Prepare The Way

“A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less."                                                                                                                                    - John the Baptist, John 3:27-30

Lent begins in two more days, on Ash Wednesday, March 2, and runs through April 14, the night Jesus was betrayed. Lent is a time when we prepare our hearts and minds for the death and Resurrection of Jesus. In Isaiah 40, verse 3, 700 years before Christ, the Prophet Isaiah proclaims the coming of one who would prepare the way for the Messiah. He writes,

A voice of one calling:

“In the wilderness prepare

   the way for the Lord;

make straight in the desert

   a highway for our God.

- Isaiah 40:3

It was John the Baptist for whom Isaiah prophesied, and sure enough, John appeared on the scene just months before Jesus to prepare the way, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. However, the most amazing thing about John was that it was never about him. Mark records in Mark 1:7-8,

And this was his (John the Baptist’s] message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John was the epitome of humility and sacrifice, for when his followers began to gripe and complain that their numbers were diminishing due to people following Jesus instead, John declared in John 3:30, “He [Jesus] must become greater, I must become less.”

What a beautiful example for us. We, too, are called to prepare the way for those around us to come to know Jesus Christ. And it is never to be about us, but about  elevating Jesus as the One worthy of glory, praise, and honor. We, too, must become less so that He can become greater.

Lent is often a time when we give up (we fast from) something for the purpose of remembering what Jesus did for us on the cross. This season of Lent, with whatever we individually choose to give up in the way of fasting, may we exude a spirit of joy and gratitude, that the focus will be on Jesus and not on ourselves.

Like John the Baptist, may we point the way to Jesus, for He is the Messiah. May we embrace our calling to glorify Christ, that He becomes greater, and we become less.

Pastor Ken

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