JOHN FACES DOWN THE PHARISEES AND PROCLAIMS THE COMING MESSIAH

JOHN FACES DOWN THE PHARISEES AND PROCLAIMS THE COMING MESSIAH

John and the Pharisees, Public Domain

Matthew 3:7-12, Mark 1:7-8 and Luke 3:7-18

We Christians have learned of Baptism in the church and some have heard about it all their life. Most people in America are familiar with the practice, even if they don’t go to church. And we tend to think of it as very Christian. It is easy to grow up thinking of John the Baptist doing some new radical thing of his own design. But it was actually a very old, and very Jewish, practice by the time Yochanon ben Zechariah (John son of Zechariah) came along.

It had its roots in the purification and cleansing rituals given in the Law of Moses (Exodus 19:10; Leviticus 8:6; Leviticus 16:4; Numbers Chaper19 and Numbers 31:21-24). Beyond the Scriptures, baptism as a practice became part of Jewish tradition long before the New Testament and was a key ingredient of the Mikveh, the conversion rites to become a Jew. This was tevillah, the complete immersion of the convert’s body in a pool of water. Contemporary with the times of Jesus were arguments over the importance of Baptism recorded between the rabbinic schools of Shammai and Hillel. (The Hillelites prevailed in the end.)

In the 12^th century, the Jewish Scholar Maimonides, wrote of the Talmudic tradition:

"By three things did Israel enter into the Covenant: by circumcision, and baptism and sacrifice. Circumcision was in Egypt, as it is written: 'No uncircumcised person shall eat thereof' (Exodus 12:48) (NIV). Baptism was in the wilderness, just before giving of the Law, as it is written: 'Sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes' (Exodus 19:10) (NIV). And sacrifice, as it is said: 'And he sent young men of the children of Israel which offered burnt offerings' (Exodus 24:5) (NIV). …When a gentile is willing to enter the covenant…He must be circumcised and be baptized and bring a sacrifice…And at this time when there is no sacrifice, they must be circumcised and be baptized; and when the Temple shall be built, they are to bring a sacrifice…The gentile that is made a proselyte and the slave that is made free, behold he is like a child new born. [Emphasis mine –LEM]"

Therefore, what John was doing wasn’t entirely strange to the Jews. Submersion in water represented a change of soul and rebirth to the Jew. It was a commitment to a new life and a preparation for life with a reborn spirit and fresh eyes. It was a step toward reaching a higher plane toward God, purification, a cleansing away of the sins and old life. This was just what John was offering, much as great evangelists offer the Gospel in the present age. John the Baptist was the Billy Graham of his day.

It isn’t surprising Pharisees and Sadducees would come out to see the phenomena. Note that they did not condemn John or claim he was breaking any of the Law or traditions, as they were to accuse Jesus of doing on several occasions. They must have been somewhat taken back by his greeting (“You brood of vipers!)”, though.

But when he [John] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, he said unto them. “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say and think not to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham to our father’: for I say to you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

“And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

It is worthy of note here that many of these allusions will reappear in parables and talks given by Jesus in his own ministry: brood of vipers, producing fruit, stones, cutting down of nonproductive trees to be thrown in the fire. The same as with John’s answer ("The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.") to their question, with prefigures part of the Sermon on the Mount.

And the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?”

He answered and said to them, “He that has two coats, let him impart to him that has none; and he that has meat, let him do likewise.”

Then came also publicans [contractors who hired out to Rome as tax collectors, suppliers to the military, overseers of public building projects and collectors of port fees] to be baptized, and said to him, “Master, what shall we do?”

And he said to them, “Exact no more than that which is appointed you.”

And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, “And what shall we do?”

And he said to them, “Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.”

And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he was the Christ, or not.

This too was not unexpected. People knew the prophesies of a coming messiah, and because of certain prophesies, especially those of Daniel, they were looking for the Messiah at this particular time. There were a number of false Messiahs in and about all ready. What they failed to understand was the two rolls of the Messiah and the two comings. John was here to prepare the way for the first coming.

John answered, saying to them all and this was his message, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance”. And preached, saying “But one that comes after is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, and whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather his wheat into his garner, but he will burn up the chaff with fire unquenchable.”

And many other things in his exhortation preached he to the people.

 What is John talking about when he says, “whose fan is in his hand…etc.”?

His illustration would have been under stood as it was a common practice of those times in the process of harvested grain. Some translation use “winnowing fork” in place of fan, but it could be a basket, such as the one in the illustration that has a fan like shape. This was used for wind winnowing. The winnower would toss the wheat into the air and the wind would blow away the lighter chaff or non-edible grain away from the good wheat. Chaff, the worthless grain, would become a synonym for anything useless or worthless. This worthless chaff would be swept up and burned. 

(Painting: “The Winnower”, 1847-48 by Jean-Francois Millet).

JOHN THE BAPTIST DENIES BEING THE CHRIST

John the Baptist, an iconic painting from the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai and dated to the 6th Century.

