Cousins

Do you have cousins? I have several cousins on my mom’s side, and they are all about the same age as me. I didn’t see them much as I grew up because I didn’t live near any of them. By contrast, some of the people I went to school with were close friends with their cousins. Sometimes they were even in the same class as them!

Whether your cousins live near to or far from you, you probably have
experienced a fight or disagreement with them. While family members have disagreements for many reasons, sometimes they get into fights because one thinks they are better than the other.

That was not the case for John the Baptist, who had a pretty famous cousin—Jesus (Luke 1:26-45, 57-60). John knew Jesus was the Son of God. Rather than trying to be better than Jesus, John mentioned he didn’t even feel worthy enough to untie Jesus’ sandal because he knew Jesus was God (John 1:27).

When he saw Jesus right before he baptized Him, John even called Jesus the Lamb of God. This name was a great honor: John was saying that Jesus was the long-promised Savior from sin who would do away with the old system of sacrificing lambs and other animals as payment for sin (Hebrews 10:1-4, 11-14). John knew Jesus had come to save the world from sin and death.

John the Baptist’s job was to prepare the people’s hearts for the coming of his cousin Jesus, and that is exactly what he did. He went out into the wilderness, preaching to and baptizing large crowds because He wanted to direct people to Jesus. • Melissa Yeagle

• How would have the story of John the Baptist been different if he had tried to compete with Jesus instead of point others to Him?

• As Christians, we might not be called to preach and baptize in the wilderness, but what are other ways we can point people to Jesus?

• The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!†John 1:29 (NKJV)

Read Verses:

John 1:6-34