The voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the LORD"

 

 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 give 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 

 

Yesterday we read what is known as the Prologue of the Gospel according to St. John:   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.   This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came into His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"  And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. 

 

 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."  Here the theological Prologue to John's Gospel has finished with the previous verse (see above), and now the focus of the Gospel turns to the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry.  This begins with the witness of St. John the Baptist (John 1:19-34).  We will in turn read of the calling of the first apostles, the first "sign" (of seven) at Cana, and Christ's rest at Capaernaum (John 1:35-51; 2:1-11; 2:12).  Just as the Gospel began by echoing the words of Genesis, with "In the beginning," so we are given seven days in the beginning of Christ's public ministry.  Today's reading includes the events of the "first day," John the Baptist bears witness to the Light -- that is, the Christ -- in the presence of the Jews.  This parallels the creation of light on the first day, my study Bible says, in Genesis 1:3-5.  

 

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 give 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."  John is a prophet (indeed, he is considered in the Church to be the last and greatest of Old Testament style prophets).  But he is not the Prophet, the Messiah, whose coming was foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).  Describing himself in response to the questioning of the priests and Levites from Jerusalem, John quotes from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3).

 

 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 baptizes for repentance (a traditional call of the prophets), but he does so in preparation for the "One among you whom you do not know."  He points to the Christ, in preparation for Him, but moreover in distinguishing himself from Christ, "whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."  While John baptizes for repentance, Christ's baptism will grant remission of sins; John is preparing the people for this future Christian baptism (see Romans 6:3-11).  My study Bible says that John is a figure of the Law in that, like the Law, he denounced sin but could not remit ("put away") sin.  Both John and the Law point to the One who can remit sin.

 

It's very important that John distinguishes himself from the Christ, for this teaches us both about the roles of saints in the whole of the salvation plan of God, and the singular importance of Christ Himself and His own mission and ministry in the world.  John speaks of himself in relation to the Christ, not simply about himself alone, for in all ways we also are to understand ourselves in relation to Christ.  John is called the Forerunner in the traditions of the various Orthodox Churches, because he plays this distinct and important role in preparing people for the Christ.  Indeed, in the theology of the Eastern Church, John the Baptist is understood to have preceded Christ into Hades, preparing the souls there for Christ as well.  John thus knows both who he is (and the role he is to play), and who Christ is, and clarifies this for all the people.  In his own time, John the Baptist was widely revered and recognized by the people as a holy man, yet he will point his disciples to the Christ, as we will read.  As He says of Christ, His "sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."  For all who will come to believe in Christ, including us of the present day, John significantly teaches humility before Christ, our proper relationship to Christ as servants.  In this way John has served perpetually as a model for monastics, inspiring the earliest forms of monastic life to those of the present time.  He teaches all believers that our identity, our own place in the salvation history of the world, comes in relation to our place in serving Christ, the particular role we might fulfill in this respect in our own lives, in living our faith and thus finding ultimate purpose through Him.  John the Baptist serves as a model for us in this sense as well, in that this is how we both know who we are, and who the Christ is.  There is also a very distinguishing sense of continuity in the story and role of John the Baptist, in that he is the one figure who fulfills the "handover" from the Old Testament to the New, the one who prepares the people for Christ, the Messiah.  John quotes from Isaiah, in a prophesy regarding himself and his role, and reminds us also that for all the Old Testament prophets, the mission was to prepare the people for the Christ, to turn them back to God.  So we today must also be aware of this continuity, for they all have labored for us to know Christ, and to find ourselves in Him as well.  Let us, in our own hearts and lives, "Make straight the way of the LORD," even if at times we may feel ours is also the voice of one crying in the wilderness.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose

 

 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 give 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 

 

Yesterday we read what is termed the "Prologue" to John's Gospel (verses 1-18):   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as receive Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"  And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.   

 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."  Here John's Gospel shifts from the theological Prologue to the stirrings of Christ's ministry.  This ministry begins with the witness of John the Baptist.  The Gospel will the take us to the calling of the first apostles (John 1:35-51), the first "sign" (of seven) given by Christ at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), and then Christ's rest at Capernaum (John 2:12).  My study Bible references John's Gospel starting with the term, "In the beginning" (see above) similarly to the opening of Genesis (Genesis 1:1), as a parallel that will continue through this opening of the Gospel, covering seven days.  On this first day given in today's passage, John the Baptist bears witness to the Light -- the Christ -- in the presence of the Jews from Jerusalem, the priests and Levites who come to inquire about who John is.  This parallels the creation of light on the first day in Genesis 1:3-5.  We will observe the other daily parallels on the following days given of this first week of ministry in John's Gospel. 

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 give 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."  My study Bible comments that John the Baptist is a prophet but not the Prophet, the Messiah, whose coming was foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).   John the Baptist replies to the religious leaders by quoting from the prophesy of Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3).  

