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Mission and Preaching
of
John the Baptist
Luke 3:1-18
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
John the Baptist
Early Christian preaching started with the witness of John the Baptist (Acts 1.22; 10.37). This situated Jesus in the expectations and hopes of the Old Testament. What follows dawns out of the past in John the Baptist.
John was the only son of a priest whose name was Zechariah. Zechariah ministered in the temple of Jerusalem and was married to Elizabeth, a cousin of Mary. The Gospel of St. Luke tells us of the circumstances of John's birth and the visit of Mary.
The only son of a priest had the duty to follow his father’s footsteps and marry to ensure that the priestly succession is continued. The adult John forsook all this, retired to the desert and eventually emerged into the public scene like a thunderbolt as an anti-establishment prophet. He caused immense excitement. The Gospels record the huge numbers who went out into the desert to see him, "Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, And all the region along the Jordan" (Matthew.3.5).
John rejected the priestly vocation for that of a prophet. He reminded people of the prophet Elijah (2 Kgs.1:8. Matthew.17:11-13). Clothed in a camel hair tunic and eating rough from the countryside, locusts and wild honey, his life was pared down to the essentials as he confronted people with the power of his word. He preached repentance and a baptism of repentance. The waters of the Jordan bore away people’s sins as they confessed and changed their ways.
From the prison, he seeks assurance that Jesus is really the Messiah (Mt.11). He was finally executed (Mk.6:27-29). He was buried by his disciples in a last act of love; and in a judgement on his life, the Fourth Evangelist describes him as "A burning and shining lamp" (Jn.5:35).
Benedict Hegarty.
This is the Story of Jesus drawn from the four Evangelists
Gospel passages accompanied by a number of brief commentaries