John the Baptist

Kids Korner: Listen for the message (December 7th)

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Read Matthew 3:1-12 with your family.

On the second and third Sundays of Advent we spend time with John the Baptist. In the Gospel of Luke, we are told Jesus and John are cousins, but there is no story telling us that in the Gospel of Matthew. If we go by what Matthew says, they two men did not know each other in person, just by reputation.

In this story John comes into Jerusalem ready to tell people about the Messiah – which means the “anointed” one, or chosen one who will rescue them from their sad situation under Roman occupation. The people who had power in the Hebrew community of Jerusalem, namely Pharisees and Sadducees, did not want John to deliver his message, so they tried to shut him down. John got really mad at them and called them a “brood of vipers”, which means a group of poisonous snakes.

John was trying to tell them that no matter how rich they were or what kind of power they had in the temple or with the Roman government, they would be judged by their behaviour and how much they follow the teachings of love and sharing that John was teaching.

John knew Jesus would be coming to teach everyone about the way God wanted them to live, and giving excuses that they worked for the temple did not matter at all.

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Are the Scriptures lying to us?

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In the first few centuries, those in educational leadership in the church tried to conflate or harmonize the Scriptures. In this past century Biblical scholars have been trying to untie those assumptions. So what does that really mean?

I was chatting with someone this week who asked why in the Gospel of John, John the Baptist pretended to not know Jesus, when we all know he was Jesus’ cousin. Interesting question, and takes a little bit to unpack. This blog post will only look at one of many characters than need attention, however, the first answer is no, the Scriptures are not lying to us.

The early church tried to line up all the Gospels, and where they did not line up well, they were forced to line up so the same story was assumed across all four Gospels. The problem is, all four Gospels were written by different people – unknown to us, and only given names because of this harmonizing process by the early church – and were written in different locations around Galilee and Israel in the first century of the Common Era (CE).

Mark was first, written around the time of the destruction of the second temple, so either just before or just after 70 CE (I am more convinced of the argument that it was just before). He was telling a narrative in the Greek tradition of playwriting that expected the audience to complete the final act either in their imagination or through action. If you look at the end of Mark you can see the story just stops, but at two different times others tried to add on endings, one to mirror Luke, and another that has confused scholars ever since.

Matthew came next, somewhere around 80 CE, and he was raised in the Hebrew tradition. No other Gospel has as many references to Hebrew Scriptures or practices as Matthew.

Luke followed around 90 CE. He was once considered to be a doctor because of all the healing stories included. Modern scholars have decided he was not a doctor, but was probably the earliest historian of Jesus, at a time when no one was really an historian like we understand them today, Luke just used better material to tell his story. Luke is written in the most elevated Greek, which suggests he might have been a convert to Christianity.

These three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are known as the Synoptic Gospels or storytelling Gospels. They have many stories in common, but each is told with differing details. Even the story of the nativity, which today is told as one story, is told differently in the Gospels. Mark doesn’t have it, Matthew had the wisemen and star, and Luke had the angels and shepherds.

The Gospel of John is completely different. While the Synoptic Gospels gradually reveal that Jesus was the Messiah, John comes out of the gate proclaiming this truth, and then spends the entirety of the Gospel proving it like Jesus was on trial. Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus is big and bold and never hides, unlike the Synoptics where Jesus is always trying to slip away or go unnoticed.

If we prioritize Luke, John the Baptist and Jesus were cousins. But that is the only Gospel that tells us they are related. In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist had never met Jesus but he did have a conversion experience and then became a messenger of God. Mark and Matthew have John the Baptist as the wild man living in the desert, a reference to Isaiah’s prophecy.

Same person, three different backstories, all telling us about a person who told others to prepare, Jesus was coming.

So are the Scriptures lying? No. We have to look at each Gospel as a stand alone story.

Kids Korner: Jesus is baptized (January 12th)

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Read Luke 3:15-15, 21-22 with your family.

Do you remember your baptism? Have you been baptized? What even is baptism?

For Christians, baptism is the time we officially join the family of Jesus followers. It is a ceremony that can either have water sprinkled over our head, or our full body dunked in water. It can be in a church or outside in a river. It can happen when we are babies or not until we are fully grown. There is no right way to do baptism, there is only the traditions in the faith community in which we are raised.

Baptism is an old Greek word that means to “cover yourself with water”. In Jesus day it was the practice of Hebrew people to wash themselves before they went into the temple to pray. They believed almost everyone was “unclean” so they went into special baths to get “clean” before they could worship God.

One group, known as the Essenes, washed themselves every single day, and we think John the Baptist was one of the Essenes.

For Jesus’ baptism, he was outside in a river. John the Baptist (named that because we read in the Bible that he baptized Jesus), was helping people get that ceremonial cleaning all while telling them that one was coming soon who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. John was talking about Jesus. But before Jesus could baptize others, he wanted to be baptized himself, probably to show that he was an ordinary person just like everyone else, even if he was also the Messiah.

When Jesus came out of the water that very Holy Spirit came upon him, and ever after Jesus’ baptism, that means one cleaning ritual, a single ceremony of baptism was all anyone needed. Unlike the Hebrew tradition, for the Jesus followers, they only had to be baptized once.

Today we still only need to be baptized once, and the words “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” are said to remind us what family of faith we are now a part.

Sunday Reflection – Advent III, December 15, 2024

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Baptize with the Holy Spirit

Luke 3 7  Crowds of people came out to be baptized, but John said to them, “You bunch of snakes! Who warned you to run from the coming judgment? 8  Do something to show that you really have given up your sins. Don’t start saying you belong to Abraham’s family. God can turn these stones into children for Abraham. 9  An ax is ready to cut the trees down at their roots. Any tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire.”