 

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's baptism is one of repentance, a traditional call for prophets.  However, it did not grant remission of sins, but it prefigured and prepared people for the baptism of Christ which was to come, my study Bible notes.  (See Romans 6:3-11.)  My study Bible adds that John is a figure of the Law in that, like the Law, he denounced sin but could not remit (literally "put away") sin.  Both John and the Law point to the One who can remit sin.  That is, the One among you whom you do not know, as John says to the Pharisees, the One whom John declares is "is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."

 

 Why do we need preparation for Jesus Christ?  Why was it that John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus Christ among them?  The Jews had long had expectations of the Messiah, but this in itself comes from God's preparation of the world for Christ.  As we can read in the Gospels, so many of those expectations were false or inappropriate to who Jesus truly is and was, and His ministry would be one that would clarify what it was to be "saved" by this Messiah, this Deliverer longed for by Israel.  But preparation is clearly important and essential, else this would not be the way that a salvation plan "for the life of the world" would have unfolded.  John the Baptist is the last in a line of prophets who gave us (and of course, the Jewish people) the word about the Messiah who was to come.  So many of the things that we understand about Jesus, and the titles that are used about Him (such as "Prince of Peace") come from the prophets.  Isaiah writes, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).  In the Jewish literature of the Second Temple period (that is, the centuries prior to the coming of Christ) there is found the Book of Enoch, parts of which make striking references to the figure of Christ as we understand Him.  In Enoch's vision there is with God another being who has the "appearance of a man", whose "face was full of graciousness," who is "the Son of Man who has righteousness, with whom dwells righteousness, and who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden" (see The Book of Enoch, chapter 46).  Our Bibles contain the books of the Old Testament precisely because of this necessary preparation to understand who Christ is, and what is the story of our creation, and the grace of God working throughout our history to call us back, to redeem and to save, from the things that destroy life in this world, so that we understand ourselves and how we are called back toward God and a destiny with this Son of Man (see also Daniel 7:13).  All along, from the patriarchs like Abraham, to the prophets, and now to the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, God has been preparing the people for Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, who will initiate a new age in which we still live as we await His return.  John the Baptist, in his tremendous example of holy humility, says of the Christ, "It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."   Let us, also, receive that for which so much care and grace was taken to prepare us. 

I am "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Make straight the way of the LORD'"

 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 give and 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, "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

Yesterday, we read what is known as the Prologue of John's Gospel:   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"  And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

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 give and 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."  After the Prologue (yesterday's reading, above), John's Gospel shifts to the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry.  It begins with John the Baptist and his mission as herald, the one who is proclaiming the imminence of the Kingdom, telling the people to prepare for the Messiah, through a baptism of repentance.  Naturally, the priests and Levites come to question him, as the leadership will so often do throughout the Gospels, to understand what he is doing and who he claims to be.  The leadership, forming the Council with its parties and functional groups, is a kind of regulatory body of the faith and the community, and their role in the Gospels often seems to be just that, of powerful religious "regulators."  Particularly the Pharisees are seen to actively play this part, and they are the ones who send the priests and Levites to question John the Baptist.    In John's Gospel the term the Jews is used most frequently to mean the body of the leadership, and should be viewed as a kind of political term, as if to indicate a party, rather than all Jewish people.  All of the people in the Gospel, with very few notable exceptions, and including Jesus and John the Evangelist, are Jews.    With today's passage, the theme of the Gospel follows the echo of Genesis heard in the first verse, which starts with the words, "In the beginning."  We are given the first seven days of Jesus' ministry on earth in this first chapter and the beginning of chapter 2.  Today's entire passage covers the first day.  Here John the Baptist bears witness to the Light -- the Christ -- in the presence of the Jews (representatives of the religious leadership) who come from Jerusalem to question him.  This parallels the creation of light on the first day in Genesis 1:3-5.   Here John the Baptist gives his account of himself to the religious authorities, representatives sent by the Council:  He is a prophet but not the Prophet, the Messiah, whose coming Moses foretold (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).  Rather, he gives the picture of himself as the one prophesied by Isaiah, the one crying in the wilderness, who prepares the way for the Messiah.

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, "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's call to repentance in preparation for the day of the Messiah is a traditional one for prophets.  He baptizes for repentance, prefiguring and preparing people for the baptism of Christ which was to come (Romans 6:3-11).  My study bible says that John himself is a figure of the Law in that, like the Law, he denounced sin but could not remit (literally, to "put away") sin.  Both John and the Law point to the One who can remit sin.

