The Third Sunday in Advent, December 17, 2023

John 1, 6–8; 19–28

A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.  And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?” he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” 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 do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”  Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

“A man named John was sent from God.”  In the earliest-written Gospels, those according to St. Matthew and St. Mark, John the Baptist simply appears.  His origin is not given, nor is his commission by God mentioned until Jesus speaks of it later in the Gospels.  It is almost as though the Evangelists expected their first readers to know who he was before reading about him.  St. Luke, writing for Gentile Christians in Syria, gives the full story of John’s origins and of his connection with Jesus through his mother.  St. John comes right out at the beginning of his Gospel to declare that “A man named John was sent from God.”  He did not come on his own nor did he decide later on to preach repentance.  His mission was given to him from the beginning: “He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.”  That is, to Jesus, the Light of the world.  John testified that Jesus of Nazareth was the Lamb of God who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3, 11).

“He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.”  This indicates for us that many had the opinion that he was the Messiah.  John attracted a strong following and indeed, groups who claimed to follow his teachings persisted in the Middle East into modern times.  

“When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him.”  The mention of “Levites” is striking because it is the only time that these are mentioned in the Gospels.  John the Apostle, the author of the Gospel from which this reading is taken, later identifies himself as “known to the high priest” knows the system of Jewish worship and to distinguish between the priests and the Levites.  (I will pursue the question of how a fisherman from Galilee could be known by the high priest in Jerusalem on this blog on his feast day later this month).  “He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted.”  Though the language is Greek, the sentence structure is Hebrew.  To emphasize a fact in Hebrew a person would repeat it in the same sentence as he asserted it.  This and other signs hint at the possibility that this Gospel was originally written in Hebrew (or Aramaic), or for whom Hebrew was much his preferred language.  “I am not the Christ.”  We should note the oddness of the priests and Levites asking John the Baptist who he was.  Of course, they were not asking about his parentage or from what city he hailed.  The Jewish leadership felt its legitimacy threatened by him and they wondered what he was meaning to do.  John declares immediately that he is not the Christ whom they both await and fear, but he does not give them an answer to their question right away.  “What are you then? Are you Elijah?”  Malachi 4, 5-6 taught them that Elijah was going to return before the great and terrible day of the Lord.  But John the Baptist refuses to be identified with Elijah, just as Jesus will not identify himself with the term “Messiah”, for in doing so he would confirm the Pharisees in their fantasy of what Elijah would do, and this involved preparing the people for the war of independence against Rome.

“I am the voice of one crying out in the desert.”  John quotes the Prophet Isaiah in describing his mission.  This answer failed to impress the Pharisees, or even to make sense to them.  “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?”  They try a different approach to get an answer out of him.  Now, their question shows that they do not connect “washing” people in the Jordan (the meaning of the Greek word from which “baptism” is taken) with their notions of the Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet of whom Moses spoke, but it also shows that they thought such an ac could only be done by one of these, and not by a common Jew.  “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”  To finish his thought, the sentence should have said, I baptize with water but there is one . . . who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire . . . whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.  Perhaps John the Apostle, who witnessed this scene and is recounting it for us, dropped this phrase in his excitement in recalling the scene.

“This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”  Throughout his Gospel John the Apostle carefully shows where and when various scenes took place, just as a professional guide might.  This makes his Gospel very vivid and gives the reader the sense of really seeing and hearing through the Apostle’s eyes and ears.

Many people today falsely think they know who Christians are and what they believe.  It is necessary for us to help them to a better understanding by our good witness.