The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on March 5, 2023. The Bible verses used are John 3:22-36.
What we read tonight could be considered to be the actual
start of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus has gathered disciples and he’s worked
his first miracle. Now he goes out into the countryside of Judea,
spending time with people and baptizing them.
It’s interesting, I think, that when Jesus started his
actual ministry, he did so in a pretty conventional way. Yes, he’d done a
miracle already, but if you remember, that was not something that was part of
his plan. That was something he did his mother, Mary, wanted him
to. When Jesus started to execute his actual plan for ministry, he did so
in a very ordinary, almost boringly ordinary way. He did, really, what
John the Baptist had been doing for some time. He went out and spent time
with people and baptized them.
And before we even get too far into it, that could be a
lesson for us right there. I think too often, when we talk about bringing
people into the church, we think we have to do something new and exciting and
different to grab people’s attention. And yes, Jesus did do some of that
with the miracles and so forth. But that was not the core of Jesus’
ministry. Jesus was not about flash and show. In fact, if you
remember, that’s one of the things Satan tempted Jesus to do: “Jump off
the temple and let the angels carry you down.”
Jesus was not about being flashy. He was not about
putting on a show. When it came time for Jesus to start his ministry,
what did he do? He spent time with people and he baptized them.
And don’t jump over that first part. We’ll talk about
Jesus baptizing people in a minute, but note what he did first. He spent
time with people.
Jesus did not expect anyone to come to him begging them to
baptize him. He spent time with people. He got to know them.
He let them get to know him. He found out what was going on in their
lives. He gave them reasons to feel comfortable with him, to trust
him. After he had done all that, then he offered to baptize them into
faith.
In other words, this business of going and making disciples
takes time. I’m not sure we always recognize that or talk about it.
Too many times--and I’ve been guilty of this, too--we act as if going out and
sharing our faith and bringing people into the church and making disciples
should be quick and easy. It’s not. It was not quick and easy for
Jesus. It’s not quick and easy for us.
It’s something that takes
time. It takes patience. And it takes love. It takes loving
people enough to spend time with them. It takes loving people enough to
get to know people. It takes loving people enough to find out what’s going
on in their lives. And it takes showing love to people, so they can feel
comfortable with us and trust us. Then, we can offer to bring them into
faith. But it won’t happen overnight.
But it does happen
eventually. And it happened eventually for Jesus. Jesus was
gathering more and more followers. And people noticed. The people
who’d been following John the Baptist noticed, too. And they appear to
have been kind of upset about it. They come up to John the Baptist and
say hey, you remember that guy who was with you on the other side of the
Jordan? That guy you testified about? He’s stealing your
thunder! He’s baptizing people and everybody’s leaving you and going to
him!
Now, think about who John the
Baptist was. He was a famous man. People from all around were
coming to him to repent and be baptized by him. Even Jesus himself came
to be baptized by John. John the Baptist was a Big Deal. And now
here comes this new guy, this interloper, this upstart, taking people away from
him. Jesus is now the Big Deal, and John the Baptist is becoming
yesterday’s news.
It would’ve been easy for John
the Baptist to be a little envious of Jesus. It would’ve been natural for
him to resent Jesus. It would’ve been easy for John to want to try to do
something to get the crowds back, to do something to draw attention back to
himself, to once again be the Big Deal that he had been.
But John did not do
that. Why not? Because John was fully committed to doing God’s
will. And when we’re fully committed to doing God’s will, we’re not
concerned with whether anyone thinks we’re a Big Deal. We’re content to
play whatever role God has for us, whether it’s a big role or a small one.
You see, John knew who Jesus
was. When Jesus came to be baptized, John said “I saw the Spirit come
down from heaven as a dove and remain on him...I have seen and I testify that
this is God’s Chosen One.” And later, when Jesus was walking by, John
said, “Look, the Lamb of God.”
John knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the
Divine Son of God. And John knew that he, John, was not the
Messiah. He was merely the one who was sent to prepare things. That
was God’s will for him. That was the role God had for him to play.
So when these people came to him and said hey, this Jesus guy is taking over
from you, John said, well, of course he is. I told you he would. He
says, “You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but am
sent ahead of him.’” He used the analogy of being the best man and your
friend’s wedding. You get things ready for your friend. You’re
there for him. And then, when he comes and they have the wedding, you’re
happy. You’re happy that you did your part, and that things are ready for
your friend to have his day.
John knew that, now that Jesus
was here, this was Jesus’ day. He gives that wonderful statement of
humility: “He must become greater, and I must become less.” John
says, in effect, I’ve had my time. I’ve done my job. I’ve followed
God’s will, and I’ve played the role God had for me to play. Jesus will
take it from here. I’m not jealous of him. This is how it’s
supposed to be, and I’m happy that things are going the way they’re supposed to
go.
John knew that, when he was
preparing the way, he had been doing God’s will. And he knew that now, by
stepping aside and watching Jesus become greater than he was, he was also doing
God’s will.
It’s not an easy thing to do what John the
Baptist did. It’s not easy to step back and let someone else get the
glory. It’s not easy to let someone else get the credit for things.
That’s especially true when you have every right to feel like you deserve some
of that credit yourself. It’s not easy--but it’s worth it.
Think of the peace of mind it
must have given John the Baptist to react that way. Now, John did not
just go into retirement at this point. He continued to preach his message
of repentance. In fact, it appears that he continued to baptize. But
he knew that the one he had been preparing people for was already here.
He could relax, knowing that God had done what God had promised and that it was
all working the way it was supposed to work. He could relax, knowing that
he had followed God’s will and that he was still following God’s will.
If John had not done that, if
he’d tried to get the crowds back, if he’d tried to get glory for himself, he’d
have made himself miserable. He could not have succeeded--he was not
going to win a popularity contest with Jesus. He could’ve gotten really
frustrated and really upset trying, though. But he did not. John
had followed God’s will and he was content with that.
That’s what following God’s
will does for us. It keeps us from getting frustrated and upset. It
helps us feel content. When we follow God’s will, we don’t need to feel
like we’re in competition with anyone. We don’t need to worry about who
gets the credit. We know that, really, all the credit belongs to God, anyway.
Following God’s will lets us just focus on the job at hand, not worrying about
what might happen as a result. If that means we have to accept a change
in circumstances sometimes, that’s okay. If it means that sometimes we’re
out front, taking a prominent position, that’s okay. If it means that we
have let others be out front, while we take a lesser position, that’s
okay. It’s all good as long as we’re following God’s will.
John the Baptist had been a
famous man. But when the time came for him to take a lesser role, he did
so graciously and willingly, with no complaint. He continued to play the
role God wanted him to play, even though it was now a lesser role. He was
content, even happy, because he was following God’s will. May we, too,
play the role God wants us to play, whether it’s a big one or a small
one. And may we find contentment and happiness in following God’s will.ermon
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