“John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’”
- Luke 3:16
In Luke 3, we get a view of the ministry of John the Baptist. He spent much of his time in the wilderness, a man of humble estate. A man who lived off the fruit and animals of the land and made his home the Jordan river. Despite having lived off and alone, John had a well-known ministry, one with even political ramifications. Some even believed that he would be Christ, the Messiah.
He was rather outspoken in concerns the Good News. It seems that he knew well the purpose God had for his life, and so he leaned into that until the very end. He shared a message of repentance, and hope in the coming Messiah. He would call people to turn away from wicked things, and instead to do good with the lives they lead!
Tax collectors were notorious for taxing a little higher than needed and skimming from the top for themselves. When they asked John what they should do, he told them to only tax what is needed, and not extort the people. Roman soldiers were like playground bullies. They would threaten and extort people for money, essentially robbing them for no reason. When they asked John what they should do, he told them to be content with their wages and to not extort people! To everyone he charged them that if they had anything in excess, to share it with those who have nothing!
John’s Spirit-filled ministry preached for a change in social practices. I was against taking advantage of power and authority but was for the right treatment of those who had little or nothing. Notice I say RIGHT treatment. If I were to say FAIR treatment, we would find any justification to continue any form of treatment that is less than what is gracious and right. Fair treatment is to say, they have what they deserve. Fair treatment is to say, God helps those who help themselves first. The right treatment is to say, I see you, I care about you, and how can I help.
All this is amazing! Yet, it’s merely the baptizing with water. A superficial cleansing of our behaviors to start doing what is more right and good. It has its place, as it leads us to the way God intended things to be, but even John knows it’s not enough. The Good News is more!
John knows that someone mightier than him is coming, to do something that no amount of John’s ministry could ever really accomplish. This mightier person is coming to do greater work, an everlasting change. They are so great; John isn’t even worthy to untie this man’s sandals! This was already a lowly task in their society, but John is saying that he is so much lower, and this man is so much mightier, that it would be of greatest privilege to untie this man’s sandals.
If it isn’t clear to you just yet who John is speaking of, it’s Jesus! John’s purpose was to prepare a way for many hearts to turn to Jesus and follow. His ministry was to make the road to Jesus flat, level, and straight. Valleys would be filled, Mountains would be flattened, and the road would be straight rather than full of turns. John would accomplish this, as revealed in the people he would baptize, having prepared them for the Messiah.
Jesus would come with a greater purpose and is the man whom John is not worthy to even untie His sandals. Jesus would also baptize people, similar to John, but also with a key difference of impact. While John could instruct people to do what is Right, Jesus would make people Right.
There is a deeper change Jesus wants to make through His baptizing. It’s far better than any water one could use, regardless of how much prayer has saturated a situation, Jesus has a plan for deeper change. Jesus accomplishes this through and by the Holy Spirit. In this very scene, the Holy Spirit falls upon Jesus, but throughout His ministry, He alludes to the sending of the Holy Spirit! Until at Pentecost, it came upon the Church in what appeared to be tongues of fire! Interesting that here the one mightier than John would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
The idea is that this brings a deeper change to our hearts. We can change behavior after behavior, and we should modify behavior to be more appropriate and right. Yet, what Jesus is out to accomplish is actually making us Right before God and even to bring the transformation of our hearts and lives in reflection of His own. No human baptism can accomplish this, but only the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
This kind of deeper change needs to impact the very way we choose to minister. A Spirit-filled ministry is one that knows how limited it is in its own strength. They know that they could only baptize in water. Yet, one that knows how mighty Jesus is, and it's evident in their preaching, their relationships, their serving, their prayer, their worship, and so on, that is a ministry that will see some deeper change in its people and its community.
We need pastors who know and present a mightier Jesus. We need elders and deacons who lead and decide with a view of a mightier Jesus. We need Christians who live out their lives in light of the mightier Jesus who gave up everything and send a deeper change into us, marking us as His ambassadors to this world. He is more than our ticket to heaven and a quick moral lesson for our day but is a power that brings and sustains real and deep change.
Final Blessing:
John had much to say and do in his ministry and unfortunately, we don’t know it all. Yet at the same time, we know everything we need from John. He believed that Jesus was the greater and mightier answer to the world’s problems. John would bring change, but He knew Jesus would bring a deeper change.
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breath, and every heartbeat of your journey!
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