In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. 3 He went throughout (the) whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one crying out in the desert: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. 5 Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" 7 He said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance; and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." 10 And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" 11 He said to them in reply, "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise." 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him, "Teacher, what should we do?" 13 He answered them, "Stop collecting more than what is prescribed." 14 Soldiers also asked him, "And what is it that we should do?" He told them, "Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages." 15 Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, saying, "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." 18 Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people. 19 Now Herod the tetrarch, who had been censured by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil deeds Herod had committed, 20 added still another to these by [also] putting John in prison.
John the Baptist was anointed by God (Lk. 1:5-17) to usher in the period of fulfillment of the promise of a Messiah. John, the ‘prophet of the Most High’ was to herald the coming of the Messiah, God’s only begotten Son. When God called John from the desert, he began proclaiming repentance for the forgiveness of sins; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Mt. 3:2). This was to prepare the way for Christ (Lk. 1:76-80) as foretold in Isaiah (Is. 40:3-5). John invited those he baptized to turn away from sin, make restitution and begin living a new moral life in preparation for the gift of eternal life Christ would offer. At the last supper, Jesus said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins" (Mt. 26:28). Likewise on the Cross, Jesus prayed to the Father, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" (Lk. 23:34). Repentance is necessary for sins to be forgiven. Just as John was the precursor to Jesus, repentance precedes forgiveness.
John’s ministry was to the whole of Israel. Jesus’ ministry invited the Jews to believe in him and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. They would be beneficiaries of the New Covenant with God, the promise of individual redemption. In the OT, the focus was on Israel as a collective group. Soldiers were despised because they enforced Roman law and some of them were Jewish. The Pharisees and the High Priests both rejected John’s baptisms (Lk.7:30, 20:5). Luke implies that some of the Palestinian Jews were awaiting the Messiah who would come and restore Israel, but John the Baptist preached the good news but made it clear that he was not the Messiah who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Both Jesus and John met with violent deaths.
Almighty God, help us to see beyond ourselves
and give us the desire to act on what you reveal to us so that we may be an instrument
of mercy in your unfolding plan of salvation.
This we pray through Christ our Lord.
Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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