Blog:"none greater than John the Baptist"

An industrial stream in lower central Pennsylvania: the site of Michael's baptism, October 10, 2021.

John 1:6-7 tells it straight up:

A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light

This was most confusing to the pharisees, who, the Evangelist tells us, couldn't get their heads around the idea that John was baptizing people yet denied that he was the Messiah:

When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?” he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Messiah.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?

What about ourselves, today? We, it seems, are mystified by John the Baptist, as well.

St. John the Baptist Preaching, c. 1665, by Mattia Preti (wikipedia)

"God is Grace"

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John."

"John" in Hebrew is "Yohanan," which means "God is gracious."

Except for in the sense of favored, dignified, or honored, you won't find in the Old Testament the Christian sense of the word "grace" as "participation in the life of God." So when the angel told Zechariah to name his child "John," his understanding would be that he should be grateful to God for the child, which came to him of God's "graciousness," or generosity, in response to his prayers for a son.

Grace in the Christian sense is gift-wrapped for us in baptism. From the Catechism:

The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification:

Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.

The entire point of the Christian baptism, then is "God is grace," or, more simply, Yohanan. And, like John the Baptist, who announced the Christ, Baptism itself is, according to the Catechism,

the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments.

Key word there, "gateway."

The Baptizer

I like to call Saint John simply, "the Baptizer." Interestingly, in some Orthodox churches, he is known as "John the Forerunner," which speaks to his Biblical role to testify, or announce the Christ. However, "God is grace" speaks most clearly to his Biblical purpose, such as we pray on during Easter Sunday Mass:

Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs,

which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power.

In Baptism we use your gift of water,

which you have made a rich symbol

of the grace you give us in this sacrament.

But if we listen to Jesus himself, there's a lot more to John than than just, as most western believers think, of John only in terms of the baptism.

Why was John the Baptist necessary?

One historical approach we can employ here is to apply a counter-factual, in this case, removal of John from the moment in order to test alternative outcomes. Obviously, God does what God does. Nevertheless, by thinking over the contingency of John's absence, we can better grasp his importance and why Jesus said of him in Matthew 11,

"Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

The passage as a whole Matthew helps us see Jesus' explanation for why John was so great, "more than a prophet," actually:

As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:

‘Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;

he will prepare your way before you.'

Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.

All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come.

Whoever has ears ought to hear.

To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’

The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”

Let's start with "the kingdom of heaven suffers violence" -- wow. Why in the context of the Baptizer?

Perhaps Jesus is telling us that the Baptizer's insertion provoked a counter-attack from the other side? It would seem so -- and we might consider the "violence" in what seems passive, belief.

As we see in those last two verses, John came "neither eating nor drinking," whereas the Son of Man comes "eating and drinking," for which both are condemned ("they said"). "They" didn't dance when the flute was played, and "they" didn't mourn when the dirge was sung -- missed signals, and "they" still don't get why John didn't eat or drink and the Son of Man does. The footnote to the USSCB NASB translation on verse 16 says that the meaning of this parable is "is much disputed."

I don't find it difficult, especially in the context of "this generation" -- which includes us, not just those of Jesus' day. We're all confused and misdirected and Christ is misinterpreted, ignored, and the wrong dances are danced, the wrong dirges or mourned or not mourned at all. Ears weren't then and aren't now listening.

But wait -- I think that's the point: the Baptizer, or the Forerunner, came to announce the Kingdom to those who might be willing to hear him. Isn't that what baptism itself is for -- God's gift that opens our hearts, our minds, and our souls to Christ? John, then, didn't just baptize the Jews, he baptized us, should we be willing to listen, with the joyous announcement, prefiguring baptism by the Holy Spirit.

The Preaching of St. John the Baptist by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566 (wikipedia)

John baptized a lot of people -- and everyone knew of him, all the way to the court of Herod, the chief priests, and into the histories of the late first century Jewish historian, Josephus.

Jesus himself brings up his names to the Pharisees after he enters Jerusalem for his Passion. They demand to know "by what authority are you doing these things?" Jesus turns it on them, and asks,

Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?”

