WWJBD

John 1:29-42; Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9


Last week the gospel reading was Matthew’s spare, five verse, account of the baptism of Jesus by his cousin John. Jesus joined the crowd going to the Jordan River where John was holding forth. John, recognizing Jesus, not just as his cousin but also as the one promised to supplant him, suggested they should change paces – John be baptized by Jesus. Jesus insisted that they proceed in order to fulfill all righteousness. Coming up out of the water Jesus saw the Spirit descend upon him and heard God’s blessing over him.

The gospel writer John approaches the same event in a very different way. There is no report of the actual baptism. The Baptist tells messengers from the Pharisees that he baptizes with water and that there stands among them someone greater than John whom they do not recognize (John 1:26). In the gospel writer’s account, the next day John saw Jesus in the crowd and told those around him,

“Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is really greater than me because he existed before me.’ Even I didn’t recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be made known to Israel.”

Perhaps you might remember getting for your young children some activity work sheets which appeared to be blank. The instructions said to brush the blank area with water. When that was done a line drawing would appear and reveal a picture of something the child would recognize. It took the water to make the picture known. John brushed on the baptismal waters in order to make Jesus known to Israel.

A decade ago, many Christians were using to the acronym WWJD which stood for “What Would Jesus Do?” It was a useful ministry tool to help people look at situations in which they found themselves and consider what our Lord might do in them. It was a good reminder that we are never alone, that we are never without the power of Jesus given to us in the present witness of the Holy Spirit. What would Jesus do when confronted by a bully? What would Jesus do if he met someone taking economic advantage of a person? What would Jesus do if he knew a person was embezzling from the company? What would Jesus do about a person who was being self-destructive? How would Jesus weigh out the pros and cons of a situation which appeared to have no good outcome among the alternatives?

The question before us today is WWJBD. What would John the Baptist do when he discovered Jesus? John could have noted Jesus and said to himself, “Good, my job is done. My promised successor has arrived. I can get out of this water and retire happy and fulfilled.” I am sure that he was tired of being waterlogged and wrinkly from standing in the Jordan day in and day out. How many times had he said to those who came to him that his baptism was for the forgiveness of sins, but that someone was coming after him who would baptize with God’s Spirit? How many times had he denounced the religious leaders for their inactivity, their insensitivity, their having missed the whole point of being the stewards of God’s word?

WWJBD. What would John the Baptist do?

What John did was to redouble his efforts. John knew Jesus as his cousin. But it was only after the baptismal waters were poured over him and the Spirit resting on him did John recognize Jesus as the promised one. Up to this point John had not clearly seen the Messiah. He knew that the Messiah was coming and that his mission was to prepare the nation of Israel for the Messiah’s arrival. He had been instructed to baptize and as he was baptizing he saw a sign that indicated the arrival of the one he had come to announce.

John testified, 

“I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it rested on him. Even I didn’t recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and testified that this one is God’s Son.”

Isaiah frequently depicted the Messiah as having the Spirit resting upon him. Jesus affirmed this in his reading of Isaiah 61 in the Nazareth synagogue – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...” (Luke 4: 18;see Isaiah 61:1ff.). When John says that the Messiah – Jesus – will baptize with the Holy Spirit, he is lining out Jesus' divine mission. John’s statement not only points to the Day of Pentecost on which Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to baptize the disciples, it describes Jesus’ entire ministry. Jesus came to give eternal life to those who believe in him. No one could actually receive that life apart from receiving the life-giving Holy Spirit. John’s water washed away sins – repentance – but the baptism of the Holy Spirit takes the water washed forgiveness and adds eternal life. The Spirit symbolized the empowerment to live and teach the message of salvation.

WWJBD. What would John the Baptist do? He taught the message of salvation. “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John pointed beyond himself and his ministry and taught those around him where to find the true salvation that they were seeking. “When [John] saw Jesus walking along he said, ‘Look! The Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard what he said, and they followed Jesus.”

John pointed to Jesus and declared openly who he was. Jesus was God with us – the eternal Lamb – and his mission was to take away the sin of the world, take away the eternal outcome – death, abandonment, oblivion – that sin represented in the eyes of God. John could do no other than direct people to eternal life. As John said shortly before his imprisonment and death,

“You yourselves can testify that I said that I’m not the Christ but that I’m the one sent before him.... Therefore my joy is now complete. He must increase and I must decrease.” (John 3:28-30)

You and I aren’t standing waist deep in creek water. Nor are we pouring water over people’s heads as a routine ritual. But that doesn’t mean that you and I can’t do the same thing that the Baptist did. We can point out Jesus. We can direct individuals to the source of eternal life.
Today people are looking for someone to give them security in an insecure world. We must point them to Christ and show them how Christ satisfies their need. They must hear it first from us. We cannot pass on to others what we do not possess. If we know Jesus, we will want to introduce others to him. Telling others about Jesus doesn’t require a graduate level education. It doesn’t require a hard sell approach that verbally beats prospective buyers into submission. Telling others about Jesus simply needs sincere compassion which is the love for the other person and what they are missing. Each us simply needs to know how much Jesus means to us in our everyday lives, how the love and grace of Jesus have gotten us through situations in our lives for which there seemed to be no solution, how the Spirit-placed presence of Jesus in our lives changed our life’s perspective. 

One of the great joys I have is reading the occasional articles in our monthly Courier newsletter labeled “Verbalizing Our Faith.” How wonderful these stories are. They are WWJBD things in our lives that become our testifying to the world who Jesus is for us. These are starting points for conversations that can lead people to find what they are missing in their lives.
At some point we then hand off the story of Jesus to the Holy Spirit to finish the work of sealing Christ’s salvation in the other person. We move ourselves to an attitude of prayer for the Spirit to finish the work begun. John allowed his disciples to follow Jesus and in that act sealed his obedience to God. The disciples did follow Jesus, demonstrating that they had benefitted from John’s teaching. Like John’s disciples who found out where Jesus was staying, our friends can link up with Jesus, abide in his presence, and become enthralled in his message. 

WWJBD. Show the Light of the world to others and help grow that Light into its eternal glory.

Unless noted otherwise, all scripture references are from The Common English Bible, © 2011 www.commonenglishbible.com.

Copyright © 2017 First Presbyterian Church of Waverly, Ohio. Reprinted by permission.