37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.

Isn't it amazing how inconsiderate people can be these days? From time to time people do things without giving any thought whatsoever to the impact their actions will have on the people around them. How often do you see that? Once a week? Once a day? Once an hour? You see it when you’re driving down the road and the person ahead of you practically runs another car of the road. You see it when you’re sitting in a restaurant and the person at the table next to you is loudly yakking away on a cell phone. You see it on television when athletes talk about being respected, but don’t give others any respect in return. You see it when you go to the supermarket and perfectly healthy people slide their SUV’s into handicapped parking spaces.

You also see it inside the supermarket which is why I really enjoyed one of the emails I received this past week. It was obviously one of those emails that had been forwarded a couple hundred times. So, it’s impossible to say who the person was who originally told the story. It’s one of those stories though that makes you wish you had been there when it happened. In this case, it seems a man was standing in the express line behind a woman who had completely ignored the six items or less sign. As the man stood there looking at the woman’s shopping cart piled high with groceries he found himself getting angrier by the minute. All that changed though when the woman got to the register. That’s when the cashier smiled and sweetly said, “So, which of these six items would you like to buy today?”

From time to time people are inconsiderate. It’s always been that way though. That’s one of the reasons why John the Baptist was so amazing. You see, John the Baptist wasn’t a me first kind of guy. He wasn’t full of himself by any stretch of the imagination. That’s obvious when you look at what he did when Jesus arrived on the scene. When Jesus arrive on the scene to begin his ministry John the Baptist immediately stepped aside and let Jesus take over. That’s because John the Baptist knew that the spotlight needed to be on Jesus not him. Jesus was God’s messiah not him.

It didn’t have to be that way though. If John had played his cards differently he could have been the center of attention. He could have been the one on the receiving end of a lot of adulation, adoration and admiration. You see, there were people back then who wanted him to be the messiah.

You see a few clues to that effect in John’s Gospel. For example did you notice the interesting little detail about the two men who were with him when Jesus walked by that day? They weren’t a couple of his friends. They also weren’t a couple of strangers who happened to be with him at that particular moment. No. What we’re told is that those two men were actually disciples of John the Baptist. They were followers of John the Baptist who were probably already wondering if he was the messiah.

When Jesus showed up though John quickly let them and everyone else know that it was time to stop following him and time to start following Jesus. John did that by making a very eloquent and unequivocal declaration. What he said was, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” A little later on when John is asked if he is the messiah he responds by saying, “You yourself are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the messiah’…He must increase but I must decrease.” (3:28, 30)

It isn’t easy to do what John the Baptist did that day. It isn’t easy to step aside and put someone else first. That’s because the temptation is always there to put yourself first. The temptation is always there to do what’s best for you. Sometimes people do the me first thing because of a sense of entitlement They say to themselves, “You know what? I really am special and I deserve to get what I want, when I want it.” Sometimes people do the me first thing because the society we live in is so competitive and confrontational. They say to themselves, “You know what? It’s either me or him and I’m not going to let anyone walk all over me by being meek and weak.”

I believe it was Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli who described that kind of attitude in a speech he made a few years ago. This is what he said, “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up: It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning, the lion wakes up: It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. (So) It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: When the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

I don’t know about you, but that’s not the way I want to live my life. I don’t want to always be running to or from something. I don’t want to constantly feel like it’s either me or you. Is that the way you want to live your life? Constantly pushing and pulling where every day is another battle and everyone is a potential adversary?

The sad thing about that approach to life is that while you may get what you want, it will actually lead you father away from Jesus and the blessings that come from following him.

That’s because when you’re full of yourself and what you want there’s no room for him and what he wants to give you. John the Baptist knew that if you want more of his grace and his peace and his love in your life, you have to have less of you.

That’s hard to do, but the good news is that it can be done. It can be done because that’s the way God made us. That’s obvious when you look at the wonderful wave of generosity we’ve seen these past few weeks to help those devastated by the tsunami. God made us so that we can put others first.

It happens when someone does you wrong. You say to yourself, “I’m mad at you, but I’m going to put my pride aside here and do my best to work things out with you.” It happens when you want one thing and someone close to you wants something else. You say to yourself, “I really want to stay home and relax this evening, but I’m going to do the loving thing and go to the play with you.” It happens when you disagree with someone. You say to yourself, “I really know what’s best here, but I also know that you need to live your own life. So, I’m going to let you do what you think is best and if things don’t work out I’ll be there to help you pick up the pieces.”

Less of me often means more of Christ and his blessings. Of course that doesn’t mean you always have to put everyone else first. If you do that you could find yourself in the same shoes that a man found himself in when he went to see his rabbi. “Rabbi,” he said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ve bent over backwards to try and please my wife. I don’t think I’ve succeeded though and now I think she’s trying to poison me.” The rabbi found that hard to believe and suggested that the man let him talk to his wife. A couple of days later the man was back in the rabbi’s office. “Well,” the rabbi said, “I talked to your wife and ended up being a three hour conversation.” “That’s great,” the man exclaimed, “and what do you suggest I do now?” “Oh,” the rabbi said without any hesitation at all. “If I were you, I’d take the poison.”

Sometimes you have to put yourself first. John the Baptist knew though that when you’re not full of yourself that’s when you end up with more of Christ’s love and peace and grace in your life.

A young man learned that lesson many years ago while he was going to seminary to become a minister. Because he was saving every penny for tuition and books it meant that he didn’t have a lot of money for luxuries. That was obvious when he went to play tennis every Saturday morning. The hole in the toe of his sneaker said it loud and clear. His friends kidded him about the sneaker. The young seminarian insisted though that the sneakers still had a lot of life left in them. Of course the truth is that he just didn’t have the money to buy a new pair of sneakers. Then one day fortune smiled on him. Warren, an elderly retired banker who was a part of the tennis gang called him aside as everyone was leaving. “I have a bit of a problem,” he said. “I bought a pair of tennis sneakers and they don’t fit me. Because it was a special sale though I can’t return them. I was wondering if they might fit you?” Well, it turned out that they didn’t, but the young seminarian thanked Warren for thinking of him. It wasn’t until he was asked to do Warren’s funeral ten years

later that he learned the truth. “You know,” the wife said, “Warren didn’t buy those sneakers because they were on sale. He bought them to give to you. He just wanted to do it in a way that wouldn’t make you feel bad or make himself look good.”

So, which way do you want to live your life? Do you want to be like the Home Depot CEO or do you want to be like John the Baptist? I didn’t know John the Baptist, but I did know Warren and he was a really great man. He was a great man because he knew that less of you means more of Christ’s love and peace and grace. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

January 16, 2005