Saturday after Epiphany

If the Credit Crunch has got you counting your pennies then you should take a note out of Ieuan Butler’s book. The 42 year old from Pembrokeshire has been voted Britain’s ‘tightest man’ in a TV Show on Channel 4. He has worn the same work boots for seven years and his trainers since 1987. But he has only £18,000 left on his mortgage and has put one child through university and two through college. He said: "A lot of people can learn from me the way the current climate is. Money's hard to come by." He never goes to the pub and does not visit the cinema, instead preferring to wait until DVDs are reduced to £2. To top it all, he plans on getting married soon: on a budget of £500 compared to the average £18,500 that most couples spend, because it will be on a beach and people will be asked to bring a bottle. His wedding will be for just 40 close family and friends, with a small buffet, a few drinks, plus any bottles they bring. He said: ‘People come to the wedding for the bride and groom and their happy day. It's not all about the food and alcohol.’

Well, that’s much the same message that John the Baptist brings in the gospel reading today. He isn’t greedy for more than he needs. ‘A man can lay claim only to what is given him from heaven,’ he says. John compares himself to the bridegroom’s friend who is glad when the groom arrives. After all, it’s the groom and his bride that people have come to see, not the best man. He’s not there to steal the show, or take all the attention. In fact, as soon as Jesus appears on the scene John the Baptist is happy to stand back and allow Jesus to take the limelight. ‘He must grow greater, I must grow smaller,’ he says. John the Baptist is cutting back, he is reducing his own significance, beginning to draw back into the shadows. When Jesus arrives it is John the Baptist’s happy day.

The Credit Crunch has made lots of us careful about how we spend our money and maybe lots of people are doing without some of the luxuries and only concentrating on what’s really important in life, on the basic necessities. It may mean that some people are not so happy. But Credit Crunch or not, in times of affluence or penny pinching, when things are going well or we are struggling to make ends meet only one thing is important. John the Baptist points us towards what’s important: to the one who completes our joy and makes us truly happy, the one who gives us all we need.

Readings: 1 John 5:5-13; Luke 5:12-16
The illustration for the homily may be found here