Thoughts On: John 1:24-28

(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

John 1:24-28, ESV

I dreamed the other night that my old life showed up on my doorstep with an engagement ring. I immediately threw myself back into the relationship, with pain and with fear and with doubts, but something gnawed on me from the inside, and I woke up feeling anxious and upset. I went back to sleep, hoping that I would forget about the dream, and dreamed a glimpse of something else. I found myself in a rainforest, doing some sort of important work. I don’t remember if I worked with a team, or with one other person, or what it was we were doing, but I remember what I felt: Depth. 

The two dreams contrasted to form the same feeling that I read about in this passage of John. The Pharisees, religious rule-followers and self-imposed gatekeepers to God, became confused as they watched John baptize people. The Jews saw baptism as a solitary activity, and wondered who this man thought he was, to believe that his actions could cleanse people. 

But while the Pharisees did not know the rest of the story, we do. John’s mission was to prepare, not to cleanse. While it may have looked as if he was performing an act that only an anointed prophet should complete, the Pharisees did not know that something better was in the works. Jesus would soon die, be buried, and rise again in the ultimate redemption of his people. Baptism would look symbolic in comparison. 

Like the Pharisees, the lie has crept into my life over and over and over again: The best is in the past.

When the way I had always done things became toxic and incomplete, I wondered whether there would ever be more. It is hard to see, when you are living by the law, that grace is near at hand. The pharisees didn’t see it as John baptized with water, and I didn’t see it as I began to take steps toward freedom. Now I see, though - this lie has been devouring my mind. 

I woke up from that second dream knowing that I had missed something. The fullness and richness of it excited me, and the first dream paled in comparison. The first contained everything I thought would be my life, and the second was everything I didn’t know could be. Letting go is never easy, but it is necessary to prepare for what will be. The Pharisees couldn’t see, but we have Christ to lead the way:

There are better things to come.