John the Baptist Prepares the Way Mark 1.1-8
We are in advent! Where would be without the wonderful, courageous, energetic Saint John the Baptist – the herald of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Some of you may know that I always gauge people by asking whether I would invite them to supper! For instance, inviting St Paul could be quite dangerous. We could end up blind as did Bar-Jesus the sorcerer on Cyprus (Acts 13:1-3) Inviting St Peter could be even more hazardous. We remember the fate of Ananias and Sapphira when they did not donate all the proceeds of their field. (Acts 5:1-11) Both were struck down within hours. With St Peter we would need to have absolutely all our ducks in a row!
However, 'John the Baptiser' as the Eastern church calls him was a simple, holy man who lived in the desert, dressed in camel hair, living on locusts and wild honey. He led a life of penance and prayer. Why would we have any problem inviting John to supper although we might struggle if we had to have the locusts on the menu
Everything about John the Baptist was the textbook preparation for the Advent of the Messiah. John was a really mainstream prophet. He was even mentioned by Roman Jewish historian Josephus.
Everything about John’s life and mission was miraculous. Six hundred years earlier his arrival was prophesied by Isaiah (40:3) – the Jews favourite prophet.
“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
Two hundred years later the prophet Malachi prophesied that the Lord would send a messenger to announce the coming of the Messiah. “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.” Malachi 3:1 This is exactly what John the Baptist did.
John’s background was conventional. He was born of priestly parentage. His father Zechariah was a priest in the great temple of Jerusalem and his mother Elizabeth was a cousin of the Messiah.
However, John's conception was miraculous. He was born of elderly baren parents well past child bearing age. His conception followed Zechariah’s vision of Angel Gabriel in the Temple of Jerusalem. (We remember that Angel Gabriel also appeared to Mary who was to conceive Our Lord miraculously as a virgin)
The Angel Gabriel miraculously muted of Zechariah until the birth of his son John
Timing of
John’s birth was more than coincidental – just six months before Our Lord’s
birth – perfect. In fact, both Elizabeth and Mary were pregnant at the same
time
The meeting of Mary and Elizabeth when they were both pregnant was miraculous. Both know of the significance and gender of the babies that they were carrying. When they first met Elisabeth uttered her immortal words of greeting “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! Luke 1:42
Zechariah remained miraculously mute until it came to the naming of his son John.
John’s life was that of a classic Old Testament prophet. Since birth he drank no wine or strong drink. The description of what John ate has a decidedly Qumran or Essene ring to it. That is, locusts and honey were acceptable foods for the Quarantines and the Essenes communities. He lived in the desert and wore clothes made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. So had the traditional prophets dress sense!
His fame and prestige were astonishing. In fact, he baptised a considerable proportion of the population of Jerusalem which was then probably between 30 and 40,000. It is a two day walk to John’s baptismal site on the Jordan.
Crucially it was John who actually baptised Jesus and had the vision “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:17)
We must remember John’s courage – he said it how it was without fear or favour. He called out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and even more dangerously Herod Antipas whose marriage to Herodias, his brother’s ex-wife, was illegal. It is worth remembering that Herod loved John and was very distressed when Herodias engineered his execution.
We must remember John’s humility – I baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit? (Matthew 3:11)
We must remember John’s generosity – He voluntarily gave up his disciples to join Jesus when He walked by. We know for certain that James, the old brother of Peter, was one of John’s disciples.
Our Lord had the greatest respect for John saying that he was the greatest of all the prophets. He was “Elijah who was to come" (Matthew 11:14 / Matthew 17:11–13); In short, the apostle John said- ‘There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all might believe’. John 1:6-28
John was a proper prophet. Why would we not invite him for supper any day of the week? I might even let him talk me into nibbling a locust!
Amen
Luke
3:1-32 John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3 In the
fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor
of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and
Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of
Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the
wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the
book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
‘Prepare the
way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every
valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked
roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all
people will see God’s salvation.’”[a]
10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with[b] water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.
19 But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, 20 Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
The Baptism
and Genealogy of Jesus
21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist
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