Tell the Story
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”1 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare2 the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”
4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him,3 and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son,4 with whom I am well pleased.”
There are four Gospels in the New Testament—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and they all focus on Jesus. But they don’t all start with Jesus. Mark starts with a man named John. In fact, in each book, before we meet a grown-up Jesus, we meet this strange and wonderful person sometimes called John the Baptist.
That may sound like a funny name, but his parents weren’t Mr. and Mrs. Baptist. We just call him John the Baptist because, well, he did a lot of baptizing. Baptism was a sign of cleansing. The water meant a new start for John’s disciples. And everyone desperately needed a new start. That’s why John preached about repentance. Just like the prophets of old, he warned people that if they didn’t confess their sins and change their ways, they would be in big trouble.
But John wasn’t just like the prophets of old, he was predicted by the prophets of old. The Old Testament said that before the Christ would come, there would be someone to prepare the way. That was John the Baptist. He was the messenger, the voice, the one preaching in the wilderness whether people listened or not.
John was very popular, at least with regular people. They came from all over the city and the countryside to hear him preach and to be baptized. He had lots of followers. Lots of attention. And since he wore camel hair and ate sticky bugs, he probably got lots of funny looks too.
And yet, here’s the funny thing: John wasn’t interested in the attention. He didn’t want a million followers. John knew he was only a pointer. He was not the point. John is a very special person in the Biggest Story, but he thought of himself as a nobody compared to the somebody that was coming. John said, “You think I’m a big deal? I’m just preparing the way. The one after me is much more impressive. I’m not even worthy to bend over and untie his dirty, stinky, sandals.”
John baptized with water. Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit.
John prepared the way. Jesus was the way.
John was a voice in the wilderness. Jesus was the Word made flesh.
The whole point of John’s ministry was to point people to Jesus. He lived his life so that he might get smaller and Christ might get bigger. Of all the special things about John the Baptist, that was the best.
