John 1:29-34: in context

John the Baptist sees Jesus walking toward him and makes one of the most compressed declarations of the gospel in all of Scripture: behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. In a single phrase he names Jesus as the sacrifice, the Passover lamb and the suffering servant rolled into one, the one whose death will deal with sin, not for a family or a nation, but for the whole world. It is an enormous thing to say about a man walking up a road.

But tucked into John's testimony is an admission he makes twice, and it is easy to skip past. I myself did not know him, he says, and again, I did not recognize him. This is striking, because John was Jesus' relative, born to prepare the way for him, the forerunner whose entire life was pointed at this moment. And yet, by his own account, he could not identify the Messiah on his own. He needed God to show him. The one who sent me to baptize, John says, told me that the person on whom I saw the Spirit descend and remain would be the one. So John watched, and saw the Spirit come down like a dove and rest on Jesus, and only then did he know. His recognition of who Jesus was did not come from his own insight or his family connection or his spiritual reputation. It came by revelation, by God pointing Jesus out to him. And once he was shown, he did not hesitate: I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.

That is a humbling word about how we come to know who Jesus really is. Even John the Baptist could not recognize the Messiah by his own perception; it took God to reveal him. I am tempted to assume I have Jesus figured out, that my own understanding is sufficient to see who he is. But if the greatest of the prophets needed God to open his eyes, so do I. Have I asked God to actually show me who Jesus is, rather than assuming I have already grasped him by my own insight, and am I as ready as John was to testify once I have truly seen?