What Do People See?
Who was John the Baptist? He was the son of a priest and therefore a priest himself. Yet, he was more than that. He was a prophet of the Living God. Yet, he was more than that. He was the forerunner of the Messiah. Yet, he was more than that. In today’s reading, Jesus asked the people who they had traveled out into the desert to see. Jesus spoke highly of John. He spoke of his strength, stating he was not some reed shaken by the wind. Those who knew John, who listened to his teaching and felt the bite of his warnings and accusations, knew John was no pushover. This was not someone who bowed to the powers that be. He cared not if you were a farmer, a palace guard, or the king himself. John boldly proclaimed the truth and called sin a sin. Was he a reed shaken by the wind? Absolutely not!
What then did John embody? The next question that Jesus asks the crowd was if John was clothed in fine garments and rich robes. Of course, he was not. John is known for dressing in rough camel hair robes and existing on a diet of locusts and wild honey. This was not a man who would be comfortable inside palace chambers. Why is that important? Jesus tells us. He says, “What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.’” (Luke 7:25-27) John, as the forerunner of the Messiah, previewed who the Christ would be. Matthew Henry explained, “Had the Messiah been to appear as a temporal prince, under which character the carnal Jews expected him, his messenger would have appeared either in the pomp of a general or the gaiety of a herald at arms; but it was a previous indication, plain enough, of the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, that the messenger he sent before him to prepare his way did it by preaching repentance and reformation of men's hearts and lives. Certainly that kingdom was not of this world which was thus ushered in.”
We should appear as our savior. If we, as his ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), should look and act like the kingdom we represent. I am not saying we need to give away all our clothes and track down some camel hair garb, but we should look, behave, and sound like our God. When people see us, do they see an oddity? Do they see a perfect person? Hopefully, they see a redeemed and loved person who walks in the same grace and mercy of their Savior.
(Written by Keegan Harkins.)
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