The Penultimate Prophet

December 9, 2009 in Sermons, Worth's Sermons by WNG

The life of Jesus touches the life of the man we call John the Baptist at several points.

Their earthly fathers were both devout men, but they did not have that much in common vocationally. Jesus was the son, “as was supposed,” “ (Luke 3:22) of the carpenter Joseph. John was the son of Zechariah, who served in the temple as a priest. (Luke 1:67) John was a p. k.—a priest’s kid, a preacher’s kid. He was not as mean as the typical p. k., because he was “filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb.” (Luke 1:15)

Their devout mothers were related. We know from the 1st chapter of Luke’s gospel that John’s mother, Elizabeth, was a kinswoman of Jesus’ mother Mary. (Luke 1:36) Perhaps they were cousins. At the very least they were close enough that Mary visited in the home of Elizabeth. (Luke 1:39)

Both mothers had remarkable pregnancies. When Elizabeth became pregnant, it was a minor miracle, as she was old, and advanced in years. (Luke 1:36) By contrast Mary was young, but her pregnancy was even more remarkable. Though Dr. Luke was not the attending physician, he was close enough to the facts, albeit after the fact, to tell us that Mary was with child by the intervention of the Holy Spirit. This is the Advent season. People often ask me if I believe in the Virgin Birth. I do, not just for historical reasons, but for theological reasons. I do not think it surprising that a person as unique as Jesus of Nazareth should have had a unique birth.

John and Jesus were born about six months apart, John being the elder. (Luke 1:36) There is no record in the gospels that John and Jesus were close as boys and as young men—but if one accepts the fact that they were “cousins, “ it is hard to imagine that they did not have some contact. I was an only child, but I regarded my first cousins, especially Robert and Ronnie Clifton, as siblings. Robert and I even fought like brothers. When were still pre-school age, I took Robert’s rubber tomahawk and put it just out of his reach in the crotch of an old apple tree. When I refused to get it back, Robert went and picked up the head of an old hoe with a short shaft, and whacked me just above my left eye. I was o.k. Dr. Street sewed me up, and there was no permanent damage. Likewise, we were o.k. It did not do much harm to our friendship. In fact, I like to think that blow was part of my preparation for life. Since then I have been much more wary of men carrying hoes and golf clubs.

Luke 1:80 declares that John was in the wilderness until he appeared in Judea, at various sites along the Jordan River. Some scholars have speculated that John was nurtured by a group of ascetics known as the Essenes, and that, as a young man, Jesus may have been introduced to the same community by John and nurtured there. There is no hard and fast evidence in the New Testament itself that John or Jesus was an Essene. Their hidden years remain a mystery. We know only that both take center stage sometime around their thirtieth birthday, which is a way of saying they were “fully adult and then some.” John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and people went out to Jordan in droves to be baptized by him. According to Matthew 3:14, Jesus presented himself to John to be baptized. Matthew 3:14 says that John protested, telling Jesus that he needed to be baptized by him. Jesus responded, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” That is a curious phrase. In the Bible, righteousness is “the fulfillment of the demands of a relationship.” God sent John to baptize. So John is righteous when he baptizes, even when he baptizes Jesus. John may not know the reason for what he was doing, but that is o.k. In the scripture people often do things at God’s behest, knowingly and unknowingly, even when they are ignorant of the reasons for doing them. Likewise, Jesus is righteous when he submits to John’s baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins, because it is God’s will that he identifies with us in our sins, so that we might identify with him in a Christian baptism of repentance, whereby we are washed from our sins, embodied in the covenant of grace, become a part of the fellowship of the church, receive the promised Holy Spirit, and are raised to walk in newness of life. As Paul says in Romans 6:4, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

This is highly theological, so let me say it again: In John’s baptism Jesus identifies with us, that we, in Christian baptism, might identify with him.

In case you need reminding, John’s baptism is not Christian baptism. In the book of Acts, chapter 19, those who knew only John’s baptism were baptized again, “in the name of Jesus.” It is only in Christian baptism that we receive “the promised Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38, Eph. 1:13, etc.)

Now a number of things happen to Jesus immediately after his baptism by John.

1) He is anointed with the Holy Spirit for his ministry.

According to the 4th gospel, John sees the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove and remain.

“I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Some would point out that the 4th gospel, the gospel we call, John, follows a slightly different tradition from the Synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke with regard to John. Curiously, contra Luke, John says that he did not know Jesus, but this may mean that he did not recognize him. So, too, John does not record the actual baptism of Jesus, though I think it may be assumed, from what is written, provided of course, one knows the tradition Synoptics. (Note: Some scholars think that John’s omission may be the result of the rise of a John the Baptist Cult in which John is being revered above Jesus. ) To me the remarkable things is not how much John differs with the Synoptics in telling the story of John and Jesus, or how much the Synoptics differ from one another, but how much all the gospels have in common. In all four gospels John is the one who goes before Jesus to announce the importance of his coming. John is indeed, a prophet like Elijah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “…prepare the way of the Lord, make his path’s straight.”

2) According to Mark 1:12 Jesus is immediately driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan. That is a story for another day. Suffice it to say that one cannot be great in the kingdom of God until one has faced a real temptation and resisted that temptation. God does not use those who have never faced temptation, but those who have learned to face it and resist it.

