ITLOTC
(In The Life Of The Church)
Pentecost
Some John the Baptist Thoughts
(by Jamie)
Greetings. As you may know, we recently had a dinner to commemorate the Nativity of John the Baptist. As a result, I’ve got John the Baptist on the mind, and wanted to share a couple of observations I shared at that dinner.
First, it’s striking to me how little we talk about John outside of Jesus’ baptism. Have you noticed that his nativity story is intertwined with Jesus’ nativity story? Or that Jesus straight up calls him the greatest man who ever lived? I certainly didn’t notice until I was thinking about the Nativity of John the Baptist as a point on the church calendar.
Anyway.
John’s life was one of singular purpose. When he was born, his father sang a song that featured this bit:
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
I imagine that John grew up hearing some version of this frequently, recommitting himself to this vision time and again. Alongside this lofty forecast of his purpose in the world, John famously had some pretty rigorous rules for living—all the way down to the way he dressed and groomed himself.
As John grew up, he became a force to be reckoned with. The product of two top-tier priestly lineages, he was well positioned to critique the religious leaders of the day, and they seem to have taken the time to go out to the wilderness to listen to him. Even Herod, who would ultimately be the one to execute John, was taken with his passion and rhetorical skill.
Eventually, Jesus found his way out to the wilderness into John’s baptism line. John famously says that he isn’t worthy to baptize Jesus, and then identifies him as the one they’ve been waiting for.
It’s interesting to wonder what John’s life was like after this moment. He had lived in preparation of the one who is to come, and seemingly has just met and baptized him. John still continues his work in the wilderness, apart from Jesus, and maintains his own following of disciples, but we don’t have much insight beyond that.
But we do know that he continued speaking truth to power and calling people to repentance, which eventually got him imprisoned by Herod.
The last story we get about John before he is executed is one that has stayed with me. He sends a group of his disciples to Jesus with a question: are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another? There at the end of a life of singular focus, of seeing Jesus with his very own eyes for who he was, John was raising the question: are you the one?
I don’t have like a profound insight to offer about this. I think it’s just comforting to see such a familiar question on the lips of the one Jesus called the greatest man who ever lived.
And I hope you’ll find comfort in that, too.
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