John the Baptist doesn’t just see Jesus, he sees into the heart and mission of Jesus. His invitation to ‘Behold’ means something worth looking at is before us. John calls Jesus the ‘Lamb of God’ and so do we. Yet, the sin that He takes away cannot just be seen as the individual transgressions we might make. What is taken away is the experience of being isolated from God. Jesus frees the temple animals because they are no longer needed. The disciples go with Him at the time when animals were sacrificed in the Temple and find everything they need in Him. What is needed is to have communion with the Beloved Son of God.
John also admits to what he does not know. He has to grow in his understanding and relationship with Jesus. John is granted a sacred communication that Jesus and the Spirit are inseparable. He has to work at this insight to make it bear fruit. Coming to see the truth of Jesus takes time, patience and a genuine desire to come and see what He is revealing. We see a pattern develop. John sees Jesus, witnesses to Him and creates new disciples. Two new disciples see Jesus, witness to Him and create more disciples. It seems that we have to find out the truth about Jesus for ourselves but others who have already discovered it can show us the way.
We should ask ourselves a question about our relationship with Jesus and how we share this with others. We don’t do this by having yes or no, right or wrong answers but by sharing the adventure we have been enjoying. It means we have to be honest about how our faith in Him has changed and developed. This kind of uncompromising honesty means that our sense of the adventure might be complex.
I came across a story about three people who arrived at the door of a spiritual teacher. She asked all of them the same question. “Did you come to me because of others or because of yourself?” The first answered that they had been sent by others. They were dismissed. The second answered that they came of their own accord. They were dismissed. The third stammered that they had heard of the teacher from others and yet, they also felt that they had come on their own – part curious, part frustrated, part searching and a whole lot of other reasons and motives which were hard to describe. The spiritual teacher said, “You’ll do.” The honest, complex person was accepted.
I don’t know all of the reasons I am drawn to Jesus and struggle to follow Him. But in my own mind, hallmarks of genuine testimony begin to take shape. Honest self-examination, complexity and humility. If my testimony is meant to attract others to Jesus, I worry sometimes that after hearing or seeing me they might look elsewhere. But I also see that I must not over worry on this point. If I try to package Jesus, I lose the only truth that sustains me. You might agree that giving testimony is tricky ground. But what’s the alternative?
