Have you been a messenger for someone? Was it taking a message from one person to give it to another? Have you been sent ahead of someone else to prepare for their arrival? Were you to take care of the logistics, ensuring all the amenities were taken care of?
Being a messenger can be relatively simple or it can be a daunting task. Taking a message from mom to dad can be simple. Being the lead person for someone on a campaign trail can be exhausting and overwhelming. Many of us relay messages from one to another regularly.
When you are sent ahead to, not only take a message, but to prepare for the arrival of someone else, it can be a very large task. I can remember being on the advanced party for a deployment while I was in the Marine Corps. We went ahead of the larger unit a few weeks before they were to arrive. We had to set up tents, fill sandbags, set up generators and run power lines, set up a computer and radio network, and many other tasks. We generally worked twelve hours a day to get all the work done.
John was sent ahead of Jesus. His task was to prepare people’s hearts. Can you imagine? He was to get people to start thinking about the coming Messiah. He had to prepare them for a significant change in how they thought of salvation. Their sacrificial system was no longer going to be required. They needed to accept the Holy Spirit coming to everyone who accepted Jesus as their Savior. God was going to live among them, but not in a temple.
We should listen to John’s message and take to heart what he has to say. John recognized the magnitude of Jesus and His ministry. He knew from the time he was still in the womb that Jesus was the Son of God. We would do well to see Jesus as John saw Him, someone we are not worthy of. Yet, also see Jesus as He calls us, His friend, brother/sister, and child of God.
I pray we see Jesus as someone far greater that we are. I pray we listen to John’s description of Him. I pray each one of us know that God lives among us and in us in his Holy Spirit. Listen to John’s message. See Jesus for who He is. Know that God lives in you. Know that God is all around you.
Mark 1:7-8 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Marty Pressey 