Mistaken Identity

Gospel: Matthew 11: 11-15

Each Gospel writer addresses in their own muddled way the figure of John the Baptist.  Why does this person command so much interest in their minds?  Throughout the Gospels we find Jesus and his disciples bumping into followers of John the Baptist even after John's death.  Many thought John was the long awaited Messiah, and they clung to him as a salvific figure.  The Gospel writers sought to address that misunderstanding and misreading of salvation history.

Throughout the history of Christianity to our own day we find people focused on other figures over and above that of the Lord Jesus.  Entire cottage industries exist to monitor and comment on the pope's every word and movement.  Televangelists and other Christian media personalities are followed with great fervor.  Even some other person in the pew and their opinion of us seems to rent space for free in the heads of other Christians.  In all of this we are led to ask why?  What do these perseverations of ours mean?

If our sole focus in the Christian life is not about the constant meditation on the person of Jesus and his example and teaching, then we are simply not Christians.  We are middle schoolers chasing the latest idol of the day or fretting about what Jimmy J or Suzie Q think about us.  John the Baptist was an important person, but only to the extent that he points to the person of Jesus.  Once so directed, our focus must be on the Lord alone and following his example and life.