An Average Joe
John 1:29-42
What would we have given to be a witness to this scene?
Photo by Matthieu Rochette on Unsplash
John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).- John 1:29-42
I envision a crowd forming a line to enter the water and stand before John, waiting for him to acknowledge them, bless them, and perform this simple ritual, submersing them in the river to symbolically cleanse them of their sins and give them a fresh start.
I imagine the men or women standing behind Jesus, focused not on him, but on themselves. Maybe they were thinking about their lives, the mistakes they made along the way, or maybe they were looking for something in rare supply, living as outcasts by their own people and by the authorities.
They had no idea that the man stepping into the water ahead of them was anyone special. He looked like anyone else. What was his story? What was he thinking?
Chances are, they weren’t thinking about him at all. They were deep in the thoughts and worries of their own lives.
Then they hear John utter these words, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
They would have looked around, looked at each other, and then at Jesus coming to stand before John. This is the one who can wipe away sins? This ordinary man?
John has their attention, but Jesus remains humble.
He is just like us. That is what I would have been thinking, and maybe saying to whoever was standing near me. John must be crazy. After all, he is out here alone, eating locusts and honey. What kind of man would become a hermit and live out here in the wilderness?
But it is not John who has captured their attention now. It is this ordinary man standing before him, waiting to be baptized.
Perhaps the crowd ignored what John had said. Maybe they expected to hear ramblings of an odd soul like him. They continue focusing on themselves, and then it happens.
As Jesus comes up out of the water, with John holding him, they hear and see something frightening and yet uplifting.
And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”
Did the crowd see this, too?
In John’s account, we don’t know. All we know is that John the Baptist pointed Jesus out to some of his own disciples, who then followed Jesus. The torch has been passed.
Now, John also testified that he doesn’t know the man, and this could be a troubling statement, given Jesus is his cousin. But John is saying that he didn’t recognize him as the Messiah.
So, what was it like to be a witness to Jesus’ baptism? Did everyone see the Holy Spirit descend on him, or just John?
The other Gospels say that a voice from heaven spoke, but they don’t say whether the crowd heard it, or just John, or just Jesus.
There is no way to know whether the people standing behind Jesus, representing all of us, heard and saw anything unusual. To them, this was just another average guy being baptized by John. But to John, everything changed in that moment. He knew.
Throughout our lives, we encounter normal, average Joes and Janes. They appear no different and bear no mark of being special. We may not even notice them, and yet one could be chosen to do something special, to become someone we would want to have known or met.
God works that way, taking the average and unassuming, the weak over the strong, the one who stutters or has poor speech over the public speaker, the shepherd boy, or the eunuch.
God chooses us, and it is up to us to accept the call to become someone special, even if, or especially if, no one else ever knows who we truly are.
More to come...