Matthew 3: John the Baptist

John the Baptist is a character who is similar to the Magi in that he only briefly appears in the Gospels yet is frequently remembered through Sunday school lessons and bible story books. However, unlike the Magi, John is a critical character who provides the launching pad for Jesus' ministry. In spite of his importance John remains an enigma to modern readers who struggle to come to grips with his bizarre ministry and appearance in the wilderness. Let's try and shed some light on John by briefly looking at a few details of his ministry.

Wilderness: The first thing we are told about John is that he is in the wilderness (3:1). That should immediately ring some bells! The wilderness points us to the Exodus story: after Israel left Egypt they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before entering Canaan. In fact, we could say that Israel really became Israel in the wilderness. . . that's where they received the Torah and entered into a covenant with God. That's a critical piece right there: the wilderness is where it all began. John then is calling Israel back to their original calling, to be a priestly nation and holy people (Exodus 19:1-6). We can add to this the quote that Matthew gives us from Isaiah 40:1-11, which is a prophecy of a second and greater exodus of Israel from Babylon (from Gentile domination) and assigns it to John. In other words, John is kicking off a new Exodus for Israel . . .

Clothing: John's clothing should immediately remind us of the Prophet Elijah. Elijah was remembered as a "hairy man with a leather belt" (2 Kings 1:1-7) who opposed King Ahab and the other wicked rulers of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Guess where Elijah lived when he first appears on the scene? That's right, the wilderness of Judea! So we can guess that John's ministry parallels Elijah's in that he is going to oppose the wicked ruler of Judah, Herod. And calling for a new Exodus clearly condemns those who were currently leading Israel.

Message: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near". . . this is a cornerstone message for the Gospel of Matthew. In other words, turn back to God and live in alignment with the coming Kingdom. In other words, the time has come for the prophecies to be fulfilled and the Israelites need to rediscover their faithfulness in order to participate in what God is up to. If they don't, they can expect God's judgment (3:10).

Baptism: In light of the above, we can say that John's Baptism was something that people did in order to declare themselves loyal to the the renewed Israel which was aligned with the coming Kingdom. Their going out to the Jordan and returning from it pointed back to Israel's crossing the Jordan to conquer the Promise Land. Again, this would have been viewed as a political act- a repudiation of Israel's leadership and current direction.