Sam was confused. He had been following John for - how long had it been? Almost a year, he thought, it was just before the grape harvest and his parents had been really upset that he hadn’t stayed until the work was finished. But Sam just had to go. The Messiah was due soon, everybody knew it, and maybe John was the one! And the more he followed John, and the more he listened to him, the more sure he became that this was a man sent from God. Why, some even thought he was Elijah returned! And people were coming from all over Judea, even from Galilee and Decapolis!
But now there was someone else going around preaching and baptizing - a Galilean, no less, named Yeshua. And some people were even leaving John and going off to follow him. But everyone knew that no prophet worth listening to had ever come out of Galilee, they were yokels, country bumpkins. John was from the priestly line of Zechariah, and besides, he looked like a prophet.
Yes, something unusual had happened when this Yeshua had come down to the Jordan a few weeks ago. And it had been pretty impressive, come to think of it. The ones who left, Philip and Nathaniel and the others, said they had seen a dove and heard a voice from heaven. Well, Sam hadn’t seen or heard anything, but he had to admit that it hadn’t been your usual slam dunk. John had seemed - well, almost reluctant to baptize him, they argued for a moment and John had bowed his head and, well, it looked like John was doing what Yeshua had told him to do. John never followed orders! And there had been a weird kind of hush, the usual crowd of spectators had been oddly silent, and the light had been - well, just odd. And John did say that he had seen the dove and heard the voice, too. But there was a rumor around that Yeshua was John’s cousin, and John hadn’t said a word about it from that day to this, and Sam just didn’t know what to think. But for him the bottom line was, if Yeshua came to John to be baptized, didn’t that mean that Yeshua was acknowledging John’s authority?
Sam was really confused.
What made it worse was that John’s disciples had started debating the meaning of baptism. Someone had come up from Jerusalem and challenged John about what he was doing was really proper. That is, what business did Jews have getting baptized anyway? That was just for Gentiles who had made the commitment to come under the law and needed to be cleansed from top to bottom. It was kind of a symbol of rebirth, in a way, Sam thought.
Anyway, this fellow from Jerusalem was arguing that you didn’t need to be baptized if you were already a Jew, if you had Jewish parents and were circumcised that was all it took. Of course, you had to wash your hands before meals, and before offering sacrifices, and who knows what the priests did if you went to them for purification after touching a dead person. Sam rather thought it involved incense, but he wasn’t sure. He’d never had to do such a thing, blessed be the name, and he hoped he never would. Laying out the dead was woman’s work. And of course they had to go to the mikvah every month as it was.
Sam’s friend Eli said that the Essenes made everyone who came to join their community get baptized before they joined, because, they said, everyone who lived in the world was too stained with sin to participate in a truly sanctified life. Which made John’s baptism totally useless, of course, because people usually just went back home again when they were done. Well, Sam wasn’t an Essene and he certainly didn’t plan on becoming one. He’d actually heard that Essenes couldn’t marry! He wasn’t about to give up the chance of getting a wife and raising children to carry on the family name some day, although Sam did rather think he’d wait for another few years. At least until he found out whether or not the Messiah really was on the way. When the time came to run the Romans out of Judea he didn’t want anything to keep him out of the fight.
But what was it about this Yeshua that made people leave John and go after him? So maybe he was a prophet, too. What difference did it make who baptized you, anyway? Wasn’t what really mattered whether or not you were really repenting? Not just going along so that your neighbors would approve of you?
And besides, John was so eloquent! You really knew you’d heard a prophet when he preached hellfire and brimstone. Sam loved it when he lambasted the Pharisees: "You brood of vipers,” John would thunder, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father;’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." [Mt 3:7-10] And John told the rich people to give half their money to the poor, and half their clothes and food, as well!. That would serve them right, the way they looked down their noses at everyone who didn’t wear fine linen and gold chains around their necks. They’d get theirs when the revolution came, that’s for sure. Most of them were half Roman anyway.
But this Yeshua . . . come to think of it, hadn’t John followed up that strange baptism with a different sort of prophecy? What was it. . . Zach always wrote everything down. Sam hurried over to where Zach was sitting on a rock eating his noon-time bread and cheese. Grabbing a bite for himself Sam asked him to look it up. Zach obligingly found the place, and Sam read aloud, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” [Mt 3:11-12]
Sam looked suspiciously at Zach. “Did John really say that?” he demanded. Zach nodded, his mouth full. “What does it mean? Was he talking about that Yeshua?“
Zach swallowed. “I thought so at the time,” he said, “and I know Nathaniel did. But it can’t be. He’s just doing the same thing John did.” He scratched his beard and thought a moment more. Then Zach added slowly, “Come to think of it,” he said, “Yeshua isn’t actually doing the baptizing himself. Philip and the others are. Yeshua just watches them and every now and then he talks quietly to some of the people who’ve come down to see him.”
