Mark 1.7-8, Matthew 3.11-12, Luke 3.10-20, John 1.24-28.
Last time I dealt with
But you might notice Luke describes John’s message to the religious folks as being directed towards everyone. Religious and irreligious alike.
Luke 3.7-14 KWL - 7 John said this to the crowds coming to be baptized by him:
- “You viper-spawn! Who warned you to escape the wrath of God?
- 8 Fine then: Produce worthy fruits, from repentant people.
- Don’t start to tell yourselves, ‘We have a father in Abraham’:
- From these rocks, I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham.
- 9 Plus, the axe lays at the root of the tree right now.
- So every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into fire.”
- 10 The crowds were questioning John, saying, “So what can we do?”
- 11 In reply John told them, “You who have two tunics: Share with those who don’t.
- You who have food: Do likewise.”
- 12 Taxmen came to be baptized and told John, “Teacher, what can we do?”
- 13 John told them, “Do nothing more than you were ordered.”
- 14 Soldiers were questioning John, saying, “And we, what can we do?”
- John told them, “You could stop shaking people down, or stop accusing them falsely.
- Be content with your paychecks.”
I explained the whole worthy fruits, making Abraham’s children from rocks, and axe at the foot of the tree stuff
In general the problem was stinginess. The crowds needed to share their food and clothing with the needy. Yes, the Law had a sort of welfare system built in so farmers would leave gleanings for the needy,
The taxmen (
Lastly soldiers. Who were likely—and kinda surprisingly—Roman soldiers. This is the first time we see gentiles really getting involved in the gospel, but Luke wanted to make it clear in his gospels (both Luke and Acts) that God’s kingdom is likewise for gentiles. And interestingly, John initially responded to them with what they could do, not commands: They could be more fair and just in their duties, instead of hassling the locals and trying to rob them. As gentiles, they weren’t under the Law, so John couldn’t command them to follow it in quite the same way. But like the taxmen, they also knew they needed to repent.
The greater one is coming.
Luke 3.15 KWL - The people were anticipators,
- and everyone was discussing privately about John—“Perhaps he might be Messiah?”—
John 1.24-25 KWL - 24 These people had been sent by the Pharisees.
- 25 Questioning
John , they told him, “So why do you baptize, - if you’re neither Messiah nor Elijah nor Prophet?”
The first-century End Times kooks were prosdokóntos/“anticipators,” people who looked forward to Messiah’s first coming, whenever that was. And as we know from the stuff the Pharisees and Qumranis wrote, and from the way Judeans treated Jesus in the gospels, they were mostly wrong, and missed Jesus completely. Only the anticipators who were willing to accept Jesus no matter how he appeared, were able to identify him as he is. Something we oughta bear in mind. Don’t get too wedded to your End Times predictions. You’re likely to be just as wrong as the anticipators.
Anywho, the Pharisees and anticipators seriously wanted to know where John fell into their End Times timeline. Was he Messiah, the Prophet, or the second coming of Elijah? According to John, no, no, and no. (According to Jesus, who knows better, no, kinda, and yes.)
John was only Messiah’s forerunner, and he wanted this made clear to the anticipators. Messiah is much stronger than he was.
Mark 1.7-8 KWL - 7 John proclaimed to them, “One stronger than me comes after me.
- I’m not able to stoop down and loose his sandal strap.
- 8 I baptize you in water.
- He’ll baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 3.11 KWL - “Indeed I baptize you in water for repentance.
- And coming after me is one stronger than me.
- I’m not able to carry his sandals.
- He’ll baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Luke 3.16 KWL - In reply John told everyone, “Indeed I baptize you in water.
- And one stronger than me comes.
- I’m not able to loose his sandal strap.
- He’ll baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.”
John 1.26-27 KWL - 26 Answering them, John said, “I baptize in water.
- In the midst of you stands someone you don’t know, 27 who comes after me.
