You Are John the Baptist

(but don't say it)

You are John the Baptist.

I am John the Baptist.

We, the church, are John the Baptist.

This is what I preached today from the Gospel of John.

We’re in the Advent season, which is the time of year that the church remembers the first coming of Jesus to better anticipate his second coming. We’re supposed to relive the events of the first Christmas as we wait for and hasten the Day (as 2 Peter puts it). In so doing, we, like John the Baptist, prepare the way of the Lord.

Here’s how we can take this to heart:

First, the Gospel is careful to say that John the Baptist was not himself the Light, but bore witness to the Light (1:6-8). He was a lamp that could not be hidden, a wick that could not be extinguished. He gave light to all who met him in the darkness of the wilderness. He was a lamp that gave light, but he was not himself the Light. He was the wick lit by the Light of the world himself. So we should also consider ourselves a lamp. We’ve filled up with oil, we’ve trimmed our wicks. The Spirit of Jesus is the tongue of fire.

Second, to say carefully that he is not the Light, but bears witness to the Light is for John the Baptist to be humble. We should also be humble. The leaders asked John if he was a prophet. John the Baptist might have said yes because he was saying prophetic things and repeating the very announcement of the prophets of old: “Make his paths straight!” (1:23). But he refused the title (v. 21). We should follow his example. Let’s say something prophetic. Let’s say the prophetic thing, which is, “Jesus is coming, he’s coming again!” But let’s not take the title of “prophet” as many do these days. Our authority as prophet comes from the prophecy itself, which is given to us by the Spirit of Prophecy.

Third, John the Baptist didn’t just tell people to prepare the way. He did it. He baptized people. In anticipation of Christ’s second coming, we are to do the same. Let’s baptize people. This is the job—the only job—Jesus gave us between his ascension and his second coming. The church is to baptize. Of course, if the church is to baptize, then we also need to make more disciples, who will in turn baptize others. But the basic, most fundamental task we have—again, just like John the Baptist—is to baptize the unbaptized. Everything is in service of that task.

Finally, let me say it again: You are John the Baptist, I am John the Baptist, and the church is John the Baptist. But let’s not take the title for ourselves. To say, “I’m Joseph the Baptist;” or for you to say “I’m [insert your first name] the Baptist” is to put the focus on us and so lose the humility that John the Baptist modeled. Again, our task is to give witness to the Light. Rather than preoccupying ourselves with who we are, we are merely to say over and over again, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” (v. 29).

Next time you and your church baptize someone, point to the horizon and say it.