Right from the beginning, those who form the start of Jesus' ministry are informed by the Spirit.  They speak of an understanding that the leadership is trying to grasp, but doesn't seem to be prepared for.   John the Baptist is considered by the Church in its tradition as the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets.  All of the prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit, in a mystical lineage sent repeatedly to the people to call them back to God, to repentance, each through their own unique roles in Jewish spiritual history.  But John the Baptist's role is unique in the sense that he is aware that an entirely new kind of baptism is coming, one for which he prepares the people, and one that will be given by the Messiah, the Christ.  This will form a kind of presence and giving of the Holy Spirit that is unprecedented.  Those among the leadership come to question John and to understand what he is doing, what role he thinks he plays.  Like Jesus' ministry to come, the members of the leadership, sent by the Pharisees, come to play their role as "regulators," questioning and finding out what they deem as lawful or unlawful, authoritative or not authoritative according to their own understanding as experts in the Law.  Also like Jesus' ministry, John the Baptist cuts a hugely impressive figure in his own time.  He was very widely revered as a holy man by the people, and many of Christ's first disciples will come from the ranks of disciples of the Baptist, guided by John himself to Jesus.  John fulfills completely the role assigned to him by God, living only for his mission and love of God, eschewing the norms of social life and even propriety, in favor of an extremely ascetic lifestyle of poverty.  Jesus Himself will point out the criticism of the leadership, which condemned John for his extreme asceticism and Jesus for the opposite .  But, as Jesus will reply, "Wisdom is justified by her children" (Matthew 11:18-19).  Let us consider how John the Baptist teaches us about the fullness of sainthood, in which each individual in the story of faith plays to fullness their unique role, and the powerful ways the Holy Spirit -- God at work in the world -- manifests that uniqueness.  The "regulators" come to question each seeming anomaly.  But without each of those unique saints, who seem to burst with the energies of God to make indelible impressions in their own time and place, the picture of faith is not complete, each contributing what is asked by God and fulfilling the possibilities of persona.  Paradoxically, this happens through a radical kind of humility and self-emptying love.  Such is the story for each of us, if we but take on that journey to play our own parts in this Kingdom. 

"Make straight the way of the Lord," as the prophet Isaiah said

 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 give 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, we began reading John's Gospel with what is known as its Prologue:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"  And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

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 give 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 focus of the Gospel shifts from the Prologue, which gave us a sense of who Christ is as Son, and how the Christ became Incarnate as human being in a saving mission for the world.  Now we begin to read in sharp focus about Christ's ministry and its beginnings.  It started with John the Baptist and his witness.  The Gospel itself will give us seven consecutive days, as does Genesis, which is in keeping with the focus of the Prologue and its message of "in the beginning."  Today's reading gives us the first day of Jesus' public ministry, and it must begin with John the Baptist.  He bears witness to the Light -- the Christ -- in the presence of the Jews, the priests and Levites who were sent to question him.  As we read John's Gospel, it is important to remember that the term "the Jews" was by the time of its writing used here most often as a type of political term; it denotes the leadership which was in opposition to the disciples of Christ.  All the people in the Gospel, with few exceptions, are Jews, including John the Baptist, Jesus' disciples, and Jesus Himself -- and that includes the author of the Gospel as well.  These men sent from Jerusalem are like religious regulators, they are the ones with the authority who question John.  John's witness to them parallels the creation of light on the first day in Genesis 1:3-5.  John the Baptist is considered the last and greatest of all the Old Testament type prophets, but he is not "the Prophet," that is, the Messiah whose coming was foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).  John the Baptist quotes from Isaiah 40:3, to teach us about his role in the history of salvation and the story of the Christ.

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.  The Pharisees are an important party of the leadership, the Council.  They will most often form the opposition to Christ and His questioners, but there are also those among them who will be followers of Christ.   The Baptist is asked about Elijah because there was a prophecy that Elijah would return before the Messiah came (Malachi 4:5-6); Jesus will later of say of John that he is Elijah returned in spirit (Matthew 11:11-14).

John's Gospel immediately sets up the vying interests and parties that will play a role in the ministry of Jesus and what is to come.  The religious authorities send those from Jerusalem who question John the Baptist.  What is he doing?  Who is he?  What is his authority to baptize?  Authority will play the key role in the story of Christ and the opposition to His ministry.  Who is the highest authority?  Where does that authority come from?  Over and over again, the story of Christ will point us back to the Source of all authority.  Here, John the Baptist makes an allusion to the power of the Messiah who is to come, and the comparatively weak power of his own baptism in preparation for the Christ.  John baptizes with water for repentance, so that people are prepared to meet the Lord.  It is the way to "'make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."  Hidden behind all things is the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the world, who will play His role in the baptism of Christ that is to come, and the beginning of Jesus' public ministry in the world.  Because of the work of the Spirit (and indeed the Trinity that will be revealed in Christ's baptism), all that we read here is timeless.  It reflects events that happened long ago, but to "make straight the way of the Lord" through repentance remains our number one way of coming to terms with who we are, and becoming the persons that Christ calls us to be.  It is the one way we meet our Lord truly, in the honesty and openness of being called back to the Lord and giving our lives to His will for us.  John prepares the people for the advent of the Messiah, but each of our lives remain that place, with the road within us that needs to be made straight for the way of the Lord.  We give all things over to the power of God, the Spirit that is always with us, at work in the world, to Christ, and to the Father, who may make their way to dwell within us (John 14:23).   What we will find as faithful is that the words are timeless, they are with us now, even as we seek to dwell in the present and resolve our own questions and problems and struggles within us.  "Make straight the way of the Lord" -- from Isaiah to John to our present life, this is the way that points to the Christ, in whom we find what is truly needed.