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Least In The Kingdom

             I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. (Luke7:28)

 

            This one hits home in an odd sort of way today. John the Baptist (or Baptizer) is the man to whom Jesus referred. Among those born of women there was no one greater than John. What did John do that made him so great? He didn’t find a cure for a disease. He didn’t walk on the moon. He didn’t defeat military enemies or win a war or build an empire. He didn’t write a best-selling book, paint or sculpt a magnificent piece of art, or sing songs that topped the charts and left us in awe. He dressed in camel’s hair. He ate locusts and honey. He lived in the wastelands and did the work of a prophet. He baptized people as a sign of the repentance of their sins. He pointed Jesus out to his own disciples. There is no mention of any miracles, but Jesus said that he was greater than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, and Elisha.

            This morning as I brought in part of my morning’s harvest, I thought about how much of my day I was wasting. The morning was half way done, and I was sauntering into the kitchen with bags of Johnny Jump-ups and mint. There was certainly nothing important happening in my life. Was it wrong for me to want this to be what my mornings are like, at least part of the time? Was it wrong for me to choose to live like this? To be such a waste?

            I wonder if John ever wondered. We know his disciples went to Jesus to ask about what John was enduring, but did John ever wonder if wearing camel’s hair and eating locusts and honey was really part of the program? Is it possible that he liked doing those things? Did he think he would be more useful to God if he made some changes? I know I’d be a lot more effective if my books were on the best-seller’s list, and if I were doing something more useful than harvesting flowers and herbs. And then I pull up the next passage dealing with the kingdom of God, and it’s about John being the greatest man who lived up to that point, but his being less than the least of those in the kingdom of God.

            Why was John so great? The only conclusion I come to is that he did what God wanted him to do. He was a true servant of God. He withstood the tests and trials of his life without losing faith. These things aren’t stated clearly in Scripture and you’re welcome to your own ideas about it. But as I think of the kingdom of God and my place in it, I know I’m likely to look around my quiet, trivial, basic life and reach the conclusion that I might just be that least in the kingdom that outranks John by 1 point, and that only by the fact that I was born after Jesus’ resurrection while John died before it.

                I’m not mourning what a miserable wretch I am, though that’s a comfortable tendency for me. My point is that the very things on which I would base the idea that John was the greatest aren’t true of him, yet Jesus said he was the greatest man who lived to that time. That means that it’s at least possible that I might not be the worst of the worst, the most pitiable of God’s servants just because I don’t do things we tend to associate with greatness. What may be more important is my willingness to decrease, to be a nobody or a nothing so that Jesus shine through – and my willingness to step up and be more than I think I am if He calls me to do so. What's more important is understanding that it's not about me.

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