There Once Was A Man Named John

12.17.23 John 1:6–8 (EHV)

6 There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as an eyewitness to testify about the light so that everyone would believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.

There Once Was a Man Named John

Some people are just larger than life. They walk into a room and you can’t help but notice them and gravitate towards them. Sometimes they are called the life of the party.

John the Baptist wasn’t the life of the party. But he was in some senses a larger than life figure. You couldn’t help but notice him, even before he was born. Announced by the angel Gabriel, who then struck Zechariah’s tongue so that he couldn’t speak until he wrote those words on the tablet, “His name is John.” Predestined to have faith even in the womb, leaping for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice. Luke writes of his miraculous birth, born to Elizabeth who was beyond child bearing years. 30 years later he comes onto the scene wearing camel hair and eating locusts, living out in deserted areas. Everybody knew who John was. You couldn’t miss him, even out in the desert. He was so well known and impressive that many people thought that he might be the Christ.

Throughout the years many have tried to emulate John by living out in the desert and living in communes, wearing rough clothing, living as hermits and in communes. But it’s kind of like the Elvis impersonators, they just don’t quite cut it. There was only one Elvis, and there was only one John. And John didn’t want to be imitated, for us to put on John outfits every Advent, buying our children camel skin suits and chocolate covered locusts. He wasn’t trying to set a new fashion or trend. The clothes and the style of life were simply meant to draw a picture of repentance. Rough clothes for a rough heart. In contrast to the priests and the teachers of the law, he was not attached to the beauties and luxuries of this world. He wore the same clothing as Elijah and dwelt in the same type of region that the Israelites did as they journeyed for 40 years on the way to the Promised Land. This was John’s message and John’s calling, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, as prophesied by Malachi.

As attractive as John the Baptist was in his own ugly way, he didn’t want people to pay attention to him. He was meant more to be a bright blinking road sign pointing people ahead to a sharp curve so they don’t go over the edge. In today’s text, the apostle John follows John the Baptist’s lead in this gospel. He doesn’t say ANYTHING about John the Baptist’s clothing or his miraculous birth. This is all he says. There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. Simple enough. John was a man. Nothing earth shattering there. But there’s something to be said for simple. John wasn’t a superman. He wasn’t royalty. He wasn’t an angel either. Even with his miraculous birth, he was still just a man, a normal human being. Yet God chose him and God used him in a miraculous way, even though he didn’t perform any miracles that we know of - no chasing out of demons or raising the dead. Just a normal guy with abnormal clothes, baptizing people. Even I have done that.

But that’s the great thing about it. It shows us that God can work through anyone, and this is how God likes to work - through mothers and fathers and workers and children. He likes humans to do His divine work of clothing and feeding people, baptizing them and taking a part in their Christian education. You don’t have to be superhuman to do God’s work. He can work through a woman named Jane and a guy called Jerry. He even spoke through a donkey. So if you’re human, God can work through you too.

But there was something unique about John. He was on a specific mission from God, a divine mission, announced even before his birth, that he would prepare the way for the Lord. So much for free will in some senses. John didn’t have the option of being an officer or a farmer. He was born to be a preacher, that was it. It was foreordained for him. There was no question about it. Yet we don’t hear any complaints from John. “God made me be a prophet. I wanted to be a clothes designer and I got stuck in this camel hair.”

It must have been nice in some senses. He didn’t have to go to a career counselor and try to figure it out. He didn’t have to meander through life and go from one job to another, unsure of what he was meant to do. That happens in life. I can recall when I first started college there was only one guy who was dead sure that he wanted to be a pastor. Ironically, he was one of the many who didn’t make it. There were plenty of guys who decided against it. I wasn’t sure I was going to be a pastor, practically until I was a pastor. That’s the way life is more often than we think.