1-9-17 - The Witness

John the Baptist is front and center during Advent, and rarely seen the rest of the church year. Yet here he is, in January, popping up as an eyewitness to the identity of Christ. His testimony is remarkable:

The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” (This week's gospel passage is here.)

The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That’s a mouthful – signifying from the beginning of the story the sacrificial aspect of Jesus’ mission. And John is very sure of who Jesus is. “This is the one I was talking about, the one I said was coming, who is greater than I. He is the reason I do this!” If John is unhappy about his season waning while another’s fruit ripens, he doesn’t seem so.

It is generally unwise to define ourselves in comparison to someone else. But if that someone else is Jesus, it can help give us a clearer picture. Here’s a prayer experiment to try today: Sit quietly, maybe light a candle, let your breathing slow and deepen, let yourself get centered. Close your eyes, and picture yourself. Where are you? What are you wearing? What do you think about what you see? What do you feel?

Then bring Jesus into the picture. Imagine him sitting with you. No need to stress about what he looks like or if you have a visual sense of him – just let him be a presence. How do you look next to him? Who do you see when you look at yourself through his eyes?

If feelings come up that you want to speak, go ahead – that’s prayer, talking with God. If you hear a response from Jesus, that’s great. That’s prayer, God talking with us.

If visualizing in prayer isn’t for you, just ask God,
“Who do you see when you look at me?” Wait to see if you sense a response; I often find they come quickly and are surprising. God wants us to know who we are in God’s eyes.

When we look at ourselves with Jesus in the picture, we know at least a couple of things:
we know we’re not God;
we know we’re not perfect;
we know we’re loved.

And when we know those three things about ourselves, we tend to be gentler with ourselves, more compassionate with other people, and a whole lot freer with our love. That’s what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and a saint in God's church.
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