This
seems to be one of those “throw-away” verses that appear to do nothing more
than to introduce some future significant event. It does not have any apparent value or
significance apart from what happens after the introductory words. This passage seems to answer four simple
questions: When? Who? Where? And with whom?
The answers in short: The next day.
John the Baptizer. At the Jordan.
With two of his disciples. Nice
information, but little more.
But
there is a word thrown in the midst of this passage that carries special significance
for me. It’s the word “again.” It says to me that this may have been an
ordinary day for most, but the people involved were planning for something
special to happen. It is the “following
day” again! It is John doing what he
does every day—again! He is at the River
Jordan, again. His disciples are with
him…again. Why again? Because they go back and do what they do
because they believe something special is going to happen…any day. They do not know when. They may not have known how it would take
place. John has already said he doesn’t
really know who. But they kept coming
back—same channel; same time; same setting.
But
every day is filled with an expectation.
There is anticipation. There is a
sense of an impending extraordinary event, or maybe every day is extraordinary
on its own merits. But to them, in a
very special sense, every time they come to their special place, they see
promise—a promise of coming of The Promised One. How many times does this day repeat
itself? Who knows? But unlike Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day” where he has to find
meaning in every day before he can escape from the banality of his life on
perpetual repeat mode, at the Jordan River every day has meaning because the individuals
described in this verse expect every day to be the day the promise is fulfilled and the Promised One was
revealed. There is a lesson in there for
me to keep in mind every day of my life; every time I pray; every time I engage
in the seemingly mundane things of my existence—expect the amazing. Anticipate every day will be the day when God
does something extraordinary with and through me. Every day is worth living because of Him—His doing,
His being, His coming. Today is a “wow wrapped in the now!”
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