Good Friday morning! Some of you may be getting away from town for the weekend. I have seen some missing boats and campers already this morning. Many of you will head into work today, and some even tomorrow. Wherever we go, we might run into someone who just doesn't like our answers and will not stop grilling us about something. John the Baptist seems to have run into a few of these nosy folks in John 1:21
"Well then, who are you?" they asked. "Are you Elijah?"
"No," he replied.
"Are you the Prophet we are expecting?"
"No."
Now these nosy folks were not just the idle curious; they had a job to do and went about it zealously. John had a one-word answer for their questions in this verse. This is one of those times when we wonder why he didn't just say who he was; I mean, he's like, John the Baptist, dude! Of course we weren't there and we don't know that even that answer would have satisfied the questioners in this case. Jesus ran into similar questioning, probably from the same group and told them the truth about who he was. They didn't believe him. Both John and Jesus were at times short in their answers to the religious officials of Judea. I think both were disappointed that this group of men who had spent their whole lives studying scripture could be so blind when it came to the Messiah and his herald, John.
We need to learn and study, especially the Bible, but having a head full of facts and Bible trivia might just stand in your way of seeing the grace of Jesus. We also need to stop, pause, listen, meditate, and pray to God in a quiet time. God speaks through his word, but at times he also wants to say something to us directly. We also need to pause in our study to let the Word sink into our hearts. I think that if those questioners of John's would have stopped for a bit and listened to him, the answers to more than just John's identity would have come and they might have believed.
Be patient with the nosy folks. Who knows, they might just believe one day!
Bucky
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