Speak to be Heard

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SPEAK TO BE HEARD

John 10:40-42

40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed 41 and many people came to him. They said, "Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true." 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.

NIV

It is interesting that John chooses to include this little tidbit of information, but gives absolutely no details about anything that happened, except that many people came to him, what that said, and that many believed in Jesus. That’s it, so otherwise, everybody was silent, including Jesus? That is doubtful, but John just gives this little window into what happened, and then it looks like he just opened the curtains a smidgen. However, what the people said has us pondering. They remembered what John the Baptist said about Jesus and that what he said was true. Just what did John the Baptist say about Jesus? Luke gives us more of what John the Baptist said about Jesus than any of the other accounts.

Luke 3:16-18

"I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.

NIV

It has to be the many other words that John said which these many people remembered were about Jesus because these recorded words are prophetic about things Jesus has not done in front of all the people. So we just don’t know what he said that caused these people to believe in Jesus. But what he did say, that caused them to believe, was true. This makes us think as to how much do we say about Jesus and if anything we say causes people to believe. We talk about witnessing or being a witness, but how we witness may be the question that needs answering. Perhaps we should first determine if we actually witness at all. Are we of the opinion our good life is a witness? If that is true, then all we testify to us about how good a life we live, unless we also include the reason is that we believe in Jesus. It might be less effective if we just said because we are a Christian, for many who are not yet saved call themselves Christians and even attend some mainline denominational church. They may even do more good deeds than we do in regard to our fellow man, or humanity. However, we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, being born again, set free from the penalty of sin, forgiven, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, filled with the Spirit, clothed with God’s armor and abounding with eternal life. Yet, saying anything about us would only be saying something about us. Our words, not just our life, need to be about Jesus, who he is and what he has done. We need to be talking about the good news, about Jesus and the life he offers, the eternal life he offers. Someone once said if we want to be seen, stand up if you want to be heard, speak up. Just being seen is not enough. People came to see John the Baptist because he looked different. But those people believed because that remembered what John the Baptist said about Jesus. Let us not just look different, but speak words about Jesus that people will remember and believe in him.