Dead Sea
(Matt. 3:1-12).
At length he came
forth into public life,
and great multitudes
from "every quarter"
were attracted to his
message. The sum of his
preaching was the
necessity of repentance.
He denounced the
Sadducees and
Pharisees as a
"generation of vipers,"
and warned them of the
folly of trusting to
external privileges
(Luke 3:8). "As a
preacher, John was
eminently practical and
discriminating.
Self-love and
covetousness were the
prevalent sins of the
people at large. On
them, therefore, he
enjoined charity and
consideration for
others. The publicans he
cautioned against
extortion, the soldiers
against crime and
plunder." His doctrine
and manner of life
roused the entire south
of
Palestine, and the
people from all parts
flocked to the place
where he was, on the
banks of the
Jordan. There he
baptized thousands
unto repentance (see
AEnon).
The fame of
John the Baptist
reached the
ears of
Jesus in
Nazareth
(Matt. 3:5), and he
came from
Galilee to Jordan to
be baptized of John, on
the special ground that
it became him to "fulfil
all righteousness"
(3:15). John's
special office ceased
with the baptism of
Jesus, who must now
"increase" as the King
come to his kingdom. He
continued, however, for
a while to bear
testimony to the
Messiahship of
Jesus. He pointed him
out to his disciples,
saying, "Behold the
Lamb of God." His
public ministry was
suddenly (after about
six months probably)
brought to a close by
his being cast into
prison by
Herod, whom he had
reproved for the sin of
having taken to himself
the wife of his brother
Philip
(Luke 3:19). He was
shut up in the castle of
Machaerus, a fortress on
the southern extremity
of Peraea, 9 miles east
of the Dead Sea, and
here he was
beheaded at the
instigation of
Herodias; later
tradition also
implicates
(Matt. 14:3-12).
John's death occurred
apparently just before
the third
Passover of Jesus'
ministry.
Jesus himself
testified regarding John
that he was a "burning
and a shining light"
(John 5:35). The
Eastern Orthodox
believe that John was
the last of the Old
Testament
prophets, thus
serving as a bridge
figure between that
period of revelation and
Jesus. They also embrace
a tradition that,
following his death,
John descended into
Hell and there once
more preached that Jesus
the Messiah was coming.
Saint John the
Baptist is the patron
saint of
French Canada. His
feast day is
June 24. He is also
counted as the Patron of
the
Knights Hospitaller
of Jerusalem.
The Eastern Orthodox
Church remembers Saint
John the Forerunner on
six separate feast days,
listed here in order of
the church year which
begins on September 1:
-
September 23 -
Conception of St.
John the Forerunner
-
January 7 - The
Commemoration of St.
John the Forerunner
(main feast day,
immediately after
Epiphany on
January 6)
-
February 24 -
First and Second
Finding of the Head
of St. John the
Forerunner
-
May 25 - Third
Finding of the Head
of St. John the
Forerunner
-
June 24 - Birth
of St. John the
Forerunner
-
August 29 - The
Beheading of St.
John the Forerunner
Muslims, like
Christians, revere John
the Baptist as a prophet
(he is known as Yahya.
Mandaeans (who view
Jesus and Moses as false
prophets) believe John
the Baptist was the last
and greatest of the
prophets.
Unificationists
regard John the Baptist
as "the greatest man
born of woman" (Mt
11:11), yet they
criticize him for his
"failure" to get the
Jewish people to believe
that Jesus was the
Messiah.
In
Gnosticism, John the
Baptist was a
"personification" of the
Old Testament
prohphet
Elijah. According to
Gnostic theology, John
the Baptist was a
prophet from the Old
Testament who did not
know the True God (the
God of the New
Testament, as opposed to
the God of the Old
Testament — see the
article on Gnosticism
for details), and thus
had to be re?carnated.
As predicted by the Old
Testament prophet
Malachi, Elijah must
"come first" to herald
the coming of Jesus
Christ. John the Baptist
indeed does "come first"
before Jesus in all four
Gospels, however, in the
canonical Christian
view, John the Baptist
is not Elijah. Indeed he
directly denied being
Elijah according to the
Gospel of John 1:20:
when the jews ask him if
he is the Messiah, he
empathically denies
this. Then they ask him
if he is Elijah, to
which he answers "I am
not.". According to
canon, John does
fulfill the prophesy of
Malachi, but is
not the prophet
Elijah reincarnated.