- I’m not worthy to loose his sandal strap.”
Iskhyróterós/“stronger” is also translated “mightier” (
“Stronger” only means John believed Messiah capable of achieving way more than John could. John baptized in water, but Messiah baptized in Spirit and fire. The ancients believed the universe was made of air, earth, fire, and water—and that spirits were made of fire. (I know; you’d think air.) No, we don’t believe that anymore. Spirit’s aren’t physical. But to the ancients there’d be an immediate connection between the Holy Spirit and fire—and a significant contrast to a water baptism. This alone would demonstrate how Jesus is stronger than John.
To emphasize Messiah’s strength, John overemphasized his own weakness: He’s uk ikanós/“not able.” In the gospel of John, uk áxios/“not worthy.” The translators of the
John considered himself unworthy. Jesus did not. It’s why he came to earth: To make us worthy. He let John baptize him, and ordered his followers to keep baptizing people John-style. He esteemed John greatly.
As for that baptism in the Spirit and fire,
Messiah makes a clean sweep.
Matthew 3.12 KWL - “The winnowing-shovel is in his hand, and he’ll thoroughly clean his threshing-floor.
- He’ll gather up his grain in the silo.
- He’ll burn up the straw with endless fire.”
Luke 3.17 KWL - “The winnowing-shovel is in his hand to thoroughly clean his threshing-floor.
- He’ll gather together the grain in his silo.
- He’ll burn up the straw with endless fire.”
Other bibles tend to go with “fan” to translate ptýon/“shovel,” because medieval Europeans used a fan for the job. (Our winnowing machines also use fans, a lot of the time.) But the way ancient middle easterners did it was to shovel up grain, toss it into the air, and let the wind blow away the chaff (the seed-husks and straw). Do this enough times, and what you’ll have on the threshing-floor is mostly the edible seeds, which would go into the silo, and as needed be ground into flour.
The rest? Well, some straw could be used for animal feed and adobe, but ordinarily it’d be burnt. In comparison John described pyrí asbésto/“endless fire,” the sort of trash fire which you didn’t put out because there was constantly trash to burn. Chaff would burn up quickly, but the fire would keep going. And whenever the folks in the bible started talking about endless fire, what they meant was hell, and the sort who’d go into it: The undesirable, versus the desirable. The unrepentant, versus the repentant. Those who want nothing to do with God, and those who love him.
This is still good news
Wrapping up John.
Luke 3.18-20 KWL - 18 John evangelized the people with much more—
- and many other such exhortations.
- 19 Quarter-king Antipas Herod, embarrassed by John
- about his brother’s wife Herodia, and everything evil Herod did,
- 20 shut up John in prison, adding this to everything.
John 1.28 KWL - This happened at Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, where John was baptizing.
John points out the Pharisees interviewed John péran tu Jordánu/“beyond the Jordan,” meaning on the east side of it. Current copies of the Greek bible have Bithanía/“Bethany,” which is not the same place as the Beit Aní where Lazarus and family lived; that Bethany is 1.4 km outside Jerusalem. This is another city named Bethany.
The Textus Receptus calls it Bithavará/“Bethabara,” which—again—is not the same place as the Beit Avára within the tribe of Benjamin, on the west side of the river.
Whatever they called it in John’s day, the location tends to be identified as al-Maghtas, Jordan. Tradition claims it’s also where Elijah crossed the Jordan before ascending to heaven.
Luke prematurely mentioned John’s arrest even before getting to Jesus’s baptism. Antipas Herod wasn’t any more devout than his father, and John’s denouncement of his behavior in those pre-free-speech days got him in serious trouble.
No, John wasn’t within Antipas’s jurisdiction. But Roman provinces weren’t sovereign states, and Antipas could’ve sent people to arrest anyone in the Roman Empire. If no other official raised any objection about John being under his protection, that’d be that. John could rot in lockup for all anyone cared.
I’ll
