John the Baptist
John the Baptist was a first century C.E. prophet whom Christians regard as being the forerunner of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. According to the New Testament, John the Baptist prophesied to the Jews that the Kingdom of God was immanently at hand, thus preparing them for Jesus' arrival. It is said that he also baptized Jesus in the river Jordan, upon which the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus as a dove (see picture inset). John was beheaded at the command of Herod, at the request of Herodias in the year 31 C.E. or early 32 c.e..
Most Christians believe that John the Baptist fulfilled the Biblical prophecy that Elijah would "come first" to usher in the arrival of the Messiah (Malachi 3:1). In the Gospels, Jesus himself testified to this when he said, "I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased..." Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. (Matt.17:12-13)
While most Christians see John as the forerunner of Jesus and generally view him quite positively, it is also true that some Christians wonder why John did not dedicate himself more fully to Jesus, in accordance with his conviction that Jesus was the Messiah. Thus, John's actions and commitment to Jesus are seen by some Christians as half-hearted and incomplete.
John the Baptist in the New Testament
Nativity
The Gospel of Luke provides the only account of the infancy of John the Baptist. It states that John was the son of Zechariah and Elisabeth (the cousin of Jesus' mother Mary), making John a relative of Jesus. According to the Gospel of Luke, John's name and office were foretold by Gabriel (Angel) to Zechariah while Zechariah was performing his functions as a priest in the Temple of Jerusalem. Since Zechariah was a priest of the Abijah division, and his mother, Elisabeth, was also of a priestly family (Luke 1:5), it is said that John consequently automatically held the priesthood of Aaron, giving him authority in Jewish eyes to perform baptisms, although this rite was generally reserved to new converts to Judaism. (The fact that the Essenes practiced frequent ritual ablutions lead some to conclude that John may have been influenced by Essene tradition.)
According to Luke, John was born about six months before Jesus, and that Zacharias' disbelief over the birth of his son rendered him mute, which was restored on the occasion of John's circumcision (Luke 1:64}.
Public ministry
Luke implies that John was a Nazirite from his birth (Luke 1:15)—refraining from wine and other strong drink — and the synoptics agree that he spent his early years in the mountainous tract of Judea, in the wilderness between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea (Matthew 3:1-12). The Gospels add that he led a simple life, clothed only with camel's hair and a leather girdle around his loins, and eating little more than just locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4). The early Church Fathers John Chrysostom (347-407 C.E.) and Jerome (c. 347-120 C.E.) believed that John had been brought up from his infancy in this manner, as (Matthew 11:18) describes.
According to the Gospel of John, when John the Baptist was thirty years of age, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, (28 C.E.). John began his ministry by proclaiming the coming of the Messiah, preaching repentance and the turning away from selfish pursuits. The synoptic gospels make no such claim, but agree with the Gospel of John that John the Baptist gathered a large following, and induced many persons to confess their sins, who he baptised in the river Jordan.
It is also said that John the Baptist denounced the Sadducees and Pharisees as a "generation of vipers," and warned them not to assume their heritage gave them special privilege (Luke 3:8). He warned tax collectors and soldiers against extortion and plunder. His doctrine and manner of life stirred interest, bringing people from all parts to see him on the banks of the Jordan River. There he baptized thousands whom repented.
One of those whom John baptised is reportedly Jesus of Nazareth. According to the Gospel of John, but not the Synoptic Gospels, John initially excused himself from this action by saying "I need rather being baptized by you", but Jesus declaring that it became them to fulfill all righteousness and John complied. The Gospel of John states that the next day John publicly announced Jesus as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:19-29), and that John's office as forerunner ended with the baptism of Jesus, though he continued for a while to bear testimony to the Messiahship of Jesus. The other three Gospels state that John baptised Jesus shortly after Jesus presented himself, and they make no indication that John's ministry had ended, even making further references, later in the text, to John the Baptist continuing to have followers that were independent to those of Jesus.
John's imprisonment and beheading
John the Baptist's public ministry was suddenly brought to a close — after about six months — when he was cast into prison by Herod Antipas, whom he had reproved for taking his brother Philip's wife Herodias (Luke 3:19). Herod had married Herodias contrary to the Mosaic Law and this was vehemently protested by John, leading to his arrest. Even though Herod wanted to kill John, he was afraid of the people, whom regarded John as a prophet. When Herod made an oath in the presence of his guests to reward Heorodias' daughter for the excellence of her dancing before the crowd, it provided an excuse to murder John. Herod promised to grant Heorodias' daughter whatever she might ask.
Prompted by her mother, she requested the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
"And she went out, and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptiser." And she came in immediately with haste to the king, and asked, saying " I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." Mark 6:24-26
Herod complied for under the Law he was bound by his oath.
John was imprisoned in the Machaerus fortress on the southern extremity of Peraea, nine miles east of the Dead Sea. Here he was beheaded around 31 C.E. or early 32 C.E. His disciples, after consigning his headless body to the grave, told Jesus all that had occurred.(Matt. 14:3-12) John's death apparently came just before the third Passover of Jesus' ministry.
