter 1)  He doesn't stay there for very long.  The Gospels are called Gospels because they are "the good news" - about Jesus Christ.  If John the Baptist gets his due in the beginning of the Gospels, and he does, Jesus is almost exclusively the focus in all the other chapters.  That John shines in the beginning of the Gospels has to do with his role, his mission.  He was the one who was to prepare the way for the Messiah, the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah of a voice crying out, "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Isaiah 40:3)  Or, as John says here in verses 28 and 29, "'I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.'... The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice." 

 

In other words, John says, "I'm sort of like the best man."  The best man is important at a wedding.  He is seen. He is the best friend of the groom, and as such, he is part of the ceremony.  But everyone knows that at a wedding, all eyes are on the bride and the groom.  In this case, the people of God are the bride and the groom is Jesus.  Jesus is wooing the people, inviting them to be reconciled with God, to stay with God, and to grow with God.  John is the one who prepared the way for all of that to happen, as he preached and baptized in the wilderness, at the Jordan River.  John helped bring the people and the Lord together.  And after he has done that work - that mission - he says, in effect, "I've done my job.  The people are starting to follow Jesus now.  That is how it should be, for he is the Messiah, and I'm not.  And I'm rejoicing, because the people are with the One they're supposed to be with, and we can all listen to the Messiah now.  We can all listen to His voice and learn from Him - including me.  I have done the job God gave me to do.  Now I can shrink back a little; I can decrease, and be with the rest of you, while Jesus increases... as He should."

 

One of the passages that should be ringing in our ears during Epiphany, as we meditate on all the images of light that come our way this time of year, is Jesus saying to us, "You are the light of the world.  A city built on a hill cannot be hid.  No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)

 

We have light within us, Jesus says.  It is a reflected light, really, for we reflect the light of our Father in heaven; we reflect the light that is Christ.  But we are called by our Lord to let that light shine, just as John the Baptist did, and Mary did, and Joseph did, and the apostles and Mary Magdalene and Mary and Martha did.  We all have gifts. We all have unique talents and a unique personality, and we all travel in a unique circle.  We all travel a spiritual path that is unique to us, and we meet a certain group of people that only we meet.  So we must let our light shine.  And we need to remember, as John did, that we are not God, we are not the Messiah, we are not Jesus.  And that's a great thing!  What a relief!  Nevertheless, all of us are called by God to let our light shine before others.  Why?  So that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven.  We must shine in such a way that when people see us, they give glory to God.

 

I think of the people that have been deeply influential in my life - loved ones, friends, teachers and mentors, spiritual guides.  When I think of them, what do I do?  What do I feel inside?  Well, I tend to smile inside and outside.  I have warm thoughts, warm memories - a general feeling of warmth comes over me.  And I am incredibly grateful that God has put these various people in my life.  What did John say in this passage?  "No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven."   (verse 27) Exactly!  "Lord, I am so thankful to You for putting these people in my life!"  If you think or say something like that, you are recognizing the light in another person, and giving glory to your Father in heaven.

 

Finally, John's language of "He must increase, but I must decrease" makes me reflect on the need we all have to be true to who God has called us to be.  We need to be living our own unique calling from God, which has something to do with our gifts and our passion and who we are - deep down - at our core.  We need to take on and live as fully as possible into who we are called to be, i.e., INCREASE in that arena, that sense of call.  And we need to let go of the things that others might invite us to do but which don't seem to be our real calling.  One way of discernment about this might be to ask yourself, "Do I have any passion or energy about this particular task or activity?"  If not, and you've been trying to make it work, perhaps you need to DECREASE in this area.  Think of it this way:  If John the Baptist would have tried to be the Messiah, it wouldn't have worked, because it wasn't his call, and he wouldn't have had the right passion and the right attitude about it.  Similarly, if Jesus would have tried to be the one who prepared the Messiah's way... that wouldn't have worked, either.  Jesus was a carpenter for maybe 10 or 15 years.  But he didn't stay there.  Because his ultimate calling was not to be a carpenter.  It was to be the Messiah.  So, at the appropriate time, the carpenter thing faded into the background - it decreased - and the Messiah thing came up from seemingly out of nowhere ("Isn't this the carpenter's son?  Is not his mother called Mary?" - Matthew 13:55), and it grew and grew, because this was who He was, and He had to shine in the way that God the Father called Him to shine.

 

Where is God calling you to shine?  Where are you being called to increase?  Where are you being called to decrease?  Can you claim who you are called to be, as John did, and acccept that, as John did, and not apologize for it (again, like John)?  And, like John, can we rejoice in the people around us who are responding to God's call, and shining in the way that God calls them to shine?

 

I think these are a few of the questions that emerge from this passage.

 

Go.  Shine.  Increase where you need to increase.  Decrease where you  need to decrease.  "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."