“John’s special task, and ours”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Luke 3:15-22 (Forward, p. 53) CEV p. 1059
Often we humans criticize ourselves or put ourselves down for not managing to pull off some large or highly significant task or enterprise. We forget that it may well be those seemingly ordinary, everyday, mundane actions that make all the difference in the world. I’m not sure whether Susanna Wesley or Monica, the mother of Augustine of Hippo, were ever aware of the import, the overall impact of their prayers for their respective sons. Or Rosa Park, in refusing to give up her seat in favour of a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus, never dreamt that she would become an icon, the focal point, of the newly blossoming civil rights movement. I think that we could go on at some length with examples of people, ordinary people, who made a difference by their seemingly ordinary actions.
John the Baptist, in my estimation, was one of these folks. His task, his responsibility, was rather small and rather focused. It was simply to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, nothing else. Maybe it wasn’t entirely ‘ordinary’ but it was selective and pretty limited in scope. He was to preach and baptize, nothing more. And he knew that this coming Messiah was far more important than himself. That meant that furthermore, once his job was done, his task fulfilled, he was to step aside and let the Messiah take over. And so, he not only prepared people’s hearts for the coming One, Jesus, but also baptized Him as well. And that done, he faded from the picture—sadly, at the hands of an angry of Herodias (but that is another story). John had done his job and will be forever blessed and remembered for it. Let us, you and I, seek to do with same, with whatever job or task, big or small, that we have been called to perform. Amen.
Forward notes: “John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptized you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire’” (verse 16).
“My friend Jeannie Cunnion wrote a book not too long ago about the Holy Spirit called Don’t Miss Out: Daring to Believe Life Is Better with the Holy Spirit. We’ve had many talks about the Holy Spirit, both as the book was being hatched and after it was published. Jeannie believes that people are afraid to dive deep into the gift Jesus gave us of the Holy Spirit.
“Jesus has indeed baptized us with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and we know we are marked through baptism as ‘Christ’s own forever.’ I love to meditate on ‘Creator’ (God), ‘Redeemer’ (Jesus) and ‘Sustainer’ (Holy Spirit). Yes, the Holy Spirit sustains us. So, lean into it. My prayer on this day is that the fire of the Holy Spirit will sustain you and inspire you to go forth in the name of Christ, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit, today and always.”
Moving Forward: “Do you see the Holy Spirit at work in your life? How might you ask the Spirit to sustain and inspire you?”