3) Jesus starts to gather his disciples. This is especially so in the 4th Gospel in which John points to Jesus as “the lamb of God,” which results in at least four of the disciples coming to him, including Andrew and Peter and Philip and Nathaniel (Nathan-el). (John 1:35-51)

4) Following his baptism by John, Jesus explodes into the public consciousness.

John points to Jesus as the one who comes after him, but ranks before him. John says that he is not worthy to stoop down to untie the thong of Jesus’ sandals. John says that Jesus is the one whom God sent him to announce. (John 1:27)

For a time, after his baptism by John, both John and Jesus were baptizing in the Jordan, at a place called Aenon near Salim (John 3:22) though Jesus did not baptize, but his disciples. (John 4:2) Eventually more people were going to Jesus than to John. When John’s disciples learned of this they went to John and complained. They said:

“Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is, baptizing, and all are going to him.”

And John said:

“No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3)

No doubt, for a time, there was a kind of competition between John and Jesus, but eventually, as John himself had predicted, Jesus became more and more prominent, and John became less and less prominent.

It was King Herod who took John completely out of the picture. According to Mark chapter 6, Herod sent and seized John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; because he had married her. John had insulted and affronted Herod when he had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” (Matthew 14:4)

After Herod threw John into prison, Jesus continued to preach and go about the business of his ministry, and John became concerned that the man he had announced as the “Son of God” (which, though it means much more, is also a title for the Messiah) did not take more aggressive action. Perhaps John thought Jesus should do more about him and his predicament. Certainly he wished that Jesus would do more to accelerate the coming of the Kingdom of God, and drive out the Romans, and replace Herod on the throne of Israel, and get him out of jail.

According to Matthew chapter 11, when John heard in prison what Jesus did, and what Jesus did not do, he sent word by his disciples and said to Jesus, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” In other words, “Are you the messiah? Or am I in jail for nothing?”

Both Matthew and Luke agree that Jesus answered them saying:

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me.”

In other words, “Go and tell John that I may not be the kind of Messiah he expected, but the Messiah I am, and the proof of it is the fact that I am establishing the reign of God in the lives of those who need it most.”

It is interesting to note that the words belong to the lowest level of the Oral Tradition, to the so-called Source Document, to “Q.” It is interesting, too, that at the lowest level of the tradition we still have, is an offence to the modern or post-modern mind, a supernatural Christ! It is impossible to rid the gospel record of the Christ of Faith, and find only “a Jesus of History,” like that postulated by the Jesus Seminar.

(Note on the Last Paragraph: I realize that some people will choose to think of this saying by Jesus in metaphorical terms. I would argue that their presuppositions are showing, as are my own. My point still stands.)

And then, according to the same chapter of Matthew, Jesus began to speak to the crowds that followed him about John saying:

“What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 Why then did you go out? To see a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who wear soft raiment are in kings’ houses. 9 Why then did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.’ 11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John; 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear. “

Now this is not the end of the story. You would think that with Jesus out preaching, and John in prison, the relationship between the two of them would, at last, come to an end.

That did not happen. Herod was the cause of this too. According to Matthew 14, it went like this. Herod had John in prison and then he celebrated his birthday. And he threw himself a party, and the daughter of Herodias danced before all his guests, and she did not just think she could dance, she really could. I do not know if she did “the dance of the seven veils” or the “hochie-kochie” but she outdid herself, and this pleased Herod. So he swore he would give her anything she might ask. Then, prompted by her mother, who was still angry at John because he said she could not marry the King, the girl said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And Herod was sorry, because he did not want to kill john, as he thought he was a prophet and he was afraid of him. But because of his oaths and his guests (who had heard him make the promise and before whom he did not want to loose his moxie) he commanded it to be done. And Herod sent and had John beheaded in the prison. And John’s head was brought on a platter, and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother. And the disciples of John came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus what had happened to John. And according to Matthew 14, When Jesus heard it, “ he withdrew in a boat to a lonely place apart. “ No doubt he grieved John, and, perhaps he grieved his own death, as we always grieve our own deaths when we grieve the death of someone we love. In loosing someone we love, we have already lost a part of ourselves; and sometimes it takes an effort to find what is left.

And that is not the end of the story. For Herod felt so guilty about killing John, that when Jesus came to his attention, he thought that Jesus might be John the Baptist risen from the dead.

And this same thought occurred to many. On the Road to Jerusalem, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” And they told him “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others one of the prophets.” And then he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:27-29)

John was the penultimate prophet. All the law and the prophets prophesied until John, that he was Elijah who was to come. He spoke the Word of God. Jesus is the ultimate prophet. He not only spoke the Word of God, he was the Word of God in human flesh. As we read in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”

Jesus appeared for the first time on the plane of human history in humility and hiddenness, visible only to the eyes of faith. Even some who had great faith, like John the Baptist, had occasion to doubt him. Jesus must of necessity appear for the second time on the plane of human history in power and glory, his true identity known by faith and unbelief alike. As Paul says, “at the name of Jesus every knee must bow, in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that ‘Jesus is Lord.’” (Phil. 2)

I am speaking in a figure, as the New testament often does, but, at Christ’s 2nd Advent, the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised, or at least, they will appear with him, and that will most certainly include John the Baptist, and I believe that old John will take great joy in crying out in a voice so loud that it will be heard by the living and dead: