Indispensable?
“The graveyard is full of indispensable men.”
No one wants to think of himself as “dispensable.” We tend to equate dispensable with being worthless and useless. While some may use it that way, it need not be taken like that. It may also mean that you served your purpose in this life, and now it is time to fade and let another take your place. That’s the way God’s kingdom project proceeds: one generation does its work, all the while training the next generation to replace them.
Fading into relative obscurity while handing over the reins to another can be difficult to do. We like what we are and what we are doing. But if we hold on to things far too long and refuse to pass the baton, we can make a real mess of things.
John the Baptizer faced the temptation to hold on to his present glory too long. In the scene that begins John 3:22-36, Jesus’ disciples were baptizing even while John was baptizing. John’s disciples and the Jews took notice of it and reported it to John. This baptismal ministry was John’s ministry. He was the one sent by God to baptize (Jn 1:6, 33). It looks as if Jesus’ disciples are horning in on his ministry.
John is faced with the temptation of envy. This was the temptation the Jewish leadership faced and failed to overcome. It was because of envy that they handed Jesus over to Pilate (Mk 15:10). They wanted what Jesus had, and they wanted Jesus deprived of it. John is faced with the same temptation. Jesus’ sun rising would mean the fading of John’s ministry.
John is more than okay with that. John knows that his ministry, though vital in God’s redemptive plan, is dispensable; it was always meant to fade and give way to the greater glory of Jesus. “He must increase, and I must decrease.” Those verbs were used to speak about the waxing (“increase”) and waning (“decrease”) of heavenly bodies. Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness who is rising like a bridegroom from his chamber (cf. Psalm 19:1-6). John is one of the stars in the night sky that cannot be seen in the brilliance of the Sun. That is the way it is supposed to be.
When we read John’s statement, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” as Christians, we have no problem desiring that Christ Jesus be “the star.” And it is good that we want Jesus to be praised, even when it puts us into relative obscurity. But Jesus reveals himself in the members of his body, the church. Can we say the same thing about our brothers and sisters: they must increase, and I must decrease? Do we have a problem when others are gifted in similar areas as we are, but are noticed more than we are? Or maybe we are getting older, and younger people are rising up to do the work that we are doing. Do we want to see them increase at the cost of our decreasing?
Joyfully accepting our decreasing while others are increasing takes humility. That is not a self-deprecation that says, “I am worthless.” This is a humility that recognizes that the kingdom mission is much bigger than me. I have a leg to run in the race, but I must always be working, not only to complete my given task, but to train and encourage the next generation to take the baton and run with it.
None of us is indispensable, but we all have our place in the mission. Run your leg of the race as well as you can, and take joy in passing the baton.
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