John the Baptizer and the Coming One — Luke 7:18-35

Read today's text here: Luke 7:18-35

The question “Who is this Jesus?” and the far-reaching expectations for him illustrated in the raising of the widow’s son (7:11-17) can now be related to the mission of John the Baptizer.

John was a cousin of Jesus'. Jesus' mother Mary had gone to visit John's mother, when both women were pregnant, and the story of this visit can be found earlier in Luke: specifically in Luke chapter 1. When John grew up, he heard the call of God to become a prophet to his people, Israel. He called for the nation to return to obedience to God and to get ready for an important intervention by God in their history. That intervention, one hoped for for ages, was the appearance of a divine Savior, called in Hebrew the "Messiah". Accompanying John's preaching to the people, he dipped them in the water of the Jordan River, to symbolize their intention to live reformed, obedient lives for God. This was called "baptism", and is similar but not identical to later Christian baptism. Because John's ministry was different from that of other preachers of his day and characterized by this dipping, he is called "John the Baptizer" (or "John the Baptist"). The latter form "Baptist" has nothing to do with today's Christian denomination. For that reason, many prefer to say "Baptizer".

Eventually, when John criticized the ruler of Galilee named Herod Antipas of marrying the former wife of his own brother, while that brother was still alive—which was contrary to Jewish and Old Testament law—Herod had John imprisoned and eventually had him beheaded.

Luke doesn’t tell us that at this time John had already been imprisoned by Herod Antipas, or that this days of living were numbered. Matthew (11:2) does. But even in Luke’s account that situation can be inferred from the fact that John must send two of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the Coming One. Had John been free, he would have gone in person.

Luke and Matthew agree precisely as to the wording of the question: “Are you the one who is to come? Or should we look for another?” It was a reasonable question, and one which—according to the gospel accounts—no one else had thought to ask Jesus directly. Since the Baptizer was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, and in his own message he has said that “one comes after me whose sandal thongs I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Spirit”, one would expect that he already believed Jesus to be the Messiah—certainly the meaning of the elliptical expression “he who is to come”. Yet either he had believed, but was now doubting—perhaps because he had been thrown in prison and knew that only a whisker stood between him and death—or he now suspected that Jesus’ mission was also preparatory to one to come after him, even greater.

Whatever the exact circumstances, John did well to send his disciples to Jesus to find out.

Jesus could have simply told the disciples of John “Yes, I am the Expected One, the Messiah”. But he had been showing his true identity for months now with his miracles and his synagogue teaching. The miracles themselves spoke louder than any claims he might make. Therefore while the messengers were with him (“in that same hour” v. 21) Jesus healed many who were sick, drove out evil spirits, and gave sight to blind people, so that John’s disciples could see for themselves the signs of his true identity. The only important class of miracle they did not see for themselves, but heard about from many of the bystanders (“ what you have … heard” v. 22) was his raising of the dead man at Na’in. Jesus then told the disciples to return to John and tell him what they had seen and heard and to encourage him not to lose faith that the one whom he had prepared the people for was in truth the Expected One: there would be no greater one to follow!

The words Jesus gave to the messengers to take to John were—in the words of Jared Dockery—a "coded message":

"This was a coded message, containing snatches of Old Testament prophecy, from the book of Isaiah (chapter 35 and 61). This was the job description of the promised Messiah. John would have understood exactly what Jesus meant."

It is no sign that your faith is not genuine, if you have periods of doubt. John was a great man of faith, worthy to be ranked with Abraham, Moses, Elijah and the New Testament apostles. The circumstances of his life caused him to become confused. He was not seeking an excuse to give up on Jesus: he was seeking for clarity in his faith. For such people God is always ready to give them a helping hand. But notice that even so, Jesus expected John to exercise faith. He did not remove all other possible interpretations of his own identity. He gave John more to work with and then urged him not to allow his doubts to be come master of him.

It seems to me that this is what God is telling believers in today’s world, with all of its confusing and muddled thinking about ultimate reality. The reliable New Testament evidence is declared false on the basis of Gnostic documents from centuries after the time of Jesus, documents whose own patent philosophic agendas and many obvious implausibilities have long ago led intelligent scholars to discount them as sober history. Rampant relativism tells us that there is no objective standard of truth: what is true for you, may not be true for me. We should all stop looking for final answers and admit that everyone is entitled to their opinion—one is as good as the other. For such people Jesus’ words about the two ways open to humans—a broad one that leads to destruction and a narrow one, hard to find but worth seeking, that leads to life—are utter nonsense.

