True Focus

John 1:^26-27 “John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” (NRSV, emphasis added)

John in reference to Jesus said, “I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” What did he mean? At that time, what is called the “Rabbinic Movement” was very strong. The Rabbis are the teachers and each Rabbi will have students. The Rabbinic Movement became so strong, just like it is happening today unfortunately, the students were practically worshipping the Rabbis. Today, we have people that practically worship their Pastors which is totally wrong. At that time the leaders said no student was allowed to untie or to lace-up or to loosen the sandal of the teachers. The students can do everything a servant does [go on errands and all that]. But no student should lace the sandals of his teacher except he is the servant. It was not allowed for students to tie the laces of the sandals of the teachers because they would be bending to them.

However, John says, “…the one who is coming I am not worthy to be His servant, I am not even worthy to be His student. So, to untie His laces is beyond me.’ [paraphrased]. They were like who can this person be? So, before Jesus even showed up, they were thinking of how they could kill Him because this John that they considered a problem was now saying another one is coming, and he is not worthy to be His student or even His servant. They were like who is he? John said, ‘He is among you’. Imagine if Jesus was in the crowd at that time, what did you think was going on? They were looking around, who might this person be? Jesus showed up the following day to be baptized. But maybe He was there that day. A true witness will always shift focus away from themselves and point to their Lord. John always shifted focus away from himself to Jesus – always. By the time people left him, they were like who is Jesus, we want to meet Jesus. I pray that when people leave our churches everywhere in the world, they will be seeking to know more of Jesus. Their desire will not be to be like Pastor but to be like Jesus.

In fact, John pointed out Jesus to his disciples and told them to go and follow Jesus. I mean, which teacher says that? When they told John that all his disciples were following Jesus, his response was, ‘Are you jealous? Why don’t you go and follow Him? Did I not tell you that He is the One and that He is greater than me?’ Every time people come in contact with us and with our lives; every time people come in contact with our greatness; every time it attracts people either for questioning, inquiry, or genuine seeking, may they leave seeking Jesus! May they leave our offices saying who is this Jesus that this man or this woman knows and speaks about? May it not be only about how amazing we are; may our lives point to Jesus and Jesus alone. (Say Amen). As John himself said in John 3:³⁰ “He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.]” (AMPC). May Jesus increase daily in our lives as we decrease daily in Jesus Name.

Prayer: Father, may people meet me and leave seeking Jesus, in Jesus Name. Amen!