Thoughts on Jesus and John the Baptist

 Jesus and John the Baptist

 

In Sunday's Gospel following the arrest of John the Baptist we have Jesus beginning his own public ministry. The initial theme of his ministry is in part very similar to that of John:  prepare, be ready, the kingdom of God is at hand. This is not surprising because John’s roll in life was precisely this, to prepare one’s manner of living for the arrival of the longed for Messiah.

 

But most other things about their lives were very different. John for much of his life was on his own living in the wilderness off whatever nature had to offer. Whereas Jesus grew up in a very small town in a relative large family: Mary and Joseph, four brothers and an unspecified number of sisters. He learned Joseph’s profession and became a craftsman.

 

Jesus begins his ministry by leaving Nazareth to go to the River Jordan where John was preaching and baptizing. To John’s surprise, Jesus presents himself to be baptized. John reluctantly, at Jesus' insistence, performed the ritual for him.

 

And as we saw in last Sunday’s Gospel, John later on will draw the attention of two of his disciples’ attention to Jesus with the result that they switch their allegiance from John to him as their teacher.

 

From this point on it seems that for a period of time Jesus and John carry on their ministries separately. On an occasion afterward, when John’s disciples express concern about Jesus’ teaching and whether or not he is the Messiah, John has them confer with Jesus to clarify this. Jesus simply tells them to go back to John and report what they see happening: “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,” (Matthew 11, 4-5)

 

Jesus then says to those of his own followers who may have been upset by the doubts or questioning of Johns’ disciples:

 

"What did you go out into 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 more than a prophet......Amen, I say to you among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist…." (Matthew 11, 7-12)

 

Jim Blumeyer, S.J.