Prepare the way, then get out of the way!

The LORD bless you and keep you!  The LORD let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you!  The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!

Sometimes—like tonight, when I’m really tired—the Holy Spirit likes to throw a joke into my meditations.  Take today’s Gospel, for instance (John 3:22-30).  What made me chuckle was verse 23: “John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized.”  It was almost like John was telling those coming to him for baptism, “Hey! I’m here, you’re here.  There’s a lot of water.  Let’s do this!”  Yeah, I know; telling bad jokes is one of the side effects of quoting Bible verses out of context or worse—letting single Bible verses justify otherwise sinful behavior.  But the image is funny to me.  Thanks for keeping me from getting too full of myself, Holy Spirit!

Seriously though, St. John [the Baptist] summarizes the role he has had in regard to Christ.  He clarifies that he himself is not the Messiah, but that he was sent before Him.  He speaks of the joy that this role has given him and that “He must increase, and I must decrease.”

Our role as baptized Christians has some of the characteristics of St. John the Baptist in that we also are to prepare the way for Christ, not only in our own lives, but in that of others.  We do this by the example of how we live our own lives and by teaching informally when the occasion arises.

If we’re doing this, we can ask ourselves, "Does this role bring us joy as it did St. John the Baptist?  Is this joy evident to others?"  Joy prepares a path for Christ.  When we step back and decrease, as did St. John the Baptist, we too are making room for Christ as opposed to taking on the glory for ourselves.  We prepare the way, but Christ does the rest!

I started with a Bible-based joke, I may as well end with one.  I must admit I’m stealing it from a YouTube video in which men tell each other ‘Dad jokes’ to see who can get the other to laugh more.  Here’s the joke:

When Jesus was calling His Apostles, He said to Doug “Come forth and be my disciple and your reward will be eternal life.”  Poor Doug!  He came in fifth and got a toaster, instead.

Ba rump bump!