Autumn 26 A.D

Bethany Beyond the Jordan

No one knows exactly where this “Bethany beyond the Jordan” was. There are strong arguments for two proposed sites. One places it closer to the Sea of Galilee while the other places it closer to the Dead Sea opposite Jericho. I favor the location nearer the Dead Sea for several reasons. One is the proximity to Jerusalem. It would seem more logical that John the Baptist was baptizing in this area. It also places the site of this “Bethany beyond the Jordan” at the place where Elijah ascended to Heaven in a whirlwind. This would have ties to the statement that John the Baptist was in the spirit of the Elijah to come. Another reason is the timing of Jesus’ movements at the death of Lazarus. Messengers came to Jesus with news of Lazarus’s illness. Jesus tarried two days before saying to his disciples they would travel to the Bethany of Mary and Martha, which is about two miles from Jerusalem. When Jesus arrives in the Bethany of Mary and Martha, he is told Lazarus has been dead four days. It is a day’s journey from the alleged Bethany beyond the Jordan site to the Bethany of Martha and Mary.  Thus, a massager took a day to arrive and inform Jesus that Lazarus was ill. Jesus waited two days and then took a day to travel to the grave – four days. 

Now another difficulty with places here is in the King James Version it is not translated as Bethany, but as Bethabara. No one knows where Bethabara was either. Ancient villages, towns and cities have ways of disappearing from history. They could disappear because of some disaster or, in many cases, because different peoples occupied the area over time and the names changed. Therefore, if we accept the King James translation, it is possible that Bethabara is not a place, but a location. Bethabara means “house of the ford, a place on the east”.  So when it is said John was baptizing at “Bethabara beyond the Jordan” it is possible it means John was baptizing at a place east beyond the Jordan or at a ford of the Jordan, it may be there were multiple such locations where John plied his trade.

However, the oldest extent manuscripts have the name Bethany, not Bethabara and the statement “at Bethany beyond the Jordan” would indicate the author did not want this place confused with the Bethany of Martha and Mary. As a result, we have had many arguments over the centuries of where this Bethany is and whether the name Bethany was a corruption of some other name of similar sound. I think we need to be careful not to get too absorbed in trying to figure out where a place was located when no one knows rather than concentrating on the events and their import. 

John the Baptist was six months older than his cousin Jesus, but this does not mean John started his own ministry when he was thirty years old too. John could have begun his preparing of the way several years before Jesus came to be Baptized and he could have moved up and down along the Jordan during that time to reach more people. 

(We will discuss locations and distances a bit more when we come to the Wedding at Cana passage.)

John 1:15-34

John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, “This was he of whom I spoke, He that comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.” (Reference Luke 3:16, Matthew 3:11 and Mark 1:7.) And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”

And he said, “I am not.” 

“Are you that prophet?”

And he answered, “No.”

Then said they to him, “Who are you that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What say you of yourself?”

He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah.” (Isaiah 40:3--“A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare 
the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”)

And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said to him, “Why baptize you then, if you be not that Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet?”

John answered them saying, “I baptize with water: but there stands one among you, whom you know not. He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”

These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

There is an interesting, and perhaps confusing, exchange between John and the groups who came to question him. First, it is not clear how many different groups came or how often. The opening of this passage would indicate it was a recurring dialogue. John has not been shy in crying out that Jesus was the one he had meant would come after him. It would then appear that some priests and members of the priestly tribe came and questioned him on at least one occasion.  It is also clear a higher authority, probably the Sanhedrin, sent them.

Why did they come? I would think for two reasons. One, they were curious about this fellow who was drawing such crowds and two, they knew the Scriptures and were looking for the Messiah, perhaps John was he. (Remember the Scripture told us the people were already asking that question.) John pretty quickly put it to rest that he was not the Messiah.

So why did they ask him if he was Elijah?

Because they knew Malachi had prophesied that God would send Elijah back before the Messiah. 

"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." Malachi 4:5-6 (NIV)

Perhaps then John was actually Elijah, but John says he isn’t. This is true. John came in “the spirit of Elijah”. He is a type of Elijah and he was preparing the way for the Messiah, but for the first coming, not the ”great and dreadful day of the Lord”, which refer to the second coming. However, the prophesy in Malachi does apply to both. 

In the latter days, Elijah will return and Israel’s sons will have their hearts turned to God the Father and to Jesus as the Messiah at last. But John came as Elijah preparing the hearts to receive Jesus as the Messiah and they did not receive. As a result, God did strike the land with a curse and the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD and the Jews were scattered to the four corners of the world.

Yet, they didn’t stop with that question. They asked a third, “Are you The Prophet?” John was indeed a prophet, the last Old Testament style prophet, but he was not The Prophet. So, who was The Prophet?

The Muslims will tell you this was Mohammad. I will tell you it was not. The Prophet was Christ. Now, how can that be? Why would they ask if he was The Christ and then ask if he was The Prophet when he denied being Christ? This is because they didn’t understand the prophesy of The Prophet anymore than they understood there would be two appearances of the Messiah. 

Moses in Deuteronomy 17 and 18 speaks of the King, the priests and the prophet, the three-in-one posts fulfilled in Christ. Moses says:

The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die." Deuteronomy 18:14-16 (NIV)

What did the Israelites ask? Well, they feared if they heard the voice of God speaking to them they would die and so they asked Moses to be a mediator between God and them. This Prophet who Moses speaks of will be a mediator between God and us, another position fulfilled in Christ.

The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, ‘After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me’. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.”

And John bare record, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, ‘Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost’. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.”

(See my comments in the section on Jesus’ Baptism regarding John’s comment, “I myself did not know him…etc.”)