Skip to main content

Room For Two

Sometimes the fascinating details come inbetween the major stories about Jesus. If you have read the Gospel of John much, you may remember John 3 as the chapter that contains Jesus' convo with Nicodemus. John chapter 4 tells the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. These are both great stories that contain wealths of truth.

But inbetween...

We're told that Jesus went with His disciples to spend time with them. Oh, they also baptized. Where they baptized is significant. Jesus and His crew were in the same place as some guy who sort of became known for baptizing. John, the gospel writer, even notes that there was plenty of water. John 3:22-24

It's almost a side note, but do you see what happened here? Jesus, the Son of God, came and was baptizing. First of all, how cool would it be to be baptized by Jesus. ('I baptize you in the name of the Father, of me, and of the Holy Spirit.') We're told in John 4:1-3 that it was actually the disciples of Jesus doing the baptizing. But consider this; Jesus allowed John the Baptist to continue doing what he was doing. He didn't have to. He could have smiled at John and said, 'Hey, I appreciate it and all. But I got this.' He didn't.

And what about John the Baptist. He could have been bothered by Jesus bringing His ragtag crew to double the effort. He could have reminded Jesus that he was the older cousin, that he was there first, and baptizing was in his name. He didn't.

This is a call to Christians that there is room for more at the table. We fight over the sanctified while there are plenty of people to go around. We look for differences and explain why our brand is better, while lost people remain lost.

It should not be this way. If Jesus did not mind doubling the effort of John, then neither should we. There is room for two.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl

Patience

I am more than halfway through the last year of dropping one of my children off at school. It's my eighth grade daughter, for anyone keeping track of my family.  See, next year she will be at the high school, and her brother will drive her. He says that it's not cool for seniors to drive their freshman sister to school, but I bet it's cooler than being dropped off by your mom in a minivan.  So rather than groan about this daily responsibility, I've been reminiscing about what the drop-off line used to look like, way back in elementary school. Once our children were about halfway through their elementary years, the drop-off line became a test of patience.  Do you know which group you do not want to get caught behind in the parent drop-off line at an elementary school? The kindergartners. These little ones are barely able to walk, but now we put them in the high-pressure situation of trying to unbuckle their seat-belt, grab their backpack (which might be as tall as they a

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his robe. I’d