The pharisees debate whether or not to answer the question, deciding not to answer what they really believe, that John was of "human origin", out of "fear of the crowd." There in Jerusalem, days before the Crucifixion, Jesus is still pointing to John's role as Forerunner and Baptizer.

Take away the Baptizer, Jesus has no context, no introduction, no "forerunner." But why would that be necessary for God?

The Forerunner

Firstly, whatever the larger purpose, the Lord planned out the role of the Forerunner from his miraculous conception in the barren Elizabeth. In Luke 1:26,

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,

The sixth month was that of John's conception, which Luke uses to measure the Archangel's announcement to Mary. And, of course, John "leaped in the womb" as Mary's walked in to his mother Elizabeth's house (Lk 1:41). From the beginning, then, John announces the arrival of the Christ, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy (Mk 1:2),

“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.

Jesus later teaches the Apostles Peter, James and John that John the Baptist was the second coming of Elijah, so we have a very clear role for the Forerunner.

St John the Baptist by Titian (wikipedia)

Next would be his role as the Baptizer -- which goes hand-in-hand with his role as Forerunner. From Mark (1:4-8):

John [the] Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey.

And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.

I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.”

Baptism under John was a kind of self-repentance; whereas only the Messiah (or the Son of Man) can actually forgive sins. Still, his purpose of repentance and forgiveness of sins is clear, as well as his role to announce "the one":

"I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.”

Yet, John and his followers, which included at least some of the Apostles, believed that the Messiah would rain fire upon the enemies of Israel, as did Elijah to the priests of Jezebel. Of course they didn't understand, but such is the process of revelation, through which God gives us hints and glimpses of truths we are unprepared to comprehend. When Jesus explained (Mt 11:12),

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.

they may have heard fire and brimstone upon Israel's enemies rather than God's wrath over his enemy, sin. indeed, from Herod's prison, John sent his disciples to ask if Jesus was truly "the one" (Mt 11:3). Jesus replies Mt 11:4-5),

“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.

Not what they were thinking, while yet a fulfillment of prophecy, such as from Isaiah (29:18):

On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll; And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see.

Thereby John, we may infer, was there to push along salvation from our enemies within us all, and not those beyond us, as the Jews, the Apostles included, all hoped.

John's role in the Plan of Salvation

Notice how John's role is consistent with God's "Plan of Salvation" through which that plan is revealed (thus "revelation") incrementally. God wants us to operate through our own agency, which is why he uses prophets and intercessors. He selected his people through Abraham, he gave them the Law through Moses, and he sent prophets for correction and guidance. Rather than just appearing as a man, he came to us through a woman. And rather than just announcing himself, he brought attention to his arrival through the Baptizer.

John's work was completed following his Baptism of Jesus (see Mt 3:13, Mk 1:9 and Lk 3:21) and his own martyrdom, so he disappears from the Gospel stories -- yet, Jesus upholds him as "none greater" among men, likely because John is the last of the Old Testament prophets and thereby the one who announces the Messiah in person. The Old Testament revelation thereby ends with the Baptizer, which is why he says (Jn 3:30),

"He must increase; I must decrease.”

The necessary and best man

On considering that passage from John 3:30, we need to consider one last aspect of John and his mission, the best man at the wedding of Christ and his bride, the Church. John states (Jn 3:29),

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete.

Somebody had to be the best man, but John was more. Indeed, he not only rejoiced the wedding, he introduced the bride and groom:

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

John wasn't just announcing the Messiah, he was announcing the purpose of the Messiah's mission (which is what "Messiah" means, "mission"), which is culminated on the Cross, the wedding of the Lamb with the Church.

October 11, 2024 by Michael

St. Joseph, pray for us!

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Notes:

• Luke's Acts (19:3-7) relates how in Ephesus (Greek Anatolia) Paul encountered a group of John's disciples whom he baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus."

• There yet exists a cult of John the Baptism. These are known as "Mandaeans," a gnostic sect that believes John the Baptist was the final prophet from God.
• Here for a good review: John the Baptist across the Four Gospels

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