They came to John and
said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the
Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going
to him.”
To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. (John 3:26-36)
To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. (John 3:26-36)
I suspect this is where
J. R. R. Tolkien got the idea for Galadriel’s speech. An Elvan queen, facing a
Hobbit, and bowing her way off the world’s stage. Was John tempted to try to
take the mantle of Messiah? Scripture doesn’t say clearly, but the man Jesus
describes as have risen greater than any other man, in today’s passage seems
content to back out of the limelight. The son of the priest bows to the
apparently illegitimate son of a nobody who also appears to be openly working
John’s “turf.”
Does it seem fair to you? John was telling people the truth. Before him, Moses and the prophets told people the truth. And what of the Buddha, and Mohammed, and all the leaders of all the other religions. They said a lot of the same things that either John or Jesus said. How dare we disrespect them? How dare we claim that Christianity is right, and all those others are wrong, especially when they are all so similar? How dare we say that Muslims won’t go to heaven?
All religions and philosophies are ways in which people understand their relationships with the universe and its creator (if it has one), with one another, and with themselves. Given that all the religions we know involve the same sorts of people on the same world in the same universe, it’s not surprising that they have things in common. Even Hammurabi’s code reflects this basically human understanding of reality, and it was written about three hundred years before Moses. That’s why some folks claim that the Ten Commandments were stolen from the Babylonians. Since God designed and created the universe, it’s not surprising that people who look at said universe would reach the conclusions about it that they did.
Nor is it surprising that Buddha, and Mohammed, and the founders of the other religions, would come up with rules that are remarkably similar. There’s something else that almost all of them have in common. Most of them were developed after man chose to be “like God,” and as a result, they focus on man earning his way to heaven by doing good works, by being nice people, etc. Judaism and Christianity are exceptions to that rule. Jews were not promised that if they were good, they would go to heaven. They were promised that if they lived according to the law given to Moses, that their time on Earth would be prosperous and healthy. Christians are taught that heaven is a gift, not a reward, given freely to those who will receive it, not as a result of their works, but as a result of the work done by Jesus Christ.
The problem with the religions that require that man earn his own way is that man is flawed. Man can’t be good enough. In order to give hope, work-based religions tend to lower their standards. Perfection isn’t expected any more, just do these five things, or since perfection isn’t possible, we get an unlimited number of chances. Or, perform these special ceremonies, or give enough money to the religious organization of you choice, or just do good works and be nice and “of course” God will let you into heaven.
Other religions get it as right as they can, given their human perspective, and it is because of their human perspective that I believe they must be rejected. Christianity doesn’t offer that option. That’s why it is different from, and superior to all those others. They try to please God. Christianity provides the means by which God is pleased, a means that only God could accomplish.
Does it seem fair to you? John was telling people the truth. Before him, Moses and the prophets told people the truth. And what of the Buddha, and Mohammed, and all the leaders of all the other religions. They said a lot of the same things that either John or Jesus said. How dare we disrespect them? How dare we claim that Christianity is right, and all those others are wrong, especially when they are all so similar? How dare we say that Muslims won’t go to heaven?
All religions and philosophies are ways in which people understand their relationships with the universe and its creator (if it has one), with one another, and with themselves. Given that all the religions we know involve the same sorts of people on the same world in the same universe, it’s not surprising that they have things in common. Even Hammurabi’s code reflects this basically human understanding of reality, and it was written about three hundred years before Moses. That’s why some folks claim that the Ten Commandments were stolen from the Babylonians. Since God designed and created the universe, it’s not surprising that people who look at said universe would reach the conclusions about it that they did.
Nor is it surprising that Buddha, and Mohammed, and the founders of the other religions, would come up with rules that are remarkably similar. There’s something else that almost all of them have in common. Most of them were developed after man chose to be “like God,” and as a result, they focus on man earning his way to heaven by doing good works, by being nice people, etc. Judaism and Christianity are exceptions to that rule. Jews were not promised that if they were good, they would go to heaven. They were promised that if they lived according to the law given to Moses, that their time on Earth would be prosperous and healthy. Christians are taught that heaven is a gift, not a reward, given freely to those who will receive it, not as a result of their works, but as a result of the work done by Jesus Christ.
The problem with the religions that require that man earn his own way is that man is flawed. Man can’t be good enough. In order to give hope, work-based religions tend to lower their standards. Perfection isn’t expected any more, just do these five things, or since perfection isn’t possible, we get an unlimited number of chances. Or, perform these special ceremonies, or give enough money to the religious organization of you choice, or just do good works and be nice and “of course” God will let you into heaven.
Other religions get it as right as they can, given their human perspective, and it is because of their human perspective that I believe they must be rejected. Christianity doesn’t offer that option. That’s why it is different from, and superior to all those others. They try to please God. Christianity provides the means by which God is pleased, a means that only God could accomplish.
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