No, this passage teaches us that it is worth seeking reliable answers to life’s important questions. And that the right place to seek those answers is God’s Son, Jesus.

Having ministered to John’s need for reassurance, Jesus turns to the bystanders and affirms John’s worth. It is possible that, having heard John’s uncertainty about Jesus’ status, the onlookers may have judged him an inadequate prophet. A true prophet, they may have reasoned, would surely not have mistaken the identity of the Messiah. But Jesus corrects them. Not because he feels sorry for John. Had that been his motive, it would have shown in the words he used. No, as usual, he merely sees truth where his hearers do not, and his role is to teach the Truth.

I do not mean to totally exclude the possibility that Jesus saw in them an ill will. On the contrary, his comparison of them to the children sitting in the public square and playing cruel games (v. 31-32) shows that he was not deceived by their attempting to curry favor with him by criticizing John in their hearts. No, there may indeed have been an insincere and hateful attitude lurking under the surface that Jesus wanted to address. But he also wanted to give a correct assessment of this great man John.

First, he cites Scriptural prophecy fulfilled in John (v. 27). If your Bible has cross-references, you will know that what Jesus quotes in v. 27 is a mixture of two passages from the Torah (Exodus 23:20) and the Prophets (Malachi 3:1). Jesus may have blended the two himself, or he may have known an already existing blend of the two verses. Biblical scholars in Jesus day often blended verses on similar subjects from different parts of the Scripture, much as is done in modern devotional classics like Daily Light.ʼ

The resulting blend somewhat alters the original intention of Malachi 3:1 by making the messenger prepare “your (singular) way” instead of “the way of the LORD”. The “your” in Exodus 23:20 referred to the nation Israel in the wilderness. But the blend in Jesus’ mouth suggests that the “your” refers to himself as the LORD. And, of course, that is what John did: he prepared the nation for the appearance and ministry of Jesus, who—we know—was the LORD incarnate.

If John the Baptizer was this figure of prophecy whose mission was to prepare the way for God Himself, it is obvious how important his role—and therefore his status—was. But just to be sure that this deduction was correctly made, Jesus articulates it:

No one born of a woman is greater than John—that of course includes everyone—yet, the least born into the Kingdom of God is greater than he.

What kind of logic is that?! Jesus loved to use such utterances, which seemed contradictory and left his hearers scratching their heads. But if you take the time to think it through, his words make sense.

There are two ways of judging status: among those born of women, and among those born of God. In the former category John ranked at the top. But anyone—including John himself!—who is born of God is in another category entirely, a category far and away higher. The challenge to the hearers is to quit trying to rank people in human terms. If you want to do that, Jesus reminds them, you cannot rank anyone over John. But you should forget about such rankings on the human level and focus on God’s Kingdom. Are there rankings also within God’s Kingdom? No one asked Jesus that question. And perhaps we should not ask either. It is beside the point.

Then in a final warning to his censorious audience—so quick to judge John, and fickle enough to turn upon Jesus too, once given the chance. The “men of today” (v. 31) can fit the hearers as well. “If the shoe fits, …” It is not a flattering picture that Jesus paints. People often stereotype children as being innocent and pure. But every one of us has been a child once, and has known how cruel children can sometimes be to other children. Here is a group of spoiled brats sitting in the market place and singing songs to mock other children. A kind of “Simon says” game gone awry. “You can’t be happy, if we say you must cry. You cannot cry if we hit you and then say ‘Dance!’” That’s a pretty good equivalent way of putting what they said. The card game is rigged, the deck stacked.

There is no way the judges sitting there will be pleased. John’s life style was ascetic, and they accused him of having a demon. Jesus fraternized with the loose crowd, without himself doing anything sinful, and they accused him of being a glutton and drunkard. The latter charge may have been intended literally. But there is a possibility that this was a code expression for someone of illegitimate birth, a charge which we know from other places in the gospels was made against Jesus by his critics, who were aware that Joseph was not his biological father. The thought being that intemperate eating and drinking were genetic markers of illegitimacy.

Of course, Jesus fraternized with “sinners”. How else could he possibly lead them to forgiveness? And that will be the subject of the next unit, and the next posting!

