Friday, September 21, 2012

John the Baptist is arrested (Luke 3:19-20; Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 4:12-17)


John's arrest
John the Baptist rebuked Herod for the evil things he committed with Herodias, the wife of Herod's brother.  Herod did not like this and he locked John in prison.

One wonders if John knew this would happen.  John knows his role as leader of the Jews is largely complete and he must step aside for Jesus.  Also, what circumstances did John rebuke Herod?  Was it a public or a private audience before Herod?  Or, was he just shouting these "treasonous" things in the desert?  We don't know and can only speculate.

John's arrest does settle the dispute among the Jews about who should be baptizing John or Jesus.


The time has come 
After John is arrested, Jesus preaches in Galilee and perhaps includes a new message.  As part of preaching about the Gospel, he says "the time has come".  Perhaps this is what he referred to when he told his mother that his hour had not arrived before turning the water into wine.  If so, it would seem to imply that his hour would come when John the Baptist fully steps down.  

On one hand, there is some logic to this idea because John's role was specifically to be forerunner of Jesus.  Similarly, when the two were both preaching and baptizing, it fostered a dispute among the Jews of who was the leader - John or Jesus.  This dispute was in spite of John saying that Jesus was greater.

On the other, Jesus certainly took initiative to perform some miracles and talk about himself while John was still around.

This might be resolved in Matthew 4:17, which states that from time onwards, Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.". So, something in Jesus' ministry appears to have shifted on account of the arrest of John the Baptist.

No comments:

Post a Comment