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John the Baptist

             “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.” (Jesus, Luke 7:28)

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. (Zechariah, Luke 1:76-79)

Today’s first passage boggles my mind. John the Baptist/Baptizer was equal to or greater than David? Solomon? Elijah? Elisha? Daniel? Moses? Joshua? If Jesus said so, it must be true, but by what standard? How do our minds have to change to get to that conclusion?

Zechariah, after affirming that John’s name would be “John” goes on to sing God’s praises, and to prophesy about his son. John would be a prophet, like several of those listed. But he would 1) go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 2) give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.

In one sense, John was great because he and his life pointed others to God. In another sense, John was great because he accomplished the purpose for which he was born. In one sense few people – perhaps only one – could be the one who went before the Lord, to prepare the way for Him. In another sense, we all can. But the point is that John was great because his task was great, not because there was something about him beyond that task that made him so. This isn’t to say that he was a miserable example of humanity apart from his task but that it can be – possibly must be – one’s task that matters most when considering greatness.

A common Facebook meme concept comes to mind. The tagline is “You/He/She had one job…”  Those who accomplish that one job “nailed it.” The rest are eternally shamed on Facebook for their failure. I don’t think any of us have only one task, but we may have only one now. Five seconds from now, it may be a different task. In general, it will involve one of two objects: 1) To love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths, and 2) To love our neighbors as ourselves. The better we get at those, the more likely it will be that we will be considered great by God.

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