Title: The Testimony of John the Baptist
The relationship between Jesus and John
Jesus, on the other hand, was a little different. The fact that he did not hesitate to eat and drink with sinners seems to have clearly drawn a line from the asceticism of John the Baptist. Not only that, but more importantly, Jesus was not emphasizing a moral conversion to the people, he was proclaiming a conversion toward the nearing kingdom of God.
If so, did John the Baptist feel displeased with Jesus, who was doing God's work in a different way and in a different direction from his own? The possibility cannot be completely ruled out. In general, revolutionary people tend to look down on people who are less revolutionary than themselves, so Jesus may have looked too 'naive' in the eyes of John the Baptist, the most radical at the time. But ironically, Jesus was seen as a very radical person to the Pharisees and priests. Since the human perspective does not see any absolute things and always sees the object relative to itself, it seems that one person can be seen as a reformist on one side and as a radical on the other side even though he is a person. This judgment cannot be accurate because Jesus does not fall into the category of revolutionary or conservative. Jesus only proclaimed the kingdom of God. Because the kingdom of God has to be explained from a revolutionary and sometimes conservative perspective, a completely different perspective follows.
Anyway, when John the Baptist was in prison, he sent his disciples to Jesus and asked: “Are you the Messiah our people are waiting for?” I don't know if it was because he wasn't quite sure who Jesus really was, or because he was trying to hint to Jesus that it was no longer a time to procrastinate, but a time to push forward. It's clear.
Knowing how to discern the signs of the times, John the Baptist must have realized that this Jesus was a decisive figure in the history of his people and of mankind. We can't pinpoint exactly when that happened. As mentioned earlier, since Elizabeth and Mary are relatives, they may have been together since childhood. Even if it wasn't, we would have met occasionally. If the youngsters of the same spirit met and talked all night, they would have gotten to know each other more deeply. Or, John the Baptist may have heard many rumors about Jesus as the movement for the baptism of John the Baptist and the movement for the Kingdom of Jesus of Jesus had a great repercussion. But the most decisive event occurred when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. It is said that at the very moment of baptism, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove and rested on Jesus. Today's text is the testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus, which early Christianity later reorganized against this background.
John the Baptist 'unknown'
John the Baptist's testimony of Jesus is very characteristically revealed in the Gospel of John. There is this kind of testimony in the Synoptic Gospels, but in the Gospel of John, it is dealt with very early and very important. In 1:15, John testifies of the pre-existence of Jesus. In verse 29, John the Baptist sees Jesus passing by and says: “There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Then he says: “I was speaking of him when I said that there was one who came after me, and that he was in fact before me, because he was before me” (verse 30). Verse 34b is the conclusion of today's text. “So I testify that this is the Son of God.” This testimony coming out of the mouth of John is the testimony and confession of not only John but the whole of the early Christian community, and it should be our testimony today. Because being a Christian means recognizing, confessing, and bearing witness to a fact, or event, that the event of Jesus is the ultimate truth.
However, you can find an interesting expression in today's text. John the Baptist again says in verses 31 and 33, “I did not know who this was.” Now they testify that Jesus is the Lamb of God and that he is the Son of God, but he did not know who he was originally. Of course, we should have known well.
It is natural that we do not know. If you have not studied mathematics, it is natural that you do not know mathematics. You don't know unless you learn to make side dishes. But the real problem seems to be that we don't know what we don't know. Not only do we not feel any problem even if we do not know, but rather, we fall into hypocrisy as often as we know.
However, there is a difference between not knowing about everyday life and not knowing about the ultimate. In everyday life, the fact that we do not know is clearly revealed, but in the ultimate truth, it is hidden. So people feel cramped about not knowing the everyday things, but they have no reaction to not knowing the ultimate. Because this is our destiny, there is nothing we can do about it. The daily life of making money can only be survived if it is resolved immediately, but even if you do not know about God, your survival itself is not threatened. However, even if this is our destiny, it is unfortunate that we are thirsty for daily ignorance and do not feel any inconvenience even though we do not know God.
