David Bahn – Reflections

Acts 13:13-25

Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” 16 So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:

“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 And for about forty yearshe put up with them in the wilderness. 19 And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23 Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’”

The choir was performing a Christmas cantata several years ago to the accompaniment of an audio tape. For those of you who don’t know what a “tape” is, it is like a CD, except it is long and moves from spool to spool inside a plastic casing. At any rate, the physics and realities of using a taped accompaniment for a choral presentation is that once the tape gets out of sync with the choir it is extremely difficult to get back into sync. Such was the case that particular time: the person running the tape hit the wrong button. The tape went on to a place that was not where the choir was supposed to be.

There was silence…a rather long and awkward silence. The choir waited. The director waited. The congregation waited. Then the director mouthed the words to the choir, “Should I go to the piano to lead us?” The choir in near unison nodded YES!  She did. The choir finished the piece and the sound tech by that time had found the correct place on the tape. So the director went back to the podium, cued the sound tech and the choir finished their performance accompanied by the correct taped accompaniment.

After the performance, one man came to the director and said, “I’d go to war with you!” He was a Navy airman and this was a high compliment. He meant that he saw that the director was ready to do what was necessary to fulfill the mission. These 18 years later Diane still remembers the words of that Navy airman: “I’d go to war with you.” She felt confused at first, but now realizes that this was a high compliment. I think he truly meant it.

In his recounting of the works of God through the Old Testament into the time of Jesus, Peter quotes John the Baptist, who speaking of Jesus says, I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet. In reality his comments are even more stark: he was not worthy of even the sandals of Jesus’ feet. This is not just that Jesus was far more worthy of following. This is a humility on the part of John that expresses the glory of Jesus.

I wonder if we need to recapture that awe and sense of the majesty of Jesus, Son of God. I wonder if we are rather too blithe about Jesus’ glory and our unworthiness. I wonder if we need to learn a new  phrase of complement: “I’m not worthy to untie his shoes.” Or, “I am not worthy to carry her briefcase.” Or, “I am not worthy to wash his car.” What if we had that sense of our unworthiness, not in a defeatist manner, but in a manner of humility and a recognition that we have the incredible privilege not only to serve the King of kings, but also the privilege to go to him in prayer, to claim him as our Lord of God?

Might that make our prayers even more urgent and our joy in his salvation more full? Might that give us a new boldness in his strength, and not our own? Might that also give our witness more grace and truth that could reach the hearts of hurting or even complacent people? Such was the impact of John. He knew his place in relation to Jesus and God used him mightily for the cause of His kingdom. What a privilege it would be to serve Christ in that manner!