“Meeting John the Baptist” (based on Mark 1.1-8, Matthew 3.1ff)
My pal from the village suggested it. “You like a good laugh: go and have a look at this odd-ball in the desert near the Jordan. He’s dipping people in the river: baptism, he calls it. They say he lives on locusts and honey” Well, my wife’s cooking isn’t great, but I’d certainly draw the line at that!
So off I went. The nearer I got to the river, the bigger the crowd grew: it looked as if all of Judaea and Jerusalem had come out. When I got near enough to see him, he certainly looked odd: a camel-hair coat and a leather belt. Someone told me his name’s John. People were coming forward talking about things they’d done wrong and he was pushing them down into the water. Not for me, I thought, and was going away when he began to speak. Some of the people there were religious bigwigs from Jerusalem, and he really laced into them. “Generation of vipers” was one of the things he called them, and unless they completely changed they didn’t have much of a future.
That made me worried, and the crowd started to murmur, “What should we do?” “Share with others,” he said, “don’t steal (that was to the tax-collectors). Soldiers, be content with your pay, don’t accuse people without a reason, just for the fun of it.” Fat chance, I thought: none of that applied to me, but then I began to think of all the things that I’d done to hurt other people, especially the wife. Perhaps I did need to change, and be baptised.
I was just starting to go forward when another man came out of the crowd. At first sight he looked like everyone else: not tall, about my age I guess. But there was something about him, a sort of strength. People were murmuring “He’s come all the way from Nazareth”. He went up to John, and they talked for a few moments. I couldn’t hear all they said, but it looked as though the man was asking to be baptised, and John wasn’t happy.
Finally he agreed, and then it happened. As the man stepped into the water there was something like a clap of thunder, and it looked as though there was a light on him. Then a voice: I couldn’t quite hear what it said, something about a Beloved Son. Earlier on, people asked John if he was the Messiah. “No” he said, “but there’s someone coming after me who is more powerful than me. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.” I didn’t quite understand. Was this that man? What had happened was nothing like anything I’d seen before, and suddenly the man looked different too, powerful, inspiring.
Yes, I did go forward to be baptised, but this other man was special. Will I ever see him again, even meet him? I hope so.