2 January, 2021 – Am I worthy - A Reflection on John 1:19-28

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’ as the prophet Isaiah said.
Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
A few weeks back, Brother Aneel invited me to be part of this show: Daily Reflections with Aneel Aranha and Friends. My first reaction was, "No!! I can’t!" I am guessing it might have been your reaction too. The question is, “Why?” His invitation wasn’t randomly given. It came because I had been writing reflections on the readings for a few weeks, and he obviously found that I had something good to offer. The invitation also came with clear instructions on how to go about doing this. It also promised assistance should it be needed. So, why did I find the invitation so intimidating, and why was my immediate reaction to refuse it?

I found my answer in today’s reading. The Jewish elders are curious about John the Baptist who was baptizing people in the wilderness. After he denied he was the Messiah , Elijah or the Prophet, they asked him why he was baptizing if he wasn’t any of these people. He replied, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” I realized that the main reason I was reluctant was because I didn’t believe that I was worthy enough to break the word of God.

But then I remembered something that Brother Aneel had said in one of his talks. "Nothing I will ever do will make me worthy to preach the word of God,” he had said. "The only thing that makes me worthy to preach is the righteousness of Christ.” And I thought, I share the righteousness of Christ too. But then there were other questions that arose: Will I speak well? Am I presentable enough? Do I have the necessary charisma? Will people appreciate what I have to say? What if they question my qualifications? Do YOU have those concerns?

And then I thought of John the Baptist. He wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather girdle around his waist (Matthew 3:4). Did he care what he looked like? Did he care what people thought about him? Did he care about the questions people asked him? He felt called to do something and he went ahead and just did it. And God used him. So, let us not hesitate to share the word of God by making excuses. If we feel moved to, let us open our mouths and say what God wants us to say. And I believe that God will do what he wants to do through us.

Let us be many voices crying out in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord.