A poem on John 1:19-28.
The priests and Levites cause one day
to question John in their own way:
“Who are you? What do you claim?
Deduce to us your given name.”
He confessed and did not lie,
“I’m not the Christ; that name’s not mine.”
Then they asked, “Are you Elijah, then?”
“No” was his answer to their chagrin.
“Are you the prophet of whom Moses spoke?”
Again, he said “no” to this officious folk.
“Who are you, then,” was their reply untender.
“We must give answer to our senders.”
“I am the Voice in the Wilderness,”
he said, ” ‘Make straight the Way of Righteousness!’
As Isaiah spoke in days of old,
I cry the news of Christ foretold.”
“Why then,” they asked, “do you baptize
if you’re not the prophet or the Christ?”
Said he, “I baptize here with water’s flow,
but One stands near whom you don’t know.
“He comes after me, though greater by far,
and He came before me and all the stars.
His sandal strap I’m not worthy to loose,
for only God’s grace can He unloose.”
At Bethany, by Jordan’s side,
John’s voice proclaimed the coming tide.
The Lamb of God would soon be shown
to cleanse our sins and claim His own.
The Lutheran Column 