One Among You

John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”  John 1:26-27

From the testimony of John, it would seem that Jesus may have come one day before His baptism to hear John preach. Or, it may be that John referred to Israel as a whole as the 'among you'. In either case, the Pharisees did not immediately begin looking around for the long-awaited Messiah. Which would have been the natural thing to do in a group when the preacher points out that the one you've been looking for is right there among you. Unless, of course, the Pharisees didn't really want to find the Messiah. From about three years of interactions between the Pharisees and Jesus, we can confidently say that is true, they did not want to see or find the Messiah. Even when John pointed out the man in verse 29 on the next day, no one among the Pharisees ran to spread the good news. One of John's disciples did run to tell his brother though, and the choosing of the 12 disciples of Jesus began. 

What a person does when the Messiah is pointed out to them testifies of their faith. May we all be filled with faith in Jesus!

Bucky