John the Baptist

“Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John ever said about this man was true.” And in that place many believed in Jesus.

~John 10: 40 – 42

After dealing with the Jewish leaders and avoiding their attempts to seize Him at the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, Jesus returned with His disciples to the place of John’s ministry to rest. It was here that John baptized Jesus. It’s seems reasonable to imagine that Jesus spent some of his time there grieving the loss of his friend and relative John the Baptist. John and Jesus were related through their mothers, and while they never, as children, lived in the same town, it’s possible that they might have met and played together on rare occasions.

Scripture portrays John as a wild, obscure and perhaps somewhat eccentric religious zealot, but through a closer look at all Scripture related to him, it becomes apparent that he was highly educated. His father, Zechariah, was a priest, which means that John was born to be a priest as well. John was intimately familiar with the Scriptures.

John’s credentials even go beyond a good religious education. Before John was conceived, the Angel Gabriel appeared to John’s father, Zechariah, while he was serving in the temple, to announce John’s birth and special instructions in raising him: “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Gabriel’s instructions mean that John was to be raised as a Nazirite like Samson.

According to Luke, John lived in the desert (probably from the time he was a young man), until he appeared publicly at about the age of thirty. He encouraged believers to repent and be baptized with water to prepare their hearts for the coming of the Messiah. Like Jesus, John had disciples which confirms that he was an educated and charismatic man. When Jesus came to John to be baptized, John knew that in reality Jesus should be baptizing him, but Jesus assured John that it was necessary and appropriate. So, John baptized Jesus.

John was eventually imprisoned for telling Herod that he should not be married to his brother’s wife. From prison in a moment of frustration, despair and doubt John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was truly the Messiah. This was in spite of the fact that he had actually witnessed the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove and heard the voice of God say, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” at Jesus’ baptism. Jesus sent John’s disciples back to encourage him with news of Jesus’ preaching and miracles. Then Jesus told the people that were visiting Him that John, who according to his friends and followers never performed a miraculous sign, was the greatest prophet that ever lived.

(Originally published in LIFEGate – Richmond’s Christian Newspaper in 1996)