Sam thought for a minute. Then he rose and said decisively, “That does it. I’m going to go ask John. Are you coming with me?” Tucking the last morsel of bread into his mouth, Zach rose and followed Sam down to where John was standing, surrounded by what looked to be the usual delegation of critics and skeptics come down from Jerusalem to check out John’s preaching and credentials to make sure he wasn’t violating any rules.
Coming close enough to hear, Sam realized it wasn’t the usual harangue. The fattest one was saying, “Tell me, John, doesn’t it upset you that this Galilean is stealing your followers?“ A second one added, “He’s really upsetting the people with his teaching.” John responded, amused, “You mean, more than I did?” The first man brought them back to the real point. “What we want to know, John, is whether or not you’re going to do something about it.”
“What do you want me to do about it?”
“Why, denounce him, of course!“
”You were bad enough, John, with all the crowds, you know that’s just a magnet for pickpockets and rabble-rousers - “
”You mean rabble-rousers like me?”
They almost stumbled over one another’s words as they tried fruitlessly to get John on their side. Eventually they turned around, back the way they had come, up toward Jerusalem. John shook his head, turned to Sam, and motioned him closer.
“What’s on your mind, young Samuel?“ asked John kindly.
“Well,” blurted Sam, “I hate to admit it but it’s the same thing that was bothering those guys. Why are so many people leaving you to follow Yeshua and doesn’t it bother you?”
“Of course not,” replied John. “You were here watching, weren’t you, when Yeshua came to be baptized?”
Sam nodded.
“I wondered,” said John, “why you stayed after the others left. Zach and Eli are still here because this is all they want. They’re content the way things have always been, only a little better. But you want everything. You want the Messiah.“
”Well, yes,” agreed Sam. “Are you saying that Yeshua is the Messiah?” He held his breath for the answer.
John answered slowly. “I think so,” he said at last. “It’s hard to tell for sure. “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ [v. 28] Yeshua is the next step, I know that, but whether or not he’s the last word I can’t swear to.”
“Don’t you mind?” asked Sam indignantly. “Here you are, a prophet of God, and someone else comes along stealing your thunder. Yeshua hasn’t even invited you to come with him, kind of be his second-in command. That doesn’t seem right to me. Don’t you mind being kicked aside as if you were nobody? I don’t think it’s fair!”
“My job isn’t done yet,” said John. “I don’t know when I’m to step down completely, but it’s not yet. My job is to make people ready. I suppose you could call me the first act, you know, to make lots of noise and draw people in for the real event. And of course I don’t mind. It’s a privilege just being part of it all, to know that God has used me for something really important. And even if I wanted to do more, if God doesn’t give you the job, you’ll fail at it. No, the only way to go is to stick with God’s plan and not to go grabbing for more.”
Sam thought he understood. That was, he supposed, why he had gone after John in the first place. He never expected to take John’s place, or even be one of his chief advisors. He just wanted to be part of something important. He wanted to be as close to God as he could, even if it was as the lowliest of servants.
John added gently, “Have you ever been best man at a wedding?” Sam shook his head, wondering what John was getting at. “The best man does all the work,” said John. “He makes sure the canopy is up, arranges the feast and the parade, and then as soon as the bridegroom arrives, he fades into the background. Do you suppose he’s upset that he’s no longer the center of attention?”
“Of course not,” said Sam, “unless of course he wanted to marry her himself!” He felt a little foolish making a joke at a time like this, but John took him seriously.
“That sounds to me like you think the best man and the bridegroom are interchangeable, that it’s only a matter of what part they’re playing in the ceremony.” said John. “And I suppose you would be right, if this were an ordinary wedding.
“But the Messiah is not an ordinary man,” John went on. “I am from the earth like Adam, like the other prophets whom God has called. But all I can speak of belongs to the earth, I can only speak about earthly things, even when I’m speaking the words God gives me. But I believe - at least I’m pretty sure - that Yeshua comes from above - that he is from heaven, and is above all. Only he can testify to heavenly things, because he has seen and heard them directly. And only his baptism is permanent.”
Sam’s mouth fell open. He tried to speak, swallowed, and finally produced an audible sound. “Permanent? What do you mean, permanent?”
John answered, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me. . .will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” [Mt 3:11] Those whom Jesus baptizes will be changed. Maybe that is why only the disciples are baptizing right now. Maybe the time has not yet come, something else will have to happen before the fire and spirit can be given. It’s hidden from me, though.”
There was a long pause. Finally Sam lifted his eyes to the man he had followed so faithfully. “Master,” he said, “I guess I have to go.”
John put his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Yes, Sam, you do. What you are looking for, only Yeshua can give you.”
