Our true calling, as followers of Jesus, is to bear witness to God's messiah and his liberating work. Just like John the Baptist. If Jesus is the Great "I am" then John is the Great "I am not." John proclaims, ""The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Yes, like John, we are not the messiah. We are called to bear witness to the messiah. And like John we are to do our witnessing in the wilderness. Not in the comfort and security of our own Jerusalems. Nor inside the four walls of our magnificent temples, imposing church buildings, and prestigious seminaries. Nor while we are seated in our living rooms chatting via "Zoom" with a digital Bible in one hand and an electronic newspaper in the other.
Wilderness conjures up a lot of ambivalent images for us who study scripture. God appeared to a hardheaded Moses through the burning bush in the wilderness. The Israelites wandered almost aimlessly in the wilderness for forty long years. Many of them died there, including Moses. Like John, the wilderness played a key role in Jesus' ministry. In Mark, the Spirit had to force Jesus into the wilderness after his baptism. There, Jesus had to deal with Satan. The wilderness does not seem like a very hospitable place.
Yet, we are called to bear witness in the wilderness: in places we do not want to go; to those desolate areas we fear, and be one with communities—poor and desperate—whom many call "God-forsaken."
We are called to proclaim the good news of the incarnation: that God has not forsaken; that God is not in heaven anymore; that God is here with us; that God is in Gaza, in the West Bank, and in every place where people struggle for life, for land, for dignity, and for peace based on justice.
John the Baptist was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. These days, we are more fortunate. We, you and I, are legion.
*art: "John the Baptist," fragment of a mosaic, from the Yorck Project 12th Century, Ayasofya Muzesi Building, Istanbul, Turkey (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).
