He must increase, I must decrease

John, with rough, prophetic voice—a strange

imposing figure, clad in camel’s hair--

Three Gospels tell us of his tragic death,

And Matthew shows how, when he meets Our Lord,

(Thirty years of age—as he begins,

before he teaches, heals, or wakes the dead

he comes to John, he asks to be baptized)--

John points upward—maybe with a shrug:

“Must you, who bring the Spirit’s holy fire

be baptized here?   

               By me?.......”

                     He frowns. We see,

In crease of forehead, how he strives to grasp

what Jesus wants: the Fire in Water plunged.

But can this faithful, odd Forerunner know

how, ever after, we who are baptized,

I and you, and all who follow Christ,

Must die in baptism’s waters? Then we’re raised,

Must find the Cross the way to Paradise,

must never let the longing of our hearts

decrease for that Celestial Banquet, when

the Lamb of God, the Spirit and the bride

say, “Come! Come feast on Living Water, Child!”

Poem by Sharon Ruth

Blessings,