“Collect no more than your fixed rate.” People serving as soldiers asked John, “What about us? What are we to do?” And he answered,
“Don’t take anything by force or threaten the people by denouncing them falsely. Be content with your pay.” The people were wondering about John’s
identity, “Could he be the Messiah?” Then John answered them, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is coming will do much more: he will baptize
you with Holy Spirit and fire. As for me, I am not worthy to untie his sandal. He comes with a winnowing fan to clear his threshing floor and gather the grain
into his barn. But the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.” With these, and many other words, John announced the Good News to the people“
Lectio Divina
READ: John is busy teaching the people how to live an upright life. Many begin
to wonder whether John is the Messiah. He has to declare publicly that he is not
and that someone greater than him is coming.
REFLECT: John does not only baptize people but teaches them how to leave
moral lives. For part of repentance from former sinful life is its reorientation to
what is true, holy and pleasing in God’s sight. So, part of religious leadership is
a moral life capable of teaching others to do the same. Because of his activities,
speculation swirled around the person of John. After all, nothing like this has
happened in Israel for the past four hundred years. Somebody from nowhere
comes and shakes the religious life of Israel. And so, the people cannot anymore
bear the suspense regarding John’s identity ask him squarely whether he is the
promised Messiah or not. This is the defining moment of John’s career. He could
usurp the role and reap a lot of benefits from it, or humbly accept his true role
in God’s plan. He chooses the latter. It is a testament of the greatness of John
who does not feel diminished playing second fiddle to God’s chosen one. That
is why Jesus praised him as not surpassed by any human born of a woman.
RESPOND: We have to teach people sometimes on how to live moral lives. The
question is, do we have sufficient credibility to do so? The greatest teaching we
can impart to others is the example of our own lives.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2021