It was exciting being
one of John’s team. The crowds used to
call him the Baptiser. That’s how he got
his reputation – by encouraging people to get baptised as an indication that
they knew they had gone wrong. Baptising
them was John’s way of saying that God forgave them. We used to joke that it was always wet around
John. Certainly he was never happier
than when he was in the river with people trooping in to be ducked under and
claiming God’s forgiveness. We were a
bit like John’s bouncers. We used to
keep order – make sure he didn’t get rushed.
We also used to watch out for troublemakers, both the
religious-toff-kind and the let’s-have-a-laugh-by-causing-trouble-kind.
They were good
times. We got on well. You knew where you were with John. We couldn’t imagine him not wanting us
around. Then, one day, he pointed out
his cousin. Jesus just happened to be
walking by. John didn’t miss a
beat. He just told us that if we wanted
to get to know someone really special we ought to take a look at Jesus. He said that Jesus was the one who God had
marked out for something quite unique.
He called him the ‘Lamb of God’.
That seemed a bit strange. Sheep
are smelly, dirty creatures best left out on the hills. Normally we only came across lambs when they
were on our dinner plate, smothered in gravy and with a few nice
vegetables. That didn’t happen very
often. It was too expensive. The only other place for lambs was as a
sacrifice.
But John was clearly
suggesting that we ought to check in with Jesus. We hesitated for a moment in case John was
just trying to get rid of us – but it quickly became obvious: not so. John wanted us to have this new experience
which was more than he could offer.
Well, of course I
didn’t want Simon to miss out, so I rushed off to find him first. Then it was all systems go on following
Jesus.
At the beginning we
just hung around to see what was happening.
Jesus noticed what was going on and asked us what we were looking
for. We didn’t know how to answer that,
so we just asked him where he was staying.
He invited us to go
and see, so we did and, as you know, the rest is now history.
Written at St. Beuno’s, 5/7/11.
