GOOD NEWS FROM ST. JOHN
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HESE four verses contain John’s account of the ministry of John the Baptist. Though this account is very short it is revealing and instructive. John speaks of three aspects of the ministry of John the Baptist.Firstly, let us note that we are told that John the Baptist was sent from God. This does not mean that John the Baptist had an unnatural or unusual birth, but that his life was set apart by God from the beginning for a special work God had commissioned him to perform. All of us have a purpose of God to fulfil in our lives. We are not given life to waste it away in our desires and pleasures, but to live for God our creator. It is important for all of us to seek to know God’s will for our lives and then follow that will. However this testimony to John the Baptist indicates a special and unique plan and purpose of God, which was bound up in the Word made flesh, and God’s saving purposes for the world in Christ.
Secondly, John tells us the purpose for which John the Baptist was sent into the world from God. He was sent as a witness to give testimony concerning that Light, which is Christ. In the other Gospel’s we are told that John the Baptist was the one sent to prepare the way for the coming of Christ - that is prepare people to know and receive Christ.
John speaks of Jesus as the Light - the Light of Life - shining in the darkness of this world. John the Baptist’s ministry was to bear testimony to Jesus as the Light of the world. John the Baptist’s ministry had one aim and only one, and that was to exalt Christ, make him known, and point people to him. This was a ministry of tremendous importance. Jesus is the Light of Life. Life which brings light can only be found in him, so unless people see Jesus and receive him they have no Light of Life.
Thirdly, the ministry of John the Baptist was a ministry of so testifying to Christ that people would be believe in Jesus. All who listen faithfully to the ministry of John the Baptist will know the way of Life found in Jesus and will receive the Light of Life. However the truth was, and still is, that though John the Baptist was faithful in his ministry of pointing people to Christ, few actually followed and received that teaching and found the Light of Life. All might believe if they will. The failure is not in the offer which is to all, but in the wills of people who are opposed to the light.
The ministry of John the Baptist is an archetype for all ministers of the Gospel. We must always and only exalt Christ, and never ourselves or any religious system. The way to call people to Christ is to preach repentance so that people will see there need of Christ, and to point people to Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We preach Christ crucified - the one who bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might have the Light of Life.
We are specially told here that John the Baptist was not the Light, but only a witness to the Light. Every minister has no light in himself or herself. The only light we have is the Light of Christ. We point people to the Light of Life only as we point people to Christ. Light is only found in Christ.
Verse 9 is a difficult verse to fully understand, but there are plain truths to be gleaned from it without any controversy. There are many lights in the world. Every religion pretends to give light. Every philosophy or political ideology professes to give light. However there is only one true Light and that is the Light of Christ.
Verse 9 also tells us that this true light is available to all if only they will come into the Light and receive its searching and truth. Other claims to light often are exclusive in some way, but the Light of the Gospel of Christ is for all who will believe.
As Christ is the only true Light, how important is to for us today to follow the example of John the Baptist and bear faithful and active testimony to the Light, so that all may have an opportunity to come into the Light.