RBWords

     When I was a high school student back in the late 1950's, I had the occasion to be present at a political rally at which the famous and infamous Earl K. Long would be speaking.  He was quite elderly by then but was challenging someone for the congressional seat of our area.  He won the race but died a few days after being elected!  The rally followed a familiar pattern.  A large flatbed truck pulled up with a country band on it to entertain for awhile and then the advance speaker came, who was quite colorful himself.  But no one could mistake him for ol' Uncle Earl who arrived in a bulletproof limousine when the audience was warmed up and ready for fire and brimstone political talk!

     The gospels make it clear that John the Baptist was the "advance man," but they also make it clear that some folks were confused about him and thought that he was the one who was to come.  He was colorful enough and made some very colorful statements about the one who would come after him "whose sandal strap I am unworthy to untie."  Jesus did not quite meet that description, which may be the reason folks were confused about John.  They preferred the more colorful person!  Indeed, the lowly origins of Jesus as son of a carpenter were a problem for some early Christian preachers.  Nevertheless, that is how Jesus came to us and that is his "epiphany."  John the Baptist had to decrease and Jesus had to increase and that is what we have to preach!  AMEN