N
ot far from where Jesus slept with his men, another campfire licked the darkness of night. John the Baptist gathered his disciples He spoke softly to them. Unusual for John, for he often thundered when he spoke. But now he wasn’t preaching. He spoke from his heart quietly, softly to those who closely followed him, “You have all heard me say that ‘I am not the Christ but that I am sent ahead of him?’” John sat on a rock, his hands clasped, pensive.
“We have indeed heard you say this, but are not sure of the meaning. How is it that you are sent ahead of him? And since you are now here, does that not say that Messiah is near?”
“It does, but a man can receive only what is given him from heaven. I have received what was to be mine. Now I am done. I step out of the way. The bride who belongs to the bridegroom, not to me. I am the groom’s . . . ‘best man,’ so to speak. A best man attends the bridegroom; he does not take his place. The best man waits and listens for the bridegroom and is very relieved when he finally shows up.” John smiled at this. “Now the pleasure of that relief is mine and it is complete;” this with satisfaction.
“He will become greater. I am becoming less. I will continue to become less until I disappear entirely. For he is the one who comes from above and is above all. I come from the earth. I belong to the earth, and speak as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He speaks of what he has seen and heard. Magnificent things he speaks. Eternal things, but as no one listens to me, so no one listens to him either.“ The pain in John’s face clearly showed. “But the man who does accept it will affirm that God is Truth and that what he accepts is the essential reality. The one whom God has sent speaks the words of God. God gives him the Spirit without limit.” John thought about that — he thought of his own limitations. He thought of what it must be like to have the ‘Spirit without limit.’
“The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son also rejects eternal life and will never see it. He will miss terribly what God has prepared for him.” He continued speaking of Jesus well into the night.
All who knew John also knew that he was an activist. He was thought an agitator, tactless and crude for he spoke what he thought and gave little credence to protocol or propriety. Some said he reminded them of the prophet Elijah who seemed to fear nothing, except perhaps Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. Like Elijah with king Ahab, John was not embarrassed to stride into the palace of Herod Antipas, tetrarch, son of Herod the Great, and confront him about having married Herodias, his brother’s wife, plus all the other evil things he had done. Herod responded by adding this also to his repertoire of wickedness, he locked John up in prison. And there John stayed alone without comfort. Alone with the thoughts that he was now useless to God. Alone with doubts. Sometimes in the darkness, he thought of the women in the river; he thought of freedom in the wilderness. Caged men think much of love and freedom.
