John the Baptizer: that relative you have to invite

Take a moment and peruse the description of John the Baptizer in the gospel of Matthew.

"Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey."

He appeared in the wilderness proclaiming, "repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near..." and when he saw some of the religious leaders of his day stepping into the water he cried, "You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"  Matthew 3

He's the kind of guy you want to be sure stays away from the drinks table.  But, of course, John would never had taken a drink of alcohol.  He was probably a Nazarite, one of a group of ascetics.

But, of course, the others weren't Jesus' cousin, and they hadn't been miraculously conceived with an angel messenger and all that.  No, that describes John alone.  He is the one who was foretold, and whose job it was to foretell the coming of the Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ: they all  mean the same thing).

Some scholars believe that both Matthew and Mark present John as a re-presentation of the prophet Elijah, a character in and of himself.  Elijah never really died according to the stories, and the prophecy was written that Elijah would return to announce the coming of the promised Messiah.  Ergo, John as Elijah.  See 2 Kings 2.

John has as unique a place in the story of Jesus as Mary his mother does.  His job is to get the folks ready, really ready, to receive the one who is coming.  I think he was a deeply religious man, trusting in God and obedient to his call as a prophet.  He never took the easy path, but as an ascetic, lived a life of privation in devotion to God.  Once he had completed his mission of preaching and baptizing, his job was over.  In the gospel of John, John the Baptizer says, 'I must decrease so he can increase.'
He ended up in Herod's dungeon, eventually to lose his head.

In America, where personal success is very important, I wonder about the call to fade into the background so someone else can 'succeed.'  It's a call to give up your place in the sun, and to return again to anonymity.  John doesn't just fade away; he is literally buried.

That is a particular type of obedience ....and to follow that path willingly takes some serious commitment.  This is the role that we are called to: not to be the Christ, but to point to Jesus and the work he has accomplished, and then to fade away.

It might explain why living the baptized life can be such a challenge.