There are four Gospels in the New Testament—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and they all focus on Jesus. But they don’t all start with Jesus. Mark starts with a man named John. In fact, in each book, before we meet a grown-up Jesus, we meet this strange and wonderful person sometimes called John the Baptist.

That may sound like a funny name, but his parents weren’t Mr. and Mrs. Baptist. We just call him John the Baptist because, well, he did a lot of baptizing. Baptism was a sign of cleansing. The water meant a new start for John’s disciples. And everyone desperately needed a new start. That’s why John preached about repentance. Just like the prophets of old, he warned people that if they didn’t confess their sins and change their ways, they would be in big trouble.

But John wasn’t just like the prophets of old, he was predicted by the prophets of old. The Old Testament said that before the Christ would come, there would be someone to prepare the way. That was John the Baptist. He was the messenger, the voice, the one preaching in the wilderness whether people listened or not.

John was very popular, at least with regular people. They came from all over the city and the countryside to hear him preach and to be baptized. He had lots of followers. Lots of attention. And since he wore camel hair and ate sticky bugs, he probably got lots of funny looks too.

And yet, here’s the funny thing: John wasn’t interested in the attention. He didn’t want a million followers. John knew he was only a pointer. He was not the point. John is a very special person in the Biggest Story, but he thought of himself as a nobody compared to the somebody that was coming. John said, “You think I’m a big deal? I’m just preparing the way. The one after me is much more impressive. I’m not even worthy to bend over and untie his dirty, stinky, sandals.”

John baptized with water. Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit.

John prepared the way. Jesus was the way.

John was a voice in the wilderness. Jesus was the Word made flesh.

The whole point of John’s ministry was to point people to Jesus. He lived his life so that he might get smaller and Christ might get bigger. Of all the special things about John the Baptist, that was the best.