JOHN THE BAPTIST DIDN’T GET IT AND NEITHER DO WE

We tend to believe that John the Baptist really understood Jesus and Jesus’ mission, but he really did not. John was the last of the Old Testament prophets who believed that God would send a Messiah to right all things wrong and, in the process, lead a military revolution against the powers in charge and make Israel the new world power. That’s what John and, in fact, even Jesus’ disciples and his other followers believed.

They were all wrong. Remember the account (Luke 7:8-23) where John was in prison and he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he, Jesus, was “the one who is to come”, namely, the Messiah, or were they to look for someone else? Why did John have to have that question asked of Jesus? I believe it was because the message Jesus was preaching was not the kind of message a warrior-messiah would preach. John didn’t get it.

And neither do we. Like John, like those who were following Jesus for all the wrong reasons back then, we, too, today, somehow still think that the way to overcome all that is wrong in this world is through the force of power. They were correct and so are we. But what kind of power: that is the issue. Not the power of the force of arms but the power of love. There is no power on earth that is stronger than the power of love.

We still seem to think that what makes us powerful as a nation is that we have more and bigger and more powerful weapons than any other nation. On an international level, on a political level, that may seem true, may even be so. But what makes a country great, what makes a people great, is the love and care that country and its people have one for another. Nothing else matters and nothing is more powerful.

People matter; every person matters. Every person. That was Jesus’ constant message. That was the message he sent back to John. Everyone matters especially the least, the lost, the lonely, the outcasts of society. Everyone. To the extent that we believe some people are more important, better, whatever, than others, to that extend we still don’t get it. We still don’t get Jesus’ message.

Granted, it is an easy message to understand but a difficult one to live out. It always was and always will be given our proclivity to look out for Number One long before we start looking out for anyone else. That is why, sadly, the world is not much better off today than it was in Jesus’ time. After Pentecost some people started getting the message and started living out that message and the world began to change. But then politics and power took over once again and the message got lost. If it did not get lost, it was pushed to the back burner.

But I have hope. The message that is coming from Parkland and all across this great country of ours is that everyone matters and that only love for one another will not only make us great but make us be what we were created to be. Maybe we’re finally getting it.