“It is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way—a voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” –Mark 1:2-4 (NIV)
John the Baptist was one whose foreordained ministry was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. Cousin to Jesus, John was the son of Zechariah in his old age, a priest from the line of Abijah. John’s mother, Elizabeth, was of the priestly line of Aaron. John had been predicted by prophets Isaiah (Isa. 40:3) and Malachi (Mal. 3:1).
John was a character to remember, a striking and nomadic figure, one who drew persons to his prophetic preaching and to his unusual lifestyle. Even his dress was significant: camel’s hair and a leather girdle. John had a following of disciples. Scholars believe he may have been of the sect of the Essenes who preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, but no authentic proof to date, other than his form of baptism for repentance by immersion, has been found that John was an Essene.
Have you ever thought how in God’s providence the most unlikely people are sometimes used to accomplish His will? Who would have thought this man, dressed in camel’s hair and with a diet of locusts (no less!) and wild honey, would be the one to point the way to the coming of the Messiah? Evidently his voice rang out like thunder as he announced, “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie! I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7).
And Jesus did come to John at the Jordan River to be baptized. John did not feel worthy to baptize Jesus. Certainly this holy, Messianic cousin of John did not need baptism unto repentance, for He was the sinless Son of God. Why then Jesus’ baptism by John? Volumes have been written speculating why: To mark the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (which it did), to identify Jesus as the Son of God (to which John’s testimony, the dove and the voice from heaven all attested at his baptism). Matthew states in his gospel that John’s baptism of Jesus was “to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15), whatever that means. Again, scholars have sought to explain how Jesus’ baptism could ‘fulfill all righteousness’. Did it identify Jesus with sinful humanity, the only way possible for the spotless Son of God to be the unblemished lamb, the sacrifice for the sins of the world? It is good for us to think on these deep ways of God and to ponder the role of John the Baptist in the life and ministry of our Lord.
John was a martyr to the faith. It seems that soon after Jesus’ public baptism, John was arrested (see Mt. 4:12). John may have had doubts while he was imprisoned by Herod. John, from prison, sent his disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who was to come (that is, the Messiah), or should we expect someone else?” (Mt. 11:3). Jesus paid a high compliment to John the Baptist: “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…he is the Elijah who was to come.” (Mt. 11:11, 14). Jesus sent word back to John, “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” (Mt. 11:4-6). John’s awful death by beheading is told in Matthew 14: 1-12.
When Jesus heard of John’s death, he withdrew from the crowds and went to a solitary place (Mt. 14:13). Perhaps Jesus went there to mourn, to pay proper respect to His cousin who had played such a prominent role in Jesus’ own life. But the press of the crowds and their hunger did not give Jesus adequate time to mourn John. Immediately He performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000. And when he tried to withdraw again, the storm came up, the disciples were on the boat paralyzed by fear and Jesus had to go to their rescue, walking on the water.
Some believed Jesus was John raised from the dead. We read about this in Mark 6:14-16 and Mark 8:28. John the Baptist had a far-reaching influence. In Ephesus was Apollos, a man of God who spoke with great fervor “who knew only the baptism of John,” (Acts 18:25). Another band of disciples there, likewise, had received John’s baptism (Acts 19:3). It was easy for Paul the Apostle and Priscilla and Aquilla to further instruct Apollos and the other Ephesian disciples and baptize them in the name of the Lord. (Acts 19:5).
John aptly stated his role in comparison to Jesus the Christ: “You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ He (Jesus) must become greater: I must become less” (John 3: 28, 30). And in stating this to those who asked John about Jesus, John gave the principle that all disciples, then and now, must follow: “He (Jesus) must become greater; I must become less.”
c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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