St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Third Sunday of Advent
December 14, 2008
John 3:23-30
The Rev'd Dr. Joel Huffstetler

Some of you may have heard the phrase, “It takes more grace than I can tell, to play the second fiddle well.” I wonder how many of you have heard that. It is an old saying. “It takes more grace than I can tell, to play the second fiddle well.” Of course, this acknowledges every entity has a leader. There is one first violin in a musical arrangement. So the saying makes the point that it takes grace to be the second fiddle, and to do that well, and to feel good about that position. I want to tell you a quick story. When she was in college, Debbie worked in a very large church setting - - much, much larger than St. Luke’s. She worked for a senior pastor who, at that point in time, had a national reputation. This senior pastor was someone to whom people all around the country looked to for leadership and guidance. Debbie worked for him, but she worked more closely with his assistant. There was a senior pastoral assistant on the staff, and Debbie worked more closely with him. This man had been the assistant to the senior pastor for years. This was a very large church setting. So this assistant pastor had worked for the senior pastor for years. Ever so often people would ask him, “Don’t you want your own church? Are you going to stay an assistant forever?” Debbie used to hear people ask him that. She has told me these stories. His response was interesting. This is what I am getting at. When people used to ask this long-time assistant, “Don’t you want your own church?”, he would say to them, “I am a # 1, # 2 man.” It is an interesting way to put it, isn’t it? In other words, he was saying, “I am a very good senior assistant. I am good at what I do. And, I like doing it.” In other words, he was saying, “I don’t aspire to be in his shoes. I don’t aspire to that. I don’t need that to have my own sense of vocation fulfilled.” I think those are striking examples of what we can learn from today’s Gospel lesson.

What we see in today’s Gospel lesson is one of those times when Jesus and John the Baptist are ministering at the same time. The Gospel of John tells us more about this period than the Synoptics. Matthew, Mark and Luke, basically, talk about Jesus’ ministry after John the Baptist has been arrested. But, in the Gospel of John, he tells us a little bit more about the time before John the Baptist was arrested. So we get to see John the Baptist and Jesus ministering at the same time.

Let me just briefly give a little context to what I will lead up to this morning. It is absolutely clear from the Gospel of John that John the Baptist had followers. Whether we should call them disciples in the same sense that Jesus had disciples, I would leave up to debate. But it is absolutely clear from John’s Gospel that John the Baptist had followers. We see in today’s Gospel lesson that they refer to him as rabbi. At this time in history, it is perfectly normal for a recognized rabbi to have students following him around. That is clearly what we see happening in John’s Gospel. So by the time Jesus begins his ministry and his disciples are baptizing, people begin to go to Jesus. John the Baptist has already said, “He’s the Messiah, and I am not.” So John the Baptist is clear on the relationship between himself and Jesus. John the Baptist embraces his calling to be a support person, we would say, to Jesus himself. It is clear from the Gospels that John embraced that role, but his disciples didn’t.

Here is my point. Follow along in your bulletin if you like. In today’s passage we see people are going to Jesus and his disciples whereas they have been coming to John the Baptist and his. So John’s disciples say, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” Isn’t this a very human reaction? This is as timely as when it was written nearly two thousand years ago. What do we see here? Envy. Jealousy. Insecurity. That is what John the Baptist’s disciples evidence here. The people who have been coming to them are now going to Jesus and his disciples, and they are concerned. Even though John has testified, “He, Jesus, is the Messiah.” Here we see this timeless situation of people being insecure, envious, and jealous.

The next verse is stunning. It is not one of the more famous verses in the New Testament, but let’s look at it for just a minute. John’s reply is, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.” Let’s think about that for a minute. Think about the import of this verse. Think about what all John is actually saying here. He recognizes that his disciples are envious of Jesus. They are jealous. They feel like their place is being taken over by Jesus and his followers. Just notice the timeless truth here. “No one can take anything except what is given from heaven.” In other words, John is saying to his disciples, “This is meant to be. This is how God intends it to be so don’t be jealous. Don’t be envious. This is as God intends.” This is timeless teaching. It is important for us to remember this kind of teaching. We will talk about that a little more in a few minutes. Then he goes on to say, “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’” Here we see this absolutely crystal clear teaching. John the Baptist is saying one more time, “I am not the Messiah. Jesus is.” So there is no need for John’s disciples to be envious or jealous. This is unfolding as it is meant to. Jesus is coming into his own as the Messiah of God.

I want to finish up with the last verse. This is one of the more famous passages in the New Testament. John the Baptist says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Every year I say this when the Bishop comes at the second service, because I don’t do anything at the second service except get dressed and be up here. The Bishop does everything when he is here. Occasionally someone will say, “What are you doing in the second service?” I say, “I must decrease that he may increase.” This is wording that we are familiar with. We have heard this before. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Let’s not lose the thrust of what is being said here in the familiarity of it. This is a very important teaching. John is so comfortable with his role. He is comfortable with his giftedness. John isn’t putting himself down in this passage. John is comfortable with the gift he has been given. He knows that he is the forerunner of the Messiah rather than the Messiah himself, and he embraces that role.

I would like to wrap up with just a couple of comments. There is so much we can take from this passage in our own lives. I think many of us struggle our whole lives to be comfortable with who we are, and with our own giftedness. I never watch a major league baseball game, never, without thinking at least once, “If I had really tried, could I have made it? If I had been a little bit smarter about it, and had one or two breaks along the way, could I have made it?” I still think about that, and I’m 46 years old. I don’t go too far down that road, because if I was meant to be there, I would have been. It is absolutely clear that this is how my life was intended to unfold. But I think we take a lifetime sometimes to accept that, and to be comfortable with that.

Here is my conclusion. When we look at this passage, this isn’t just about a relationship two thousand years ago between John the Baptist and Jesus. This has to teach us every day that we have our own giftedness. Each one of us has our own calling. Each one of us has a unique set of gifts and talents. Our challenge as children of God, my challenge every day, my challenge and yours, is to embrace who we are as individuals, and not be envious of other people. We should not be jealous of other people’s gifts and talents, or how their life has unfolded. Our challenge is to embrace our lives, our set of gifts and talents, and to embrace who we are. We see John the Baptist embracing who he is, not fighting against it, not being envious; but using his giftedness in the service of God. I think that is the timeless message here. Each one of us has a unique set of gifts and talents. Each one of us really is one of a kind. That is not a cliché. It is true. Each one of us is uniquely special in the eyes of God. Our mission in life is to use the gifts and talents that God has given us in his service. Amen.