John 1:24–34

Read the passage.

When the Pharisees question John’s baptism, he responds with a cryptic answer. Though he is not the Christ, nor the Prophet, he baptizes people in water to symbolize their acceptance and dedication to a new life. It came out of the ritual washing that was prescribed for ritual cleanliness required for worship. John points out that he baptizes because of the One who was to come very soon.

That One arrives the very next day. John calls Jesus the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. (v. 29) This is an obvious reference to the sin offering in the Law of Moses, wherein the sin of the celebrant was transferred to the animal before it was slaughtered. This symbolized the payment of life-blood for the sin being paid not by the one who committed the act, but the innocent lamb. John also declares that he sees the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus, which is the sign that He is the Messiah, who will baptize the people with the Holy Spirit. He had been given a revelation from God that this was his purpose, to make the way straight by being the signpost towards Jesus so that all the people would know for sure He was the one they had been waiting for.

John’s assertion that he did not know the One to come is a bit curious when we read Luke’s account. Their mothers were relatives, and spent time together while both were pregnant with these very sons. One might assume that they had knowledge of each other while growing up.

Perhaps, but I believe the evidence points away from that conclusion. Mary had to travel to visit Elizabeth, which indicates their families weren’t in the same town. John’s parents were also advanced in years (Luke 1:7) which may indicate they died while John was still young. There is a tradition that John was raised by the Essenes, an ascetic sect of Jews that lived out in the desert. (This is the group that preserved the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.) Jesus’s family moved to Bethlehem for a couple of years, and then to Egypt for possibly a few more before returning to Nazareth. It is entirely plausible that they were not in contact at all until the day Jesus came to be baptized.

You order our lives and make all things work out for Your good purposes.