10 The crowds asked John, “What should we do?”

11 John told them, “If you have two coats, give one to someone who doesn’t have any. If you have food, share it with someone else.”

12  When tax collectors came to be baptized, they asked John, “Teacher, what should we do?”

13 John told them, “Don’t make people pay more than they owe.”

14 Some soldiers asked him, “And what about us? What do we have to do?”

John told them, “Don’t force people to pay money to make you leave them alone. Be satisfied with your pay.”

15 Everyone became excited and wondered, “Could John be the Messiah?”

16 John said, “I am just baptizing with water. But someone more powerful is going to come, and I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 His threshing fork is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks. He will store the wheat in his barn and burn the husks with a fire that never goes out.”

18 In many different ways John preached the good news to the people. 

Kids Korner: Meeting John the Baptist (December 15th)

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Read Luke 3:7-18 with your family.

John had been wandering around the countryside teaching about the new world of God before Jesus started his ministry. Many people thought John must be the Messiah, the chosen one, but he constantly told them that someone else was coming, someone who as more special than John believed himself to be.

In today’s story John describes how Jesus will treat everyone, and how Jesus will challenge everyone. John knew Jesus would make some people very happy and some quite angry, and John was not about to tell it differently. He knew Jesus would be talking hard truths to folks, and that following the teachings of Jesus meant people had to change their behaviour and share with each other. That would be the start of God’s world being built properly.

Sunday Reflection – Advent II, December 8, 2024

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Prepare the Way

Luke 3 For 15 years Emperor Tiberius had ruled that part of the world. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was the ruler of Galilee. Herod’s brother, Philip, was the ruler in the countries of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was the ruler of Abilene. 2 Annas and Caiaphas were the Jewish high priests.

At that time God spoke to Zechariah’s son John, who was living in the desert. 3 So John went along the Jordan Valley, telling the people, “Turn back to God and be baptized! Then your sins will be forgiven.” 4  Isaiah the prophet wrote about John when he said,

“In the desert
    someone is shouting,
‘Get the road ready
    for the Lord!
Make a straight path
    for him.
5 Fill up every valley
and level every mountain
    and hill.
Straighten the crooked paths
and smooth out
    the rough roads.
6 Then everyone will see
    the saving power of God.’ ”

Kids Korner: Meeting John the Baptist (December 8th)

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Read Luke 3:1-6 with your family.

John the Baptist was a cousin of Jesus, and they had probably visited when they were children and teenagers. They knew each other well. John was the one given the task of telling the world what to experience in Jesus.

In today’s story, John quoted parts of the Hebrew scripture, Isaiah 40, that pointed to Jesus’ coming to make the world a better place for everyone. John knew that the promise of Jesus, the promise of God living among us as a person, was important enough for everyone to pay attention. Through the teachings and life of Jesus, people were going to have a more equal experience. They would know that God really was making good on the promise to ensure life was good for everyone, not just the rich or powerful.

Sunday Reflection – July 14, 2024

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Jesus’ message accepted by strangers but not family friends

Mark 6 14  Jesus became so well-known that Herod the ruler heard about him. Some people thought he was John the Baptist, who had come back to life with the power to work miracles. 15 Others thought he was Elijah or some other prophet who had lived long ago. 16 But when Herod heard about Jesus, he said, “This must be John! I had his head cut off, and now he has come back to life.”

17-18  Herod had earlier married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. But John had told him, “It isn’t right for you to take your brother’s wife!” So, in order to please Herodias, Herod arrested John and put him in prison.

19 Herodias had a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she could not do it 20 because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew that John was a good and holy man. Even though Herod was confused by what John said, he was glad to listen to him. And he often did.

21 Finally, Herodias got her chance when Herod gave a great birthday celebration for himself and invited his officials, his army officers, and the leaders of Galilee. 22 The daughter of Herodias came in and danced for Herod and his guests. She pleased them so much that Herod said, “Ask for anything, and it’s yours! 23 I swear that I will give you as much as half of my kingdom, if you want it.”

24 The girl left and asked her mother, “What do you think I should ask for?”

Her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist!”

25 The girl hurried back and told Herod, “Here and now on a serving plate I want the head of John the Baptist!”

26 Herod was very sorry for what he had said. But he did not want to break the promise he had made in front of his guests. 27 At once he ordered a guard to cut off John’s head there in prison. 28 The guard put the head on a serving plate and took it to the girl. Then she gave it to her mother.

29 When John’s followers learned that he had been killed, they took his body and put it in a tomb.

Sunday Reflection – Advent III, December 17, 2023

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Who is John the Baptist?

John 1 6 God sent a man named John,
7 who came to tell
    about the light
and to lead all people
    to have faith.
8 John wasn’t this light.
He came only to tell
    about the light.

19-20 The religious authorities in Jerusalem sent priests and temple helpers to ask John who he was. He told them plainly, “I am not the Messiah.” 21  Then when they asked him if he were Elijah, he said, “No, I am not!” And when they asked if he were the Prophet, he also said “No!”

22 Finally, they said, “Who are you then? We have to give an answer to the ones who sent us. Tell us who you are!”

23  John answered in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am only someone shouting in the desert, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord!’ ”

24 Some Pharisees had also been sent to John. 25 They asked him, “Why are you baptizing people, if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?”

26 John told them, “I use water to baptize people. But here with you is someone you don’t know. 27 Even though I came first, I am not good enough to untie his sandals.” 28 John said this as he was baptizing east of the Jordan River in Bethany.

Kids Korner: Who was John the Baptist? (Dec. 17th)

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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.