John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’
Jn1:26,27
John is interrogated to reveal who he is. He replies by saying who he isn't and who that it is the questions should be addressed to, the one unrecognised among us.
I am reminded how Mother Teresa is purported to have said on seeing the dying beggar on the Calcutta railway station platform, "My Jesus, I've found you".
Our local supermarket has a beggar regularly sitting outside, constantly counting a few coins in his hand and mumbling to himself. He clearly has mental health problems. One day I observed a lady had stopped and was talking with him. I experienced a pang of guilt which drove me to the confessional.
The young priest gave some good advice. "Get down on his level, ask him his name and give him yours". This I did on my next trip to the supermarket and I gave him some food. His name is Shane and he lives with his mother. We say hello to each other now. He stopped being a beggar. He's now a human being with a name.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for me.
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