John the Baptist - the First Example of our Christian Calling

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.


”After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”


Whew!!! What a mouthful.


John the Baptist tells us that he is not the Messiah. He is not Elijah. He is not the prophet (or Moses).

So who is he?

John the Baptist also tells us that he is the one who has come to prepare the way.


“After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”

I think this confusing sentence is the key to what John means.


“After me comes a man.” Jesus was born about one month after John. Jesus is also the “Son of Man” which in Hebrew is Adam or in capital letters MAN.

“Who ranks ahead of me.” John is telling us that Jesus will be a much more important spiritual leader than John, himself, is.

“Because he was before me.” Jesus is the Word made flesh. The first words in the Gospel of John, the Gospel from which this story comes, are “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Jesus, although he was born after John the Baptist, existed long before John was born.


That’s a lot to pack into one sentence. That’s what it meant to John the Baptist … but what does it mean for us?


There is a central part of our Christian faith which we call our statement of faith. In its shortest form it is three very short sentences. You are welcome to join me in saying it.

Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.


Our statement of faith says tells us that we are just like John the Baptist.

Christ has died. … “He was before me.”
Christ is risen. … “He ranks ahead of me.”
Christ will come again. … “After me comes a man.”


So if we are the same as John the Baptist in this way, maybe we are like him in other ways.


John was called to prepare the way of the Lord.

So are we. We are called to make the world a better place. We are called to work towards the Kingdom of God. When the time is right for the Kingdom of God, Jesus will come again.

John was called to witness to the Truth.

This is exactly what we do when we proclaim the Gospel. Whether we do this by our words or by our actions, we are being witnesses to the Truth of Jesus Christ our Lord.


John was called to give up his life for his beliefs. He was a martyr.

We are also called to be martyrs for our faith. Most of us will not be called to die for our faith, but there are other kinds of martyrdom. We will all be called to make hard choices. We will all be asked to make sacrifices, to forgo luxuries, to serve when it would be easier not to, all in the name of God. This is martyrdom.


This is a large order. God is asking a lot of us and none of it is easy.

So how do we do it?

We have one clue in the last verse of our Gospel today.

“He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).”

Simon is the brother of our very own St. Andrew the Apostle. Simon’s example can help us to follow Christ. Cephas in Hebrew or Petros in Greek translate a rock in English. “You are to be called Simon the Rock.”

Simon was called the Rock because he had an unshakable faith, not only in God and Jesus, but in his friends and in himself. Simon never tried to do it alone. He worked with his fellow disciples. He encouraged them and built them up. He led them by his example of faith and devotion. If we follow that example, we will fulfil every part of our calling to prepare the world for the Kingdom of God.

Thanks be to God.