Funny-Looking

So we are funny-looking figures too, we who inherit John the Baptist’s mouth, finger, and voice, as Luther put it. We are odd, misplaced-looking fellows, a curious sort of gentry, as we catch sight of our reflection in the shop windows of the world. Well, who cares? Who cares? So nobody who is anybody thinks we are somebody. Who cares?

There was somebody who cared, and somebody who cares, if we will enter upon the heritage of John the Baptist, if we will take up John’s finger, John’s mouth, and John’s voice and cry, “Repent!” and point to Christ and call Him Lord. The Coming One, the Mightier One, cares. The Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, He cares. John renounced all bigness, and he became great in the sight of the Lord. Jesus cared. Jesus called him the greatest of the Lord. Jesus cared. Jesus called him the greatest of woman-born, called him a prophet, and more than a prophet, called him the messenger foretold by Malachi to prepare the way of the Lord, called him the returning Elijah, asserted that his Baptism was from heaven, and said that his way was the way of righteousness. He cared. And if we will enter upon the heritage of John the Baptist, we shall know that He cares for us. We shall one day hear from His lips: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of thy Lord.”

Martin H. Franzmann (1907-1976), Ha! Ha! Among the Trumpets (CPH, 1994), pp. 29f.

HT: Doxology—Shepherd’s Anthology