Not The Savior

The thing I love about John the Baptist is that he spent his entire life pointing us to Christ. Even as an unborn child, leaping in his mother’s womb, he proclaimed, “Look everyone, there is the Christ, he’s the Savior, he’s the One, he’s Messiah….NOT me!!!” John was dynamic and charismatic with lots of “followers” that wanted him to be Messiah. He never once mistook himself for anyone’s redeemer. Raise your hand if you have ever felt like you were a mini savior and if you just love that friend or that spouse or that person in distress or that lost one or that sick person well enough, they will be saved. Unfortunately, my hand is in the air on all accounts of possessing a savior complex. Ugh. John shows us how to be bold, but humble, wild, but grounded, charismatic, but not the focus, free, but not reckless, and completely aware that Jesus is the savior and we are not. John did not hide his gifts or downplay his strengths because people had him mistaken for the Messiah, but he used those gifts to preach that Jesus was the one that would do all the saving, all the healing, all the miraculous, all the delivering, all the amazing, and he was just the voice telling them to get ready for it. He emphasized that he was the voice in the desert. The desert was where the super sinners would go, the sick, the mentally ill, and the ones that deserved to live in exile. These are the peeps that not only needed to hear that Messiah was coming, but that John also identified with…WE ALL LIVE IN THE DESERT AND ARE IN NEED OF THE SAVIOR. 

Being concerned with each other’s identity has been an obsession since the beginning of time. At dinner parties we ask each other, “So, what do you do?” or when we talk about one another we say things like, “Who does she think she is?” Our identity is what gives us our self worth and it is the first thing that the enemy wants to attack because if we are confused about who we are, then he has a foothold to start telling us lies about who we are. John the Baptist gives us a good standard today to start with, “I am not the Christ.” Humility will lead us to our real identity and that is “I am the voice crying out in the desert, Jesus come save me. I am yours and you are mine.” John was one feisty and outrageous guy, but what does my desert voice sound like? How am I making straight the way of the Lord? How am I using my gifts to point others to Christ? How am I announcing the gospel? When people mistake me for being able to do anything amazing, do I remind them, that only Jesus saves? 

Today John, the leaping unborn baby and the wild dude in the desert, reminds us to step out of the way and let Jesus do his favorite thing…saving us. I don’t know about you, but that certainly takes the pressure off of me to think for one second that I can do anything apart from Him. I am not the Christ, but I’d love to tell you all about Him and it is well with my soul.

Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church
Lectionary: 205

Reading 1 1 JN 2:22-28

Beloved:
Who is the liar? 
Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. 
Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. 
Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father,
but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.

Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. 
If what you heard from the beginning remains in you,
then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. 
And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life. 
I write you these things about those who would deceive you. 
As for you,
the anointing that you received from him remains in you,
so that you do not need anyone to teach you. 
But his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false; 
just as it taught you, remain in him.

And now, children, remain in him,
so that when he appears we may have confidence
and not be put to shame by him at his coming.

Responsorial PsalmPS 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4

R. (3cd)  All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R.  All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.

Alleluia HEB 1:1-2

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
In times, past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets:
in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel JN 1:19-28

This is the testimony of John. 
When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him
to ask him, "Who are you?"
He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted,
"I am not the Christ." 
So they asked him,
"What are you then? Are you Elijah?" 
And he said, "I am not." 
"Are you the Prophet?"
He answered, "No." 
So they said to him,
"Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? 
What do you have to say for yourself?"
He said:
"I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,
'Make straight the way of the Lord,'
as Isaiah the prophet said." 
Some Pharisees were also sent. 
They asked him,
"Why then do you baptize
if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?" 
John answered them,
"I baptize with water;
but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
the one who is coming after me,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie." 
This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,

where John was baptizing.