SermonStudio

John the Baptist was born to bear witness that Jesus was the
Christ. (John 1:6-8) Like Jeremiah before him, while he was yet
in the womb the Almighty anointed him to prepare the way of
salvation for Israel. (Jeremiah 1:4-5; Luke 1:13-17) And what a
dramatic witness he made. For he came to his calling as if he
were the last of the Old Testament prophets. (Luke 16:16)
Certainly, he must have looked the part the day he burst from the
bare Judean hills -- his long hair streaming, his black eyes
blazing -- to proclaim to the world that the long-awaited Messiah
had come. (Matthew 3:1-3)

I
Here was no "reed shaken by the wind." (Matthew 11:7) Here was
a herald who had come unscathed through the austerity of the
desert with lightning bolts scoring crags above his head,
sandstorms lashing hapless travelers, brigands pouncing on unwary
victims, and death in the guise of vipers lurking behind every
rock. Moreover, when the moment for action had struck, whatever
its nature, he seized it with the tenacity of a hawk snatching
its prey, pinioning its challenge with a moral judgment as
piercing as that bird's talons.
Undoubtedly such a passion for the spiritual on John's part
stemmed from his earliest days. For both his father, Zechariah,
and his mother, Elizabeth, were priests of the order of Aaron, a
lineage of no lesser distinction.
At the same time, however, for reasons of his own, John had
not followed in their footsteps. Instead, he had taken to the
desert to prepare himself for a lifetime of witnessing and while
there he had met other men who, like himself, were searching its
solitude for the key to more significant lives.

Strong personality that John was it did not take him long to
band them together in the cause of righteousness and, returning
with them, to travel the countryside evangelizing. And so
effectively did he and his men do so that "Jerusalem and all
Judea" were baptized by him in the Jordan. (Matthew 3:5) But in
the process John performed the sacred rite for none until he was
assured their commitments were genuine. (cf. Matthew 3:7-10)

II
Cousins, (Luke 1:36) Jesus and John had grown up together.
Accordingly, they had long shared a close relationship. In all
likelihood, as with most childhood companions, they must have
constantly run in and out of one another's houses munching tasty
morsels fresh from their mothers' mud ovens or hunkered down side
by side over some fishing hole, jointly displaying their catches
with pride. How often, too, their chores done, the two of them
must have joined the village children at play until some sulking
youngster put an end to their games. (Luke 7:32)
Youthful experiences have a way of sealing the bonds binding
one heart to another. So it was no coincidence Jesus was there
when John came down to the Jordan preaching his gospel of
repentance.
What surprised John was not Jesus' presence at the start of
his ministry, but that the Master asked to be baptized. At first,
knowing Jesus as intimately as he did, John protested. "I need to
be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" he asked, (Matthew
3:13) thereby bearing open witness to the multitude that a
greater person than he stood in their midst. The very thought of
baptizing Jesus was awesome to him. Yet neither could John bring
himself to deny the Master's request. Mulling it over later,
however, he came to see it was Jesus' way of identifying with him
(cf. Hebrews 4:15) and to have had even a small part in such a
magnificent gesture was glory enough for anyone.

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Meanwhile Israel's Tetrarch, a man named Herod Antipas, was
becoming increasingly agitated over what he saw developing. For
not only had Jesus' presence among the people been a disturbing
factor to him, now John the Baptist was stirring them up too with
his fiery preaching. Thus, to Herod the makings of a revolution
were present and he must take decisive steps to quell it in the
bud. Not knowing where else to start he sent a deputation of
priests and Levites to check John out. Was John himself the
Christ, Herod wanted to know. (John 1:24)

III
The deputation's very question provided John with a perfect
opportunity to witness for Jesus, and he was quick to pounce upon
it. Speaking in a voice all could hear he replied, "Among you
stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the
thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." (John 1:19-27)
At this late date John's words sound innocuous enough. But
actually they constituted a bold witness to the Lord in the
presence of potentially ruthless enemies. For they cut across the
highest levels of Israel's status-conscious society, as a third
century rabbi's instruction clearly indicates when he tells his
coterie of young men, "Every service which a slave performs for
his master a pupil will do for his teacher, except unloosing his
shoe."
To Herod's emissaries John's reply was a full and unqualified
commitment to Jesus, exalting him even above a ruler bent on
preserving his prestige and power regardless of whomever he must
destroy to do so or whatever price he must pay for it.
Nor did John's witness end there. At times, as he readily
understood, one is called upon to witness to his own, not always
the easiest witness to bear, but none the less vital than any
other. Thus, John was not surprised when his followers began to
ply him with questions about Jesus.

