The Voice

Imagine that you’ve spent your entire life, every waking and breathing moment to do one thing to its ultimate perfection. Then that day, the day you didn’t know when it would occur, finally arrives; the precise moment when all the forces in the universe aligned, this was the day, this is your calling.

After the events of that day have come and gone, your purpose fulfilled, your destiny accomplished, what do you do? Do you retire from life, or find another line of work? Maybe you lay low and watch the unfolding events occur around you. Or maybe you continue to be you and manage to piss off the people you’ve always pissed off. That’s what John did and upon state-imposed reflection, determined that maybe he didn’t complete his destiny. How can that be?

“Change your freaking minds because the kingdom of God is at hand!” (my paraphrase)

This was the sound of the voice of one crying in the wilderness preparing the way of the Lord according to the prophet Isaiah. John was there, slamming the noggins of the people trying to get them to think straight and fly right because the day was coming when all that they were living for would suddenly change and then…

The religious folks, Pharisees and Sadducees all came to investigate the claims of John. He saw right through them and their tactics. “Are you the Christ, the Messiah?“ they would anxiously ask. We read this and interpret it to mean that these holy and noble men of the cloth were eager to meet the one foretold of in the scriptures. What a farce!

These boys were out to keep secure their position with the occupying Roman forces. They were acting as the point guard for an invasion into the territory from any foreign kingdom. The Messiah of scripture was a deliverer, someone who would wrestle control from the present forces inhabiting the land and return Israel back into a land governed under a king from the line of David.

This would not sit well the religious order of the day who pretty much had final say on how things should run in the country. You see while Rome occupied the land, they permitted the priests to practice their rituals; all of which had the power of the people behind them. Restrict the rituals, incite the people; permit the rituals, pacify the people.

John knew this very well. His tirade at these interlopers wasn’t just a show for the common people. His destiny would not be hindered by those intent on preserving their kingdom over the kingdom of God. So he swatted at their accusations like they were flies hovering over dung; which is probably a more apt description of how he felt about them.

Then the day and the person of the day arrives and John is uncertain about what to do. It’s his cousin who must instruct him about what John has prepared his whole life for. And then after he baptizes Jesus, John begins his journey. You see up to this point all he was doing was fulfilling his destiny. Now his journey into believing in his destiny was at hand. If he did his part correctly as foretold in scripture, then everything else…

We’re not really told how long it was from the time John began his journey until we find him in prison because he could keep his mouth shut around certain people. But some time had definitely passed because there were stories being told throughout the land about things happening, crazy, miraculous things being done by his cousin, Jesus. John, in his inner most thoughts, begins to doubt his very own destiny simply because the stories don’t align with the scriptures he knew.