The Host with the Most

The sermon I didn't preach last Sunday was titled, "The Host with the Most." ( I didn't preach it beacuse I rewrote to respond to Saturday's awful shooting in Arizona.)

Here's what I was thinking about John 1: 19-42 (the Message or check out John 1: 19-42 for the King James version-its interesting to put the two translations in conversation with each other).

 This story starts the gospel right off with conflict.  A crowd, seeded with questions by power seeking leaders, challenges John the Baptist (a different John from the one associated with creating this Gospel itself).  "Who are you," they ask, and "what are you doing?"  John replies that none of the names they try to pin on him are right.  He is the one pointing to something, or someone, new.  He doesn't really want to talk about himself at all.  He's all about the greater one who is coming.  But the authorities don't seem to hear (perhaps they're not very good listeners).

There's another sort of conflict in the background. We see it in the Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 9:14 and chapter 11).  John and his cousin, Jesus, were both emerging as public figures. Many think that Jesus followed and learned from John for awhile.  What does a teacher do when a student starts to outshine them?  Especially when the teacher's other followers start following the upstart cousin....

Whatever bumps and rubs there may have been in the actual ministry situation, by the time this version of the Gospel gets written down, there is no doubt where the light shines brightest.  Its all about Jesus.
In fact, you can almost hear John say, "you idiots," as he tries and tries to say, "not me, him!"

Jesus is the host with the most and John the Baptist is his biggest cheer leader. I wonder how many of us would settle as garcefully into second fiddle.  How did John manage that transition?

It must have helped that they had the same goal-the salvation of their people, re-union with God. There must also have been a healthy helping of reality.  John knew his role.  He probably knew that if he tried to be something he wasn't it would end badly.  But if he went with the flow of gifts God poured into him, it was grace upon grace, not overcome even by his own "bad end" at King Herod's hand. (That's the guy who gave John's head on a platter to his dancing step daughter.)  The story John was part of, Jesus's story, was so much bigger and brighter than anything jealous powers could try to snuff out.  Its note the ratings light of a host that attracts the biggest following. That's resurrection light we see shining. The same resurrection light that meets us when Christ hosts the Lord's Supper or that glistens in drops of Baptism water tossed in the air over the head of the beloved.