We’ve talked about John the Baptist before, in fact, I previously wrote a blog about the interesting circumstances of his birth (link here). We know that John’s mother Elizabeth and Jesus’ mother Mary were related – maybe second cousins or distant aunt/niece relationship since they’re of different generations. We know Mary traveled 100 miles when she was newly pregnant to visit with Elizabeth who was also pregnant. And we know that both expectant mothers had been visited by angels to inform them of the missions that their sons would execute in God’s holy plan.
Now we fast forward to John as an adult, whose purpose was to prepare the way on earth for Jesus’s coming, as prophesied by Isaiah, “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way – a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” (Isaiah 40:3)
John took his mission seriously and we find out in the gospels that he went to the wilderness, wearing clothing of camel’s hair, a leather belt around his waist and he ate only locusts and wild honey. So … kind of an unusual dude! He wandered around with his own set of disciples, preaching about repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and of course, he performed baptisms. The people were so thirsty for a Messiah, they asked him if he was the One, which of course, he denied.
Eventually the day arrived when John came face to face with Jesus. John 1:29 tells the story this way: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’
Yes! This makes sense. John’s second cousin Jesus, who he’s known about through family lore his whole life as being the Son of God, is now here in front of him. John’s done his job preparing the way and now Jesus is about to kick off his own ministry!
But, wait. Let’s read further, starting in verse 31: “I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Then John gave this testimony, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”
Huh. In this passage, John says twice, “I myself did not know him.” But … weren’t they distant cousins? Hadn’t his mother told him exactly what the angel had told her about why she was impregnated at an old age and exactly what her miraculous son was going to do for God’s kingdom?
Because it’s such a beautiful story, let’s take a look at the event that John was describing in that John 1:31 passage. Three of the gospels tell us the story because it was such a significant event. Here’s Luke’s version (3:21-22): When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Isn’t that a lovely scene? I would be absolutely blown away by the voice from heaven, heard by the entire crowd, and especially the loving words God bestowed. And in John’s gospel, it sounds like John the Baptist was instructed by God himself that he would know who the Messiah was the presence of the Holy Spirit. The dove and God’s voice booming from heaven was his indication that Jesus was the one he was preparing the way for.
Prior to that he only knew he was preparing the way for the Messiah. Now he was assured that the Messiah was indeed his second cousin, Jesus! When he said, “I didn’t know him,” I don’t necessarily take that at face value. I think he was more saying, “I didn’t know it was him.”
When I think about this, I imagine that his mother had told him the story about her long ago visit from Mary and how they had both been visited by angels and informed about their sons’ places in God’s plan. But … have you ever had a son? Have you ever tried to tell your teenage son something that he found hard to believe? As a parent, have you ever tried to convince your rebellious young man of anything (remember John ran off to the wilderness wearing weird clothes and eating only locusts and honey)?
So, my point is, John maybe didn’t want to take anyone’s word for it. Rumor and hearsay weren’t good enough. He was determined to follow God’s plan exactly as God prescribed to him. Until then, he’d do his job, step by step, without knowing the whole story.
And I love that approach. We see cases of that all throughout the Bible. God calling on imperfect people to carry out his plan without revealing the end of the plan until it was time to know. I’m currently in a Bible study about the prophet Elijah, and that’s one of the points we learned about him. God had GREAT BIG plans for Elijah, but he only revealed them step by step. Elijah had the faith to act upon that step and then wait for God’s next order.
But what about the next time in the gospel stories that John the Baptist acts like he doesn’t know who Jesus is? In Matthew 11, starting in verse 2, we see: When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
What? What happened to John being convinced within a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was the foretold Messiah when he witnessed the dove landing on him, and he heard God’s voice proclaiming him to be so? Scholars believe that a year had passed between the miraculous baptism and John’s question. A year of Jesus actively preaching and traveling around and performing miracles. In that year, John lost the faith?
Why did John ask that question? In my opinion, there are several factors, all of which point to John’s human weaknesses:
· He was in jail. I can’t imagine that first century jails were very comfortable. Most likely cement floors and little food, no exercise and limited visitors. He’d been wrenched away from his job, which was God’s plan for him and he was good at it. He’d had followers and a role of importance. Now, all of that was gone. All he had was time to sit there in a cell and be miserable. Life was pretty awful.
· The reason he was in jail was pretty ridiculous. John was put in prison because he decided to lecture town rulers about some of their life choices. See if I can get this Bible-age soap opera correct: Matthew 14 indicates that John the Baptist was placed in prison by Herod Antipas as a result of John condemning Herod for having divorced his wife and then marrying Herodias, the divorced wife of Herod Antipas' half-brother Philip. Knowing John’s dedication to the mission, I imagine he felt like the punishment didn’t fit the crime, and was preventing him from getting back to work.
· He was practically starved when he got to jail. Remember his self-inflicted diet before he went to jail? It wasn’t like he was a healthy, well-nourished guy when he originally got thrown into jail in the first place. And I know from the occasional times I’m feeling hungry that everything looks a little bleaker and more desperate than when I’m properly fed.
· He held a different view of the Messiah’s role than Jesus did. There are indications in the Bible that John had a different understanding of the role of the Messiah. After all, God told him to prepare the way, but God didn’t tell him exactly how Jesus would go about his own job. Luke 3:7 shares some of John’s own method of speaking to followers: John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” We have clues also that Jesus was aware of the “type of Messiah” the people expected him to be, too. John 6:14 says, Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
So now we have a little better understanding of how John’s human traits may have caused him to lose the faith a little bit about Jesus. How did Jesus respond to John’s question? Was he dismayed? Angry? Insulted?
No. He calmly told John’s disciples to go tell him what he’d been doing since they last saw each other (the preaching, the teaching, the miracles). And he also praised John for the hard work he’d done for the kingdom! Verse 11: “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
If I had been working hard spreading the good news for a year and my most important partner publicly expressed doubt in my abilities, I would’ve been angry! Wouldn’t you? But not Jesus. He not only wasn’t angry, he praised John and let everyone know what a great job he’d done.
Understanding John the Baptist’s human shortcomings and also understanding Jesus’ kind reaction to them give me comfort that when we mess up (as we often do) I can imagine Jesus’s response. He’s not angry; he’s patient and kind. He wants us to succeed and he reminds us of all the good work we’ve already done, but he encourages us to get up, shake ourselves off and try again. We’re human, just like John the Baptist, just like Judas, just like Peter. We make mistakes. But there’s still room for us in the kingdom with the everlasting grace of Jesus over us.
Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for this lesson and this reminder of how you can and do use imperfect people to perform great work in your kingdom. Thank you for forgiving us when we make mistakes and always continuing to love us. Amen.
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