When the messengers of John had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. “What did you go out to the desert to see—a reed swayed by the wind? … A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom Scripture says: ‘Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, and who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves.)   

"Welcome to the real world, she said to me, condescendingly, take a seat, take your life, plot it out in black and white. Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings and the drama queens. I’d like to think the best of me is still hiding up my sleeve. They love to tell you: stay inside the lines, but something’s better on the other side. I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world—just a lie you’ve got to rise above." 

Jesus calls John the Baptist "more than a prophet" because John was a person who thought beyond what the world had to offer. He was presenting something else, something that the real world did not understand, a plan of God that would go far beyond what people normally expected of religion or of life. John was a person who thought "outside the box," beyond the lines of the usual ideas.
 
The real world as presented to the person in John Mayer’s song "No Such Thing" is a world whereby you stay inside the lines, as he says, a life plotted out in black and white. Something’s better, the person in the song says, "on the other side."
 
"The other side" is a good way to look at what John the Baptist and later, Jesus, wanted to give humankind. It was not the normal everyday philosophy of day-to-day living where you are expected to do what everybody else does, and in the process, live the lie of a fake world. No, "the other side," thinking outside the lines, is accepting the guidelines of Jesus Christ and placing them into our lives, giving us the opportunity to be the very best we can be.         

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, in many ways our world wants us to think like everyone else. As John the Baptist and the great saints did, help us go beyond what is normally done, and truly accept you into our lives. Be with us we pray.

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America