1 00:00:00,616 --> 00:00:01,233 Hey everybody. 2 00:00:01,233 --> 00:00:04,516 Thanks for being with us as we close out the week here in the Gospel of John. 3 00:00:05,700 --> 00:00:08,850 Continue to work our way through the first chapter. 4 00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:11,700 A little bit of a change of pace. 5 00:00:11,700 --> 00:00:18,200 The first 18 verses really function for John as a theological underpinning. 6 00:00:18,416 --> 00:00:22,466 Not that John is done with theology by any stretch, but now we do begin 7 00:00:22,466 --> 00:00:25,500 to get into some narrative, some story, 8 00:00:25,500 --> 00:00:28,500 and we pick that up today in verse 19. 9 00:00:28,766 --> 00:00:34,300 As we again meet this character that has been referenced, not really. 10 00:00:34,316 --> 00:00:37,650 As we meet for the first time, this character that has been referenced, 11 00:00:37,966 --> 00:00:41,250 John the Baptist here, not the author. 12 00:00:41,700 --> 00:00:44,716 So this is the description of what 13 00:00:44,716 --> 00:00:48,016 John is up to, what he's been doing, what he's been saying, 14 00:00:48,350 --> 00:00:51,700 and it's an interesting place for the story to start. 15 00:00:51,716 --> 00:00:54,716 We'll come back to that after I read a few verses here. 16 00:00:55,550 --> 00:00:56,783 Starting in 19. 17 00:00:56,783 --> 00:01:00,166 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests 18 00:01:00,166 --> 00:01:03,166 and Levites from Jerusalem to ask, who are you? 19 00:01:03,500 --> 00:01:06,050 He confessed he did not deny it, 20 00:01:06,050 --> 00:01:09,050 but confessed, I am not the Messiah. 21 00:01:09,300 --> 00:01:12,733 And they asked him, what then are you Elijah? 22 00:01:12,766 --> 00:01:15,766 He said, I'm not. Are you the prophet? It. 23 00:01:15,866 --> 00:01:17,366 He answered no. 24 00:01:17,366 --> 00:01:19,350 And they said, who are you? 25 00:01:19,350 --> 00:01:21,900 Let us have an answer for those who sent us. 26 00:01:21,900 --> 00:01:24,266 What do you say about yourself? 27 00:01:24,266 --> 00:01:28,650 He said, I'm the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness. 28 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:30,900 Make straight the way of the Lord. 29 00:01:32,100 --> 00:01:33,750 In all of the Gospels. 30 00:01:33,750 --> 00:01:35,950 John the Baptist is a key figure. 31 00:01:35,950 --> 00:01:40,166 Figure, particularly shows up early in the story. 32 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:41,550 He is the Herald. 33 00:01:41,550 --> 00:01:46,800 He is the forerunner, the one who goes before John gives us the, 34 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:52,783 I think in some ways, the crispest or the clearest conversation with John. 35 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,416 You know, John starts with the question, are you the Messiah? 36 00:01:56,416 --> 00:01:59,416 That's the first thing we hear him say. 37 00:01:59,716 --> 00:02:01,583 I am not the Messiah. 38 00:02:01,583 --> 00:02:05,366 So just we we know that there was in the early church 39 00:02:05,366 --> 00:02:10,016 a group of people who followed John the Baptist right here. 40 00:02:10,466 --> 00:02:14,416 We're going to hear in the story as it unfolds. 41 00:02:14,683 --> 00:02:18,916 Disciples John the Baptist has disciples, people who are with him and follow him. 42 00:02:19,100 --> 00:02:21,566 We know that he also has a large following of people 43 00:02:21,566 --> 00:02:24,566 who come out to hear him preach and get baptized. 44 00:02:24,750 --> 00:02:28,216 And yet, the first words in this story 45 00:02:28,250 --> 00:02:31,950 are from John the Baptist, or I am not the Messiah. 46 00:02:31,950 --> 00:02:37,816 And that's a significant point for the way that John, the author, tells this story. 47 00:02:38,300 --> 00:02:43,133 And as we meet this character Mark right there, 48 00:02:43,283 --> 00:02:46,650 there's a sense in which the other gospels build us up to this moment. 49 00:02:46,650 --> 00:02:49,616 I think a little a little slower. 50 00:02:49,616 --> 00:02:51,566 John just starts right off with it. 51 00:02:51,566 --> 00:02:52,100 Yeah, right. 52 00:02:52,100 --> 00:02:56,300 And the reason that John is so important and we've we've said this before, 53 00:02:56,300 --> 00:02:59,550 but now as we turn our attention to John the Baptist, the reason that he's 54 00:02:59,550 --> 00:03:02,716 such an important character and just given such a prominent place 55 00:03:02,716 --> 00:03:07,466 so early in this story is because he is witnessing, he's confessing. 