The Herald of the King

Mark 1:5-8


It is clear that the ministry of John was mightily effective, for they flocked out to listen to him and to submit to his baptism. Why was it that John made an impact such as thi upon his nation?


1. He was a man who lived his message. Not only his words, but also his whole life was a protest. There was the place in which he stayed - the wilderness. He was a man from the desert and from its solitudes and its desolations. He was a man who had given himself a chance to hear the voice of God. There were the clothes he wore - a garment woven of camel' hair and a leather belt about his waist. So did Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). To look at the man was to be reminded, not of the fashionable orators of the day, but of the ancient prophets who lives close to the great simplicities and avoided the soft and comfortable luxuries which kill the soul. There was the food he ate - locusts and wild honey. many extol the blessings of poverty from comfortable homes. But in the case of John, the man was the message, and because of that people listened.


2. His message was effective because he told people what in their heart of hearts they knew and brought them what in the depths of their souls they were waiting for.


3. His message was effective because he was completely humble. His own verdict on himself was that he was not fit for the duty of a slave. Sandals were composed simply of leather soles fastened to the foot by straps passing through the toes. The roads were unsurfaced. In dry weather they were dust heaps; in wet weather rivers of mud. To remove the sandals was the work and office of a slave. John asked nothing for himself but everything for the Christ whom he proclaimed. The man's obvious self-forgottenness, his patient yieldedness, his complete self-effacement, his utter lostness in his message compelled people to listen.


John's one aim was not to occupy the center of the stage himself, but to try to connect men and women with the one who was greater and stronger than he; an they listened to him because he pointed, not to himself, but to the One whom we all need.


~William Barclay~