The voice of one crying in the wilderness

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may have an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" He said,

"I am

'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

"Make straight the way of the Lord,"'

as the prophet Isaiah said."

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose." These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

- John 1:19-28

In yesterday's reading (In the beginning) we read the beginning of John's Gospel, called the Prologue, an important Easter Sunday reading in many branches of the Church. Its theological substance taught us of the divine identity of Jesus, his relationship to the Father, and his Incarnation in the world. Today the lectionary cycle continues further into John's Gospel, and we begin Jesus' story with John the Baptist. The next few readings cover four successive days in which John baptizes, interacts with his disciples, and introduces them to Jesus. After that Jesus chooses his first disciples.

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." So important is John the Baptist as an early figure that we establish his identity right away. He is not the Christ. We recall that many of Jesus' earliest disciples and Apostles will come from the ranks of John the Baptist's disciples. Even to this day in the region of the Middle East in which John the Evangelist lived, there are pockets of people in villages in which John the Baptist is the central figure they follow in religious worship. One can imagine the importance of his figure at the time of the early church. John was a tremendously charismatic teacher; we are repeatedly told in the Gospels that he was considered a prophet by the common people and held in high regard among them.

And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." My study bible notes here that "the Baptist is a prophet, but not the Prophet, the messianic Moses-like figure expected by the Jews (Deut. 18:15,18)." So, by these questions we have established just who John the Baptist is not. Let us find out who he is.

Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may have an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" He said, "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the Lord," ' as the prophet Isaiah said." The quotation from Isaiah is in verse 40:3. John the Baptist declares himself a herald - as he is called in many parts of the church, a Forerunner. John is proclaiming the One who is to come, calling all to repentance in preparation for this event. He is a prophet in fulfillment of prophecy, proclaiming fulfillment of prophecy.

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. We must remember the time when John's Gospel was written: all events have already unfolded, and Jesus' followers are being violently persecuted and driven from the temples. The Pharisees were the group that, from the Christian perspective, refused repentance. As my study bible puts it, "they see neither Jesus as the light (verse 26) nor the Father whom He revealed (John 8:19). Practicing external religion, they lack inward enlightenment." So, the perspective introduced in John's Gospel from its very inception - that Jesus is the Christ, the Light of Light, is something we understand that the Pharisees, John the Baptist's questioners, will not see, and will reject for themselves.

And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose." These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. John is preaching a repentance in preparation for the revelation of Messiah, the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. His repentance is practiced with a baptism of water - but the One who is to come will baptize with the Spirit. Already John the Baptist is hinting of the greater power that is coming. I find it really interesting that St. Paul will preach the same words in Athens, among the Hellenistic world (in the language of which will come these Gospels to all the world), when he proclaims Jesus as the One they worship which is unknown to them.

In some ways, despite 2,000 years of the Church, Jesus is still the One whom we do not know. Of course, we know him very well through these Books, the Gospels. We know him very well through the Church and all its branches and institutions. There is no more powerful figure in the world than that of Jesus. As far as I can see, it matters not even what religion people follow in this sense that Jesus remains a tremendously charismatic figure in all the populations of the world. He continues to draw all people toward him - and yet, Jesus remains the One whom we do not know, because this relationship with Christ runs too deeply into the reality of who we are as creatures to be fully known. It is something that, no matter where you are on the road of faith in Christ, you will keep on going forward with new things to learn. I find that this journey is never over, and we do well to understand the Mystery of the One whom, in some sense anyway, we do not know. Jesus is a figure who not only takes in who we are as a people who follow him, who call ourselves Christians, but he includes that which we do not know as well. He remains for us the outside figure, that declares to us spiritual freedom we have not yet fully learned, spiritual truth we have yet to grasp, the outsider we have yet to embrace in love. Jesus will always remain for us the friend we must come to know better, whose depth of relationship within us has room to grow, and more - his future with us will always be beyond our own vision. Let us consider this today, then, as we begin to delve further into John's Gospel. That great light that John proclaims comes into the world is Light from Light, and points to the true Light. That journey for us will never end, as we walk toward the Light, with Him.