Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God: Difference between revisions

== Friday, Oct 11: "none greater than John the Baptist" ==

I like call him "the Baptizer."  Interestingly, in some Orthodox churches, he is known as "Saint John the Forerunner," which speaks more clearly to his Biblical role. Most western believers think of John only in terms of the Baptism of Christ, but if we listen to Jesus himself, there's a lot more to John than than that to which we usually attest about him.

One historical approach we can employ here is to apply a counter-factual, in this case, removal of John from the moment in order to test alternative outcomes. Obviously, God does what God does, so with or without John, Jesus is. Nevertheless, by thinking over John's absence, we can better grasp his importance and why Jesus said of him,<blockquote>"Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11:11 Mt 11:11])</blockquote>(Btw, "among those born of women" implicitly affirms of Jesus' divinity, as well as the existence of angels.)