As stated in ‘The Little Prince’, if you look at the difference in life between adults who are obsessed with stereotypes and the little prince who sees the world from a completely different angle and depth, you can see what kind of misfortune it is to live without knowing God. Let's take another example. Did anyone come into the church today and see the engraving calendar of Lee Chul-soo hanging on the front door? In the middle of the engraving in January, “You have to love this world. These little things” are engraved around them, and around them are items that we use easily. Hairpins, shoes, combs, pencils, table clocks, candles, etc. are very small things, but the artist discovers the essence of life in them. Those who do not know such things mean that they are far from the world of life.
John the Baptist ‘Knowed’
The reason that John the Baptist, who did not know that Jesus was the Son of God, is now standing as a witness to him is that he has entered the world of knowledge from ignorance. How did he enter the world of knowledge? He is referring to what happened when Jesus was baptized. An identifying sign that Jesus is the Son of God is that the Holy Spirit being baptized, as explained above, rested on him in the form of a dove. John testifies in verse 34a, “I saw the sight.”
What was the Holy Spirit that John the Baptist saw? What is the phenomenon of staying on Jesus? At this point, it is difficult for us to move forward even a single step. This is not to say that some concrete figure, like a dove, actually descended upon Jesus. Are you saying that I just played a game with a strange aura? Am I talking about the halo (aura) that appears to people with great spiritual charisma, like when Moses came down from Mount Sinai after receiving the Law, including the Ten Commandments?
In moments like this, there is a possibility that we may fall into fanaticism. Even today, some people say that they see the phenomena of ghosts with their own eyes. People who pray a lot on their own can sometimes be troubled by saying that they see certain ghosts following other people's bodies or houses. Maybe they can see things I don't see because they have a much deeper spiritual experience that I don't know about, but in general, these phenomena are mostly psychotic, and more importantly, they are not only unrealistic to us, but also virtuous. that it's not even nice.
Let's think again about what this phenomenon of the Holy Spirit is talking about in today's text. The Holy Spirit is truly a holy spirit. The Holy Spirit is invisible like the wind, but has the power to cause something. Just like the wind turns a windmill. If we describe the Holy Spirit a little more specifically, it can be called the Spirit of Life. The Spirit of Life is invisible, but it is the source that makes life phenomena possible. People do not want to acknowledge this spirit of life because they are invisible. Think of it this way. Here are the seeds. Even if you take these seeds to the lab and apply mechanical shocks, you won't be able to make flowers out of them. If you plant the seed in the ground and give it proper light and water, it will sprout and flower. This means that this kind of life phenomenon can appear because the invisible spirit of life works on the seed.
Even so, we cannot describe specifically what the Holy Spirit was on Jesus. We can only ascertain that some divine power rested upon Jesus, which could be grasped by the spiritual vision of John the Baptist. Even very ordinary people, when we meet a special person, we sometimes feel that he is intelligent or that there is a holy energy in that person. Just as the poet's eyes capture the phenomena of death and life that we are unaware of, it must have been possible for John the Baptist.
The world we can trace in today's text is just that. No more secrets. It will be revealed someday, but it is still a secret. Trying to know more can lead you to the wrong place. But we cannot ignore all those events that we are not aware of because we are not yet spiritually mature. Because there is nothing more foolish than to think that only what is within the realm of one's knowledge is true. No matter how much I explain the cosmological horizon of food to my daughters at the table, they don't listen. Even if you understand a little, you don't feel it. Anyone who knows that there are far more, incomparably more worlds than we know or can ascertain, hints at the world of myths that Miyazaki's animations are creating. This means that I fully understand the imagination that the world outside the door is completely different depending on the color of the handle of Howl's Moving Castle.
John the Baptist recognized the Holy Spirit abiding over Jesus and now knew that Jesus was the Son of God. It is also fun to solve mathematical problems that you did not know, how much more shocking and great joy to have experienced the problem of the Son of God, which is related to the problems of the whole world. Those who know such amazing experiences, amazing realizations, and such joys have no choice but to testify to them. Even if he does not speak, his life itself will be a testimony. Did this happen to us? is it happening? Would you like to know that this is happening? Are you interested in something like this?