In today’s Gospel reading, John the Baptist expresses a sense of relief and fulfillment because he had witnessed the arrival of the Savior foretold by God.  He proclaimed, “Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.” (Jn 1:34) 

One of the Scripture commentators I read regularly offered an unique perspective on today’s Gospel reading.  The commentator reiterated the common Christian interpretation of John the Baptist as being not the Savior, but the one to proclaim the coming of the Savior.  Then, the commentator posed the rhetorical question, “What if there was no Savior for John the Baptist to proclaim?” 

The Scripture commentator drew inspiration from the novel The Fall.  In the novel, the narrator and main character gave himself the pseudonym John B. Proclaimer and described himself as “an empty prophet for a shabby time, Elijah without a messiah.”  As there was no Savior in his world to proclaim, he could only proclaim himself, and he did so by claiming that other people existed solely for the purpose of satisfying his selfish needs.  He proclaimed, “It is essential to be able to permit oneself to do anything one wants.” 

The Scripture commentator pointed out that the character John B. Proclaimer is the embodiment of sin.  Proclaimer judged virtues like decency, responsibility, and hope to be delusions. He had no conscience and saw no need for morality despite the inescapable despair created by his alienation from himself and his society.   

There was, however, more to John B. Proclaimer than the place of casual despair where he ended.  He was, by nature, an idealist.  He spent many years defending widows, orphans, and the poor.  Eventually, however, he achieved a very small degree of self-awareness and realized that he was as morally poor as his disadvantaged clients were materially poor.   

The realization that he might be just like the rest of humanity was unacceptable to Proclaimer; he preferred his lonely idealism over being a responsible member of society. In order to maintain his idealistic notions about himself, he gave himself permission to be unabashedly dishonest.  Because he rationalized the profound immorality of his duplicitousness, he became truly “Elijah with no messiah.” 

The Scripture commentator I mentioned above posed his rhetorical question for obvious reasons.  Our fallen human nature tends toward self-aggrandizement even when we lament the destruction caused by others who do the same.  We make ourselves the sole arbiters of truth even though we find it offensive when others do so.  We demand the attention of others while judging harshly those who win attention before we do.  Like John B. Proclaimer, we try to avoid judgment personally by pointing out the guilt of others. 

The message of John the Baptist was quite different to the message of John B. Proclaimer.  The Baptist asked how one can remain committed to truth, beauty, and goodness in a world that is an irremediable admixture of good and evil.  The Baptist’s answer to the question was as guileless and the Proclaimer was duplicitous.  John the Baptist preached the repentance and reform that predisposed one to receive God’s limitless forgiveness. 

Countless John B. Proclaimers surround us.  Sadly, it has become normalized in our society to judge all people harshly and to admit to personal failure only as a means to avoid punishment.  If you find that you are weary of the sins of others and embarrassed by your own failings, there is an alternative to casual despair.  The Lamb of God came to offer forgiveness of sin, not by denying the culpability of sinners or the weakness of human nature but by embracing the entirety of fallen humanity.   

The repentance and reform that lead to the experience of forgiveness begin with the admission that it is not the failings of others that make our lives burdensome; rather, it is our own dishonesty that makes our fallenness so repellent to us.  Repentance allows us to let go of our idealistic valuations of ourselves and to see ourselves sharing the same uneven fate of all humanity.  John the Baptist proclaimed repentance because he knew the value of repentance in his own life; likewise, he recognized the Savior because he knew he was no savior himself.  God’s limitless forgiveness waits for all who do the same.