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To the chagrin of those who had joined ranks with John, Jesus
was drawing larger crowds than he, exciting their jealousy. It
could have been a vexing moment for any man. But not for John.
Instead, he seized the situation to undergird the commitments of
his followers by apprising them of his place in God's plan,
assuring them that all was going according to a heavenly design.
After all, was not John the forerunner sent to prepare the way
while Jesus was the Messiah whose advent John was appointed of
heaven to announce? Thus, was it not his divine mandate to make
ready the way for the Lord's preeminence? And that being so, must
it not follow that "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John
3:25-30) In short, did not the very increase in Jesus' ranks
prove John was doing what God had sent him into the world to do?
It was the testimony of a prophet made with the forthrightness
of a prophet. Moreover, it was a testimony drawn from years of
sharing experiences with Jesus as the two of them had grown up
together. For had not Jesus opened his innermost thoughts to John
in days long flown as they had sat beside a favorite fishing hole
or thrilled to the dancing of lilies of the field in the wind?
Nor could John have associated so long with Jesus, "who knew
what was in man," (John 2:25) without coming to possess some
measure of such knowledge himself. Thus, it is little wonder
others listened when John spoke about Jesus. As Charles Francis
Potter reminds us, "All the gospel writers agree that what
started each out on his public ministry was the preaching of John
the Baptist."
John did not limit his witness to words, however. Instead, he
confirmed it by directing to the Master the latter's first two
disciples. (John 1:35-37)

IV
It was only a short time, however, until the skein ran out for
John. Undoubtedly, there were two reasons for it.

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First of all, as John's followers multiplied, Herod Antipas
became increasingly uneasy. For he saw in John's growing numbers
the threat of an insurrection.
The concern was not totally groundless, not because John was
politically minded but because the times in general were
uncertain marked as they were with numerous uprisings stemming
from various messianic claims. Consequently, so far as Herod saw
John's activities, far from being spiritually motivated, they
were openly seditious, and with the crowds attracting larger and
larger numbers to John, the Tetrarch felt he must take drastic
action before John snatched Galilee from his control. Indeed the
very thought of that happening made him shudder. John, he told
himself, must be silenced before the unthinkable could come to
pass by way of a rebellion John might spark.
In the second place, by scouring the region with his call for
repentance, John was fast becoming Herod's conscience with
nowhere to hide from it by day or by night. It was enough to
drive one mad and somehow, the Tetrarch told himself, he must
find a way to rid himself of it.
Meanwhile, however, Herod involved himself in a scandal with
his brother's wife. It was customary for local administrators at
Antipas' level to pay ceremonial visits periodically to the
emperor. The occasion might be any significant occurrence at
court. On one of these official trips -- perhaps a death in
Tiberius' family -- Herod accepted his brother Philip's gracious
invitation as house guest, then promptly rewarded the fraternal
hospitality by stealing Philip's wife, Herodias.
True to form, John denounced Herod for his immorality. Nor did
he do so from afar. Rather, he charged the lecherous ruler with
his sin to his face. (Mark 6:17-18) It was more than Antipas
could bear. So, goaded on by his partner in the sordid affair --
and tricked into making her an infamous promise -- he had John
beheaded. (Mark 6:19-29)
It was an act to haunt Herod day and night. For try as he may
he could not blot the horror of his deed from his mind. So
persistently did it pursue him, in fact, that when Jesus swept

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into Galilee to take up the work John's witness had prepared for
him Herod was terrified at the thought John had returned from the
dead to wreak vengeance upon him. (Luke 9:7)

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