Knowing

Sometimes we may have trouble seeing what is in plain sight.

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." "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" - John 1:31-34

In John's Gospel, the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus is described differently than we may remember from other accounts.

John seems to say that John the Baptist didn't know Jesus, yet we know they were cousins.

Imagine for a minute that John the Baptist was told by God that he would see first hand who the anointed is.  The Spirit would descend on that person when baptized.

So, regardless of what John thought, he baptized all who came, thinking perhaps that any one of the people he saw, could be the one.

In that sense, what John says is true.  He could not know Jesus as the Messiah, until he witnessed what he did.

Until that moment, Jesus was just another guy standing before him.

John would have treated everyone he encountered as if each was the one, the anointed. 

That is the lesson I want to take away from today's reading.  Why not treat everyone I encounter as if he or she is Jesus?

Or for those who have trouble believing in Jesus, why not treat them as anointed by God?

If someone treats us that way, we stand humbled, reminded of our flaws and faults, and that could be a good thing.  We can all use a daily dose of humility.

So, by treating each other as God's children, we increase the probability that we will live together in peace, learning to love one another.

And that's not a bad thing, right?

It sure beats how we treat each other now.

More to come...