The Gospels do not say where John was buried. In the time of Julian the Apostate, however, his tomb was shown at Samaria, where the inhabitants opened it and burned part of his bones. The rest were saved by some Christians, who carried them to an abbot of Jerusalem named Philip. Shia Muslim tradition maintains that the head of John the Baptist is interred in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.
See: www.syriagate.com/Syria/about/cities/Damascus/umayyad.htm
In later times, it was said that the Knights Templar also had possession of the head of St. John. [1]
Jewish Views of John the Baptist
John the Baptist is not recognized as a prophet in Judaism. However, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (38-100 C.E.) in Jewish Antiquities book 18, chapter 5, paragraph 2 records the following view of John the Baptist:
- Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now when [many] others came in crowds about him, for they were very greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure to him. (Whiston Translation) [1]
From the context, it would seem that in Josephus's account John was executed around 36 c.e.. Divergences between Josephus's presentation and the Biblical account of John include the following:
- John's Baptism is not for the repentance of sins, as opposed to Mark 1:4.
- John is executed to prevent "mischief," rather than to please Herod's wife's daughter.
- Jesus is not mentioned in relation to the Baptist.
Josephus's passage is quoted by Origen in Contra Celsum in the early third century, and again by Eusebius of Caesarea in the fourth century.
Prophecies Pointing to John the Baptist in the Hebrew Scriptures
Malachi
The book of Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament canon and the last book of the Neviim (prophets) section in the Jewish editions. Malachi 3:1 reads: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts."
Most Jews, whether in the times after Malachi or in modern times, look for a messenger to prepare to way of the Lord immediately before his coming. The long succession of prophets finds it’s ending in Malachi, and the concluding words of the book of Malachi, subjoined with an admonition to remember the law of Moses, import that the next prophet would be the messenger or forerunner of the Messiah. Christians believe John the Baptist was the forerunner or precursor to the Messiah.
Isaiah
The Biblical passage that is commonly read by Christians as a prophecy of John the Baptist is Isaiah 40:3-5 which states:
- A voice cries out in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
It is this Biblical passage that is cited in the Gospel of Matthew 3:3 as an allusion to John's work in the wilderness prior to the baptism of Jesus.
John the Baptist in Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox teach that John was the last of the Old Testament prophets, thus serving as a bridge figure between that period of revelation and Jesus. They also embrace a tradition that, following his death, John descended into Hell and there once more preached that Jesus the Messiah was coming.
The Eastern Orthodox Church remembers Saint John the Forerunner on six separate feast days, listed here in order of the church year which begins on September 1:
- September 23 - Conception of St. John the Forerunner
- January 7 - The Commemoration of St. John the Forerunner (main feast day, immediately after Epiphany on January 6)
- February 24 - First and Second Finding of the Head of St. John the Forerunner
- May 25 - Third Finding of the Head of St. John the Forerunner
- June 24 - Birth of St. John the Forerunner
- August 29 - The Beheading of St. John the Forerunner
The Roman Catholic Church remembers St. John the Baptists on two separate feast days:
- June 24 The Birth of St. John
- August 29 The Decollation (Beheading) of St. John
St John's parents are commemorated on the day the Eastern Church celebrates his conception.
- September 23 Zechariah and Elisabeth, parents of St John, the Lord's Precursor.
John the Baptist as a patron saint
Saint John the Baptist is the patron saint of French Canada. The Canadian cities of Saint John, New Brunswick and St. John's, Newfoundland were both named in honor of Saint John. His feast day is June 24, celebrated in Quebec as the Fête nationale du Québec.
He is also counted as the Patron of the Knights Hospitaller of Jerusalem.
Mandaean view
Mandaeans believe John the Baptist, called "Yahya" in the "Sidra d-Yahia" (Book of John), was the last and greatest of the prophets. While Mandaeans agree that he baptized Jesus (Yeshu), they reject the latter as either a saviour or prophet, viewing John as the only true Messiah.
According to the text of the Ginza Rabba, John died at the hand of an angel. The angel appeared as a three-year-old child, coming to John for baptism. John knew the angel for what it was, and that once he touched its hand, he would die immediately. John performed the baptism, anyway, and died in the process. Afterwards, the angel covered John's body with mud.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Latter-day Saints believe that John the Baptist appeared in Pennsylvania, as a resurrected being, to Joseph Smith, Jr. and Oliver Cowdery on 15 May 1829, and gave them the Aaronic Priesthood. They also believe that John's ministry was foretold by two prophets in the Book of Mormon: Lehi (1 Nephi 10:7-10) and his son, Nephi (1 Nephi 11:27; 2 Nephi 31:4-18).
External links
- Catholic Enclopedia on John the Baptist
- Greek Orthodox web site's page on John the Baptist
- First and Second Finding of the Head of John the Baptist (Greek Orthodox)
- Third Finding of the Head of John the Baptist (Greek Orthodox)
- Jewish Encyclopedia: John the Baptist
- The Witness of John the Baptist
- John the Baptist historical person
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- ↑ Eccl. lib. iii. cap. 3 Chronic. Alex, p.686)
