Luke 7:28 (ESV) I [Jesus] tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
John the Baptist takes up only about 20 paragraphs in the New Testament. Yet, he was a great man according to Jesus Himself. In fact Jesus said there were none greater. I was wondering why so little is written about him that he is mentioned so little. The reason, of course, is the New Testament points to Jesus, and that’s the same purpose as John’s. If Jesus says he’s so great, it is certainly worth looking into his life.
Jesus and John both had a miraculous birth. Both were born to women who could not bear children: John’s mother, Elizabeth, because she had passed childbearing age and Mary as a virgin. Both were announced by the same angel, Gabriel (Luke 1:19 and 1:26). Jesus and John were related:
Luke 1:36 (ESV) And behold, your [Mary’s] relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
The word relative here is syngenis which just means same family or relative. Mary and Elizabeth were probably cousins.
John’s conception and birth were predicted six months prior to Jesus’. This was, of course, God’s plan. Jewish men were considered to be men when they reached 12 years of age. They could not hold any sort of religious office or teach until they reached 30 years of age, though. Since John’s ministry’s purpose was to announce the coming Messiah, Jesus, and to lead people to repent and be baptized for their sins, he needed to be 30 and his ministry needed to come first.
What did John do before he was called to the ministry? His father was a priest, and his mother came from a priestly line, some think he may have been an Essene. The Essene community in Qumran was interested in ceremonial bathing for cleansing. The Essenes were also the men who penned the Dead Sea Scrolls. There wasn’t much going on in the wilderness, hence the name wilderness, and the community of Qumran was not far from where John was baptizing so there was a good chance if he was in the wilderness for any length of time, he might have been an essene:
Luke 3:2-3 (ESV) during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Once John began, he quickly became a very popular guy. In John 1:19, we see the Sanhedrin sent emissaries from Jerusalem to speak to John about his ministry. From what we’ve already seen, John was just six months older than Jesus. I doubt either John or Jesus waited around to start their ministries, so each was probably just 30 in John 1:19.
John’s ministry of baptism may have only been going on for six months by John 1:19. Yet, the Sanhedrin sent representatives on a journey of over 100 miles from Jerusalem to the Jordan River where John was baptizing (The Bethany mentioned in John 1:28 is not the one close to Jerusalem but near the Jordan).
So, in about six months John became so popular that his fame had spread all the way to Jerusalem. People were obviously ready to hear his message and, thereafter, the message of Christ.
Why is this important?
It turns out there are a lot of things we can learn from John and apply them to our lives. He was busy doing other things until God the Holy Spirit called Him to announce the coming Messiah, Jesus. Like John, we are called to do the same. John 1:19 begins, “And this is the testimony of John, . . . .” John’s testimony was the Messiah was coming and he was telling the world. Our testimony must be the same.
Next week, we’ll continue to look at John and what both the Bible and at least one non-Christian source says about him.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 