One On One: 100 Days With Jesus--ADVENTSample

John: The Voice that Cried in the Desert

Like doting parents will do, Zecharias and Elizabeth reminded John every day how their old prayers had brought him to them and why. Before he could tie his own sandals, John knew his life was wrapped around a mission. 

From the womb, Elizabeth knew her boy was linked to something supernatural. And you can be sure when Zecharias taught John the Law and Prophets, they paid special attention to every mention of the Messiah. Zecharias echoed the prophets who said the forerunner to the Messiah would “guide our feet into the way of peace.” And look, in his dad’s imagination, there were John’s footprints, forging a path out of the Old Testament into a new and living way. 

That was their boy. Precocious, spirited, the apple of his father’s eye, the joy of his mother’s heart. And it’s not a leap to think his Aunt Mary had a special affection for him. But no relationship would have been more layered and profound than the connection John had with his cousin, Jesus. 

When they were boys of a certain age and the family visited from the Galilee on feast days, likely John and Jesus’ wandered the hills around Jerusalem with a dog in tow and plenty of sticks. Even then John could charm the bees out their honey. 

Perhaps, the bond between them, tighter than kinship, tied them to a future they both saw somehow. John may not have known then what he would know later about his younger cousin, but the Spirit in him whispered that everything revolved around Jesus. 

The lesser and the greater, who one day would call the lesser the greatest among men. 

As John grew, a roughness settled in him. He looked wild, bound by the Levite rule not to cut his hair. But neither could his spirit be constrained by walls or conventions or culture. 

Everyone knew John belonged somewhere outside, in the wilderness where God has always called His people. Where he could say what needed to be said. 

He would leave his father’s house, his father’s town and profession. Jerusalem had never been home for him, anyway. He would be a new Elijah—with a character forged by courage—who shot out of their family history like a shooting star. 

Bright. Hot. Short-lived. 

When people asked, “why hasn’t God spoken to us all these 400 years?” the next voice they heard was John’s, coming from the general direction of the Judean wilderness. 

Clear and to the point, his voice carried on the wind, “Get ready.” 

Tomorrow: One on one with the amazing women in Jesus’ back story