The Gospel of John: John 1.19-28

Read and meditate on John 1.24, 25.
John keeps increasing the clarity of the stage he is setting. Now it’s not just “the Jews” who sent these pestiferous inquisitors. It was the Pharisees, the big bosses of Jerusalem religion. And they wanted more specific information about John’s activities.

²⁴Now those who questioned him had from the side
of rulers known as Pharisees been sent.
²⁵And so they asked him, and would not relent,
“Why then do you baptize, if you are not
the Christ, Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

- John 1.24, 25

Reflect
1.  John knew who had sent these men. But John the apostle waited until now to throw out the word Pharisees. How do you suppose John’s first readers might have responded to hearing that term read to them? Would they have said, “Oh, the Pharisees! O boy!” Or something else? Complete this prayer: Lord, when I think of words like “atheist” or “evolutionist” or “unbeliever” I feel…

2.  Good writers don’t just appeal to the mind. They want to engage the heart, challenge existing values and priorities, and point the way toward specific kinds of behavior. So far in our reading of the gospel of John, how can you see the apostle doing this? Summarize the primary ideas he has thus far presented. What affections does he associate with these? What values or priorities does his message challenge? Lord, I want to become more committed to the Good News in…

3.  John was baptizing, and baptizing was a religious function that required authorization. The priests and Levites wanted to know who had authorized John to do this work, since he was neither Elijah nor the Prophet. What authority did John cite for his calling? Is this enough authority for your calling? Explain. Lord, I see that Your Word clearly calls me to…

4.  This whole inquiry represents a threat to John’s “religious freedom” – the Pharisees had the power to shut down John’s ministry if he did not conform to their protocols and standards. Did that seem to faze John at all? Is there a lesson here for us? Lord, there are many who might not like me to be a witness to Jesus, but for my part…

5.  Remember, this was probably not a private interview. Multitudes of people were present, and many would have heard this exchange and observed John’s response. How do you think John’s demeanor in this interview would have affected those who listened in? What can we learn from John about being a witness as well as witnessing to the Lord? Bring your prayers from questions 1-4 together into one prayer.

Summary
“John did not baptize with the Spirit but with water, since he was unable to take away the sins of those being baptized. He washed their bodies with water but not their hearts with pardon. Why did one whose baptism did not forgive sins baptize, except that he was observing his vocation as forerunner? He whose birth foreshadowed greater birth, by his baptizing foreshadowed the Lord who would truly baptize. He whose preaching made him the forerunner of Christ, by baptizing also became his forerunner, using a symbol of the future sacrament. With these other mysteries he makes known the mystery of our Redeemer, declaring that he has stood among people and not been known. The Lord appeared in a human body: he came as God in flesh, visible in his body, invisible in his majesty.” Gregory the Great (ca. 540-604 AD)

We should not be amazed if we think the powers-that-be were troubled by John’s religious activities. They weren’t. Many idiots and nincompoops (as the religious leaders would have seen them) were doing the same in those days. What troubled them was not what John was doing, but that multitudes were responding. So they were determined to know how what he was doing was different from what others were doing, so they could shut him down. Do you think the powers-that-be in our day are troubled and concerned about us and our religious activities? Why or why not?

Closing Prayer
Do not keep silent, O God!
Do not hold Your peace,
And do not be still, O God!
For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
For they have consulted together with one consent;
They form a confederacy against You …
Fill their faces with shame,
That they may seek Your name, O LORD.
Let them be confounded and dismayed forever;
Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
That they may know that You, whose name alone isthe LORD,
Are the Most High over all the earth.

Psalm 83.1-5, 16-18

Psalm 83.1-3, 16-18 (St. Chrysostom: We Have Not Known Thee As We Ought)
O God, do not be quiet now, do not be silent, nor be still!
See how Your foes erupt in a row, and those who hate You chafe at Your will.
Shrewdly they plan, conspiring as one, against Your daughters and Your sons.

Fill with dishonor every face that they may seek Your Name, O Lord.
Bring them to shame, dismay, and disgrace, and let them perish under Your Word,
That they may learn Your infinite worth, O God Most High of all the earth!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.