Read John 1:6-8, 19-28 with your family.

We met John the Baptist in the reading from Mark last week. This week we have the same story from the Gospel of John. The difference between the two is that in John, the leaders from the Temple traveled out from Jerusalem to see John at the Jordan River and ask him who he was, and if he was the long awaited messenger or the Messiah.

In the days of Jesus, many Hebrew people, encouraged by the Scribes and Pharisees, believed the Messiah would come and save the people (those who sided with the Sadducees did not believe in a Messiah). So they asked John if he was the Messiah. John surprised them by saying the Messiah was already alive and living among the people, and as we know later in the Gospel of John, had already been visiting the Temple.

Then the Scribes asked two interesting questions, they asked if he was Elijah or ‘the prophet’, meaning Moses. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Moses was supposed to announce the coming of the Messiah, and Elijah – who did not die but was taken alive to heaven – was supposed to return to tell the people to get ready because the time was now.

John saying he was neither a returned Moses or a returned Elijah would have confused the Scribes and Pharisees.