Episode 12 - "Who do you think you are?" John 1:19-28

John 1:19-28

John 1:19   And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

John 1:24   (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

In this episode we’re going to look at three questions.

1. Who are these people interrogating John the Baptist?

2. Who do they think John the Baptist is and why are they concerned about him?

3. Who is John really?

First, the text originally says that Jews sent priests and Levites to John. Later it says that it was the Pharisees. There’s no contradiction here. The author is just being more specific; moving from a generalization to later a very specific statement as to who initiated the interrogation. This will be important as you study this book.

Secondly, John denies being the Christ, Elijah, and the Prophet. Who are these figures? Christ is the Greek word for anointed one, which in the Hebrew would be the word, Messiah.  John denies being their expected Messiah. Elijah was a prophet who lived eight to nine hundred years earlier. Why would they think he was Elijah? According to 2 Kings 2:9-12, Elijah was taken to heaven alive. In the final book of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi (4:5) records that the Lord would send Elijah the prophet to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers before the Day of the Lord; a time of God’s judgment. Finally, a Prophet like Moses was promised to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 18:15. They were still expecting this Prophet just like they were looking for Elijah and their Messiah. 

That tells us that there’s something about John the Baptist that has gotten their attention and has motivated the Jewish religious leaders to go find out who he was. What was it about John? In Matthew 3:5-6, this gospel writer tells us that “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” Something about John was drawing people to him in a spiritual sense and the religious leaders took notice. 

If John denies being all of these important prophetic figures, who is he? That’s what they finally ask him. I want to address his response in two parts. First, he begins by claiming to be the unnamed voice in the wilderness spoken of in Isaiah 40:3 that is crying out and warning people to prepare the way for the Lord. When they want to know why he is baptizing, he responds “I baptize with water.” What’s his point? He’s saying “I’m just a man who is using water to baptize.” Water is a natural and tangible thing within our world. John is saying this to contrast himself with the one he is about to tell them about. That brings us to the second part of this answer he gives them. Paraphrasing his response, I hear him say, “If you think I’m someone of spiritual significance, there is someone among you that you don’t even recognize and I am not even worthy to remove his sandals.” What does he mean by that? Scholars state that removing or carrying someone else’s footwear and matters of washing other’s feet was considered such a low and degrading task that only slaves in their society were expected to do those kinds of things. Therefore, John is saying, “I am not worthy to even be a slave of this person the religious leaders don’t even recognize.” That’s quite a contrast that John the Baptist makes of himself to the one of whom he is speaking. Who is that? The author has already told us. John the Baptist came to bear witness of the light that came into the world. Who is the light? Jesus the Christ. 

In light of this account, I’d like to offer you the following challenge: What do you think of yourself compared to Jesus? If we can learn from John the Baptist, I believe it’s that we can understand and accept that God has made us for a purpose. That’s important and valuable to know. But, we should also learn to never think so highly of ourselves that we do not honor and exalt Jesus for whom it has been revealed and that is he is the one-of-a-kind Son of God.