Birthdays Before Christmas: John the Messiah's Forerunner, Luke 1:5-25

John Grisham wrote a popular novel entitled Skipping Christmas, which among other things was intended to remind us of how far from its real meaning the modern, secular and materialistic Christmas has come. Since I don't think my own celebration has departed quite so far as that of most people, I can truthfully say that I love Christmas and the many ways in which through its traditions my spirit is able to worship God and to thank Him for the Savior He sent us.

But I do not deny that most of us play down the message of the Advent season—the four weeks leading up to Christmas—which in many liturgies precedes and gives added meaning to Christmas Day itself. The scripture verses read from the pulpit during the weeks of Advent highlight not just the longing for the coming of God, but also the felt need for repentance. This is a concept that many Americans (and moderns, period) find difficult to "get a handle on." But it is fundamental to Christian experience, and to the true celebration of Christmas.

I have been reminded of this most recently through my daily Bible reading schedule. For my Advent and Christmas Bible reading this year, I decided to do a study of John the Baptist, beginning with the account of his conception and birth, and continuing through his entire career—or at least as much of it as I can follow in the interval between Advent 1 and Epiphany (January)! Since John's birthday came before that of his cousin Jesus, his was a "birthday before Christmas."

The Announcement and Conception of John

Luke tells the stories of the annunciation and conception (1:5-56), naming and birth (1:57-79; 2:1-18) of John and his cousin Jesus in interleaved parallels: John (1:5-25), Jesus (1:26-56), John (1:57-79), Jesus (2:1-18). This is because he rightly sees the two parallel events as inseparable parts of God's plan to reveal his salvation to Israel.

About John—his role and significance—all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) quote the prophet Isaiah:

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” (Mark 1:2-3 NRSV)

The quotation that immediately follows comes from Malachi 3:1 combined with Isaiah 40:3. Mark cites the source of only the second part. All three gospel writers cite the text with the pronouns "you", referring to the messiah, although both the Hebrew and Greek versions of Malachi 3:1 have "me" referring to God. This was their way of indicating that they knew Jesus was God. But more important, for our purposes, is the role assigned to John here: he is to be God's messenger to prepare the way for Jesus the messiah. How does he do this?

We will find the answer, as we study the stories of the announcement of his conception, his naming as a newborn, and the beginning of his public ministry. Let's begin with the announcing of his conception.

This episode is only recorded in Luke's gospel,

“In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.” (Luke 1:5-7 NRSV)

Being the historian that he was, Luke ties the incident to a known period of Jewish (and Roman) history: it happened during the reign of Herod the Great (74-4 BC). Modern historians would have liked Luke to have been more specific and indicated which year of Herod's reign this occurred in. Most scholars today have settled on 6 BC as the year. Of course, the irony of the "BC" should be apparent to anyone who knows what those letters stand for: "before Christ"! But the devisers of the Julian calendar simply didn't know the precise date of Jesus' birth.

We are introduced to a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was not a "chief priest," but a minor or ordinary one. This accords with other ways in which God prepared for bringing his Son into the world—using humble folk, low-level priests, carpenters, and shepherds. The only characters who play a positive role in this event who are not lowly and humble folk are the Magi, whom tradition makes into three "kings." But we do not know that they were royal at all, merely eastern scholars.

Zechariah was married to a woman named Elizabeth who like him was descended from the first high priest, Aaron, the brother of Moses. Since they would both play a decisive role in raising John to be the prophet to prepare the messiah's way, it was important that they both be "righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord" (1:6). "Blameless" living is not the same as sinless living: it means that they were conscientious about obeying God's law. And if they lapsed into a sin, they would confess it and make the proper repentance and sacrifices. This is the kind of example these two would provide as a model for their son John.

But there is another reason why Luke stresses their blameless living. There is an apparent contradiction between their blameless lives and the fact that God had withheld children from them into their old age. You see, in ancient Israel childlessness was not simply attributed to a genetic fault—in fact, people knew nothing of genetics—but to a decision of God's to withhold children, usually because the childless persons were unfit. This was a heavy burden for Zechariah and Elizabeth to carry! But God had waited long in order to give them the highest privilege—next to that given to Mary and Joseph—of parenting the prophet of the messiah! Sometimes God waits to give you and me privileges late in life. I have had a fulfilling career as a university scholar. But in my retirement God has blessed me with the free time to involve myself in Bible teaching and counseling, which has been more rewarding than any academic pursuit.

“Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him” (Luke 1:8-13 NRSV)

There was a kind of rotating duty for minor priests to offer incense in the sanctuary. The "sanctuary" was not the "Holy of Holies" which only the high priest could enter on the Day of Atonement, but it was a part of the temple that only the priests could enter; so the worshiping Israelites had to remain outside in the temple courtyard. And since incense was symbolic of the prayers of God's people, the worshipers in the courtyard were praying while Zechariah inside was offering the incense.

In any event, Zechariah was as human as you or I, and the sudden appearance next to him in the sanctuary of a mysterious figure—did he know immediately that the figure was not human?—thoroughly frightened him!

“But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”” (Luke 1:13-20 NRSV)

The angel assures Zechariah that his prayer has been heard by God. He doesn't say what the prayer was, or even if it was an old prayer repeated daily over a period of years, or one voice only in the sanctuary that day. But at least part of the answer will be in the gift of a son to the old priest and his wife. He must be named "John"—Hebrew Yohanan, which means "God has shown grace (to his people)." The choice of the name was important, or God would have left it up to the parents.

It was self-evident that the parents themselves would be happy with this child, but not evident that "many" (v. 14) would rejoice at his birth. Perhaps the thought here is not just the neighbors at the time of his birth, but the many down through history who would be grateful to God for providing his Son with such a faithful and humble forerunner, for the angel rightly predicted that "he will be great in the sight of the Lord" (v. 15). In fact, John became great also in the sight of men. Although his fearless preaching of repentance and obedience to God's laws turned Herod Antipas and his wife against him and led to his martyrdom, he was remembered as a great prophet by his Jewish countrymen, including the great Jewish historian Josephus.

John was to become what in the Old Testament Hebrew is called a nazîr, a nazirite. Although this sounds a little like the name of the town Nazareth, it has nothing to do with that place name. It means a kind of monk or hermit, who in his devotion to God and striving for maximum obedience and purity took vows to abstain from many of the pleasures of life such as wine. Some nazirites were "temporary" ones, vowing to abstain for a short period of time—a few months. The apostle Paul once took a nazirite vow (Acts 18:18).

Advocates of "abortion rights" do not like the angel's statement about John: "even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit," for it implies that the pre-born are real persons capable of a relationship with God and whose lives Christians should protect. But later, when Mary comes to visit Elizabeth, while both women are pregnant, pre-born John leaped for joy in his mother's womb (Luke 1:41-45), showing that he was filled with the Spirit and recognized the messiah still in the womb of Mary!

The next verses are the heart of John's ministry: "He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, … to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." And John did just that! Subsequent chapters in the gospels show that he prepared not only his intimate circle of disciples, several of whom became part of the twelve apostles of Jesus (John 1:35-40), but through his powerful message and his baptizing the repentant he prepared the entire people of Israel so that they would have a better understanding of who Jesus was, the promised messiah.

Zechariah's words to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years” do not sound like a refusal to believe. But the angel's reply indicates that he heard in them the voice not of faith but of doubt. "Because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”

“Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”” (Luke 1:21-25 NRSV)

All of this was going on inside the sanctuary, where no one but John was hearing and observing. In fact, even if other priests were in the area, it is possible that only John sw the figure and heard what he said. Outside the sanctuary the people continued to pray, but were worried at the delay, for priests were known to drop dead during their service, especially elderly ones like Zechariah. Then some other priest would have to go in and recover their bodies. But Zechariah came out all right. The problem was that he came out unable to speak, which led the observers to conclude that he has seen a vision.

But the words of the angel came true, for Elizabeth became pregnant and remained in seclusion for five months, grateful to God, as was her speechless husband.

Sometimes God does things for us that leave us "speechless"! It is good to experience how God can literally "take our breath away" with his marvelous mercy and grace, but it is not good when this leaves us "speechless" in the sense that we do not thank him! I can imagine that both Zechariah and Elizabeth did that repeatedly during the following months, and that Zechariah, unable to tell his wife what God had in store with the child in her womb, prayed repeatedly for the ability someday to relay this vital message not only to her but to others who needed to know that God was about to save his people from their sins.