Preachers, Pedestals, and the Preferred (John 1:19-28)

As a minister and a preacher I have had to ask myself a hard question; do I ever find myself being caught up in the accolades and focus of others?  One of the dangers for any man of God is to become caught up in the adoration of the congregation, after all - what an amazing ego boost that is, and we all like to feel good about ourselves.  In the midst of this struggle I came to John 1:19-28, where we read:

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”  And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”  He said, “I am not.”  “Are you the Prophet?”  And he answered, “No.”  Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”  He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  “Make straight the way of the LORD,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”  John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”  These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

There are a couple of things that I woudl like to point out in this passage.  First, understand that John had a presence about him that drew the crowds.  He had, as we would say today, a certain amount of charisma that people would become enthralled with.  Look at your own church.  Is there a minister there that just seems to draw your attention, they have a certain something about them that makes you focus on them and their ministry?  Often times I have gone into a chruch and encountered church members who were so in love with the previous Pastor that they almost blamed me for following after him. 

The danger that we as Christians face is that it is easy to take our pastors and put them up on a pedestal.  In the world of ministry it is called "Pastor Worship."  And when we become Pastor followers we look at the man as if he can do no wrong.  And, speaking as a man who has spent the better part of the last 30 years in ministry, that can be quite addictive for the preacher.  And quite dangerous for both the clergyman and the congregant.  In fact, in the case of John, people had become so engrossed in the messenger that many had forgot to hear the message.  So what happened, instead of listening to John's message of hope, there were those in the crowd who just wanted to know how special John was.  "Are you Elijah or the Prophet?" - in other words, "hey Preacher, are you a miracle and the voice of God made flesh?" 

Yet, I do love John's answer.  He gave them the greatest of messages...he said; "no."  Ok, maybe he had more to teach them than to simply say that he was not the voice of God made flesh.  He went on to say that he was nothing more than a voice in the wilderness preparing the way.  John knew that it was not about him, his followers, or his preaching style...it was and always would be about Jesus.  You see the second notable lesson in this passage that I would like to touch on is that John understood that "the Preferred" One was the whole point.  John would have said, don't look at me - look at Him. 

I found one statment of his particuraly intersting.  John stated that "there is One among you whom you do not know."  Notice, he does not say that there is One coming.  Jesus was in their midst, in the world, and they had no idea...after all they were too enamered with the messenger to hear the message.  How many times have I missed the presence of Christ because I was focused on the messenger, wether it is the preacher I am listening too or myself and the accolades of being the preacher?

Dear Lord, may I never forget that it is about Christ, the One who is Preferred above all, the Savior of the world.  May it never be about the Preacher and the Pedestal.  May it always be about JESUS. Amen!