Second in Precedence - June 25

Good Friday morning! We had a most excellent gathering last night for our life group. I hope you are enjoying Christian fellowship wherever you may be. Enjoy the start of the weekend this evening

We have a thing with precedence. The oldest manuscript is given more credit, the highest scoring team finishes first, and no one remembers the second place runner in the race. This morning, John stated that he was first. Does that mean we should be worshipping him because he was first? Here is what John the Baptist had to say about that:

"Though his ministry follows mine, I'm not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal." (John 1:27)

Wow, that is one of the most humble statements in the Bible. John states that he came first, but then he says that he is not even worthy to be the slave of him who follows. You would certainly be looked down upon if you said that to someone at work today! Oh, we hear it in jest fairly often, but no one means it like John did.

Jesus came after John, but that does not make him second in anything but the date of his first speaking in ministry. Even someone who chooses not to believe in Jesus would admit that John the Baptist was a holy man. So to admit that the one coming after him was in all ways greater than himself is a strong claim from John. Who is it that makes John so unworthy? We will have our answer in the many verses to follow in the Gospel of John. For now, we read that John the Baptist must have known much about the one who followed him in the ministry.

To state that [John] was not even worthy to be his slave says much about who the junior Pharisees should have been looking for at that moment. If we happened to be questioning our president and Mr. Obama stated a line like that to us, we would be looking around to see who he was talking about. If the Queen of England said something like that, we would be wondering, "Who is this person she speaks of?" Many had come to be baptized by John, this was a huge statement!

In the Gospel of John, we don't find out if the junior Pharisees were satisfied with these responses or what they reported to the Pharisees and priests back at the Temple. John uses this to segue into the beginning of Jesus' ministry and his confirmation by the Holy Spirit. Someone great was coming; someone to pay attention to and to look for. It is as though the most important group, the watchmen for the Jewish people, had been dismissed for dereliction of duty. Now that the one John the Baptist spoke of has arrived that other group is no longer important; the junior Pharisees and their masters are dismissed from the text and we move on.

Tomorrow, one more important verse before John points to the one.

Have a great Friday!

Bucky