Tuesday, March 30, 2021
A herald is an officer sent by authority in advance of the authority’s coming, and the herald is practiced in the art of proclamation. He is sent with a message, and his purpose is to speak it to one and all.
John the Baptist was the herald for Christ. He was the forerunner that prepared the way for the Messiah to come to His people. John couldn’t help but attract followers. People wanted to know when their King was coming, and John seemed to be the real deal to enough of them that eventually he produced disciples. When Jesus showed up, John bore witness to the fact of His divinity. “Behold the Lamb of God!” he said.
Two of John’s disciples, Andrew (Peter’s brother) and probably John the Beloved (the author of the Gospel of John), then followed Jesus. They understood the purpose of the forerunner.
And so did Jesus.
He demonstrates this in the question He asks them in John 1.38. “What do you seek?” I want to linger here on this divine question.
Certainly the hope of seeing the Messiah had brought these men to John the Baptist and made them his followers. But once Jesus had come, the herald’s purpose was fulfilled. They had found what they were seeking. They were not disloyal to John in leaving him to follow Jesus. They were actually perfectly consistent in following hard after the One they sought. And He asks them, “What do you seek?”
Their response is simply, “Rabbi (Teacher, Master, Great One), where are you staying?” In other words, “We just want to be wherever You are.”
Oh, that we could be as completely taken with Christ as they were! To forsake all in following Him, to answer Him as they did!
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