DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

St. John 1:18-28       (4/28)        CHRIST IS RISEN!        Gospel for Monday of Bright Week

 

One Among You: St. John 1:18-28, especially vs. 26: “John answered them, saying, ‘I baptize with water, but there stands One among you Whom you do not know.’”  On a moonless night in the dark of open country, should someone strike a match, the brief flare of light catches the eye and discloses that there “stands one among you.”  Had the person striking the match been close by he would have been unknown, because of the darkness.  His presence would have remained hidden except for the flare of match-light.  During the days when the Forerunner John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, and the Lord Jesus emerged from the quiet of Nazareth into public life, the single, most unique flash of God’s uncreated Light blazed across the landscape of human history.  The Light shone “in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (Jn 1:5).

Later, in the years immediately after the Lord Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven (following Acts 1:9), the Apostles, who knew the Lord intimately, longed for all men everywhere to “receive Him” and become “children of God” (Jn.1:12).  Guided by the Holy Spirit, they lovingly passed on to faithful men (2 Tim. 2:2) all the essential details of what they saw and learned during the three years that the Light blazed among them.  Their message began from a well-known Biblical truth: “No one has seen God at any time” (Jn. 1:18).  However, they modified this general truth with a rich, array of new gleanings from their experience with the Light, and so they added: “The only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (Jn. 1:18).

The host of details recorded in the Gospels is best understood from the perspective of experience.  God the Son, living as a man, redefined the meaning and value of every person and action.  John, a fisherman, became the Apostle, Evangelist, and Theologian John.  The Jewish Passover Seder, celebrating liberation from Egypt, became the Holy Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ (Jn. 6:51-58).  John the Baptizer became St. John the Forerunner.

John the Forerunner knew that he was “sent from God....to bear witness of the Light” (Jn. 1:6,7).  His preaching and manner of living caught the attention of the religious authorities.  They sent priests and Levites to ask, “Who are you?” (Jn. 1:19).  John’s answer set the record straight in two ways.  First, in terms of what was not, he made three negative statements: No, I am not the Messiah, the Christ.  No, I am not Elijah the Prophet come back to prepare for the Messiah’s arrival.  No, I am not the Prophet that Moses had predicted, who would foretell the Messiah’s arrival.  John drew definite boundaries around himself: “I am not He.”

Second, John affirmed the arrival of the great, “true Light” (Jn. 1:9).  John added: It makes no difference how one labels the One Who is coming.  His arrival brings Lord God’s demand.  Let all men cleanse whatever in their lives stands between them and God their Creator.  For his part, John added, I am simply the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare! (see vs. 23).  Brethren, note carefully.  John knew by the Holy Spirit (see Jn. 1:32-33) what is further confirmed in the printed record of the Apostles: that He Who came is greater than all the Prophets.  And we know why He is greater.  Christ is the Life-Giver, the Light of the World, God in the flesh.

Note that the official “investigation team” was not comfortable with John’s answers when they asked who he was and what his Baptism was about (vss. 19-15).  The Forerunner took the moment to underline his message: “there stands One among you Whom you do not know” (vs. 26).  He continued: “make straight the way of the Lord” (vs. 23).  If the officials were uncertain about John, he reminded them (and us) that everyone will give an account for himself, for, in Jesus, God-in-the-flesh underscores our common accountability before the Creator.

Have mercy on us, O God, according to Thy great goodness, we pray Thee!

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