56 00:03:07,616 --> 00:03:09,800 And we see this specifically. 57 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:15,416 The word that we have in this translation is the testimony given by John 58 00:03:15,416 --> 00:03:20,900 and that that word testimony is used 37 times in the New Testament. 59 00:03:21,383 --> 00:03:24,700 30 of them are used in the Gospel of John. 60 00:03:24,716 --> 00:03:28,966 That is how important that this theme is within the whole gospel, 61 00:03:28,966 --> 00:03:32,783 and it's why it is given such prominence, and why John the Baptist has given 62 00:03:33,050 --> 00:03:36,050 such a clear place within the story so quickly. 63 00:03:36,050 --> 00:03:39,316 Clint is because he is the chief testifier. 64 00:03:39,316 --> 00:03:44,150 He is the one with good character, with a humble attitude, 65 00:03:44,300 --> 00:03:48,116 shows up on day one and from the start 66 00:03:48,300 --> 00:03:51,116 he confesses, I'm not the Messiah. 67 00:03:51,116 --> 00:03:52,966 I'm not Elijah. 68 00:03:52,966 --> 00:03:56,483 I'm not the prophet, the one who is coming after me. 69 00:03:56,516 --> 00:03:58,850 We're going to find that's the one who's greater. 70 00:03:58,850 --> 00:04:02,000 So I just want to make sure that we see right from the start 71 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,300 that John prepares the way for Jesus. 72 00:04:05,483 --> 00:04:10,050 Both in terms of the people's imagination, and he's going to call the people 73 00:04:10,050 --> 00:04:13,050 to a form of repentance, in this story to come. 74 00:04:13,283 --> 00:04:15,050 But what we have right here 75 00:04:15,050 --> 00:04:19,216 is very, very clearly that John is the first character of the story, 76 00:04:19,350 --> 00:04:23,183 verse 19, who's already giving us that testimony. 77 00:04:23,183 --> 00:04:24,566 He's giving us that witness. 78 00:04:24,566 --> 00:04:28,100 He's setting the tone of how the characters of the story 79 00:04:28,100 --> 00:04:31,400 are going to all, in their own individual ways, be 80 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,366 witnesses and testimony, bringers of the gospel of Christ. 81 00:04:35,566 --> 00:04:38,516 Scholars suggest that because we jump into this story 82 00:04:38,516 --> 00:04:43,616 like this, it's an indication that the Gospel of John is written 83 00:04:43,616 --> 00:04:48,833 and written to people who are all already pretty familiar with John the Baptist. 84 00:04:49,250 --> 00:04:54,466 His message, this conflict or controversy of whether he's the Messiah, 85 00:04:54,866 --> 00:04:57,866 the growing conflict with Jewish leaders, 86 00:04:57,900 --> 00:05:01,100 that it it makes sense if you just think about it. 87 00:05:01,250 --> 00:05:06,083 Given that there's no real prelude to this, there's no explanation, given 88 00:05:06,766 --> 00:05:10,100 that this question is already on the forefront 89 00:05:10,100 --> 00:05:14,216 in the very first part of the gospel, it seems reasonable that those 90 00:05:14,216 --> 00:05:19,616 who are the intended receivers of this gospel are familiar with those things. 91 00:05:19,616 --> 00:05:24,266 And so John does this fairly comfortably. 92 00:05:24,316 --> 00:05:26,450 Just leaves out some details. 93 00:05:26,450 --> 00:05:27,950 And when that happens, 94 00:05:27,950 --> 00:05:31,250 we are left with the assumption that those who are reading the gospel 95 00:05:31,500 --> 00:05:34,583 probably already knew those details and didn't need them. 96 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,500 There will be other places that John will fill in some gaps, 97 00:05:37,500 --> 00:05:41,183 but when he doesn't, we assume it's because those things are already known. 98 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,600 The answer that John gives here is also wonderful. 99 00:05:44,866 --> 00:05:47,566 They say, well then who are you? 100 00:05:48,650 --> 00:05:49,133 And he 101 00:05:49,133 --> 00:05:52,550 answers, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 102 00:05:52,916 --> 00:05:57,566 make straight the way of the Lord, which is a quote from Isaiah chapter 40. 103 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,916 And one of the wonderful things about some of these quotes 104 00:06:01,916 --> 00:06:05,183 is that they didn't live with a lot of expectation. 105 00:06:05,750 --> 00:06:08,783 It wasn't understood that Jesus 106 00:06:09,266 --> 00:06:14,300 or that John knew what these things meant in the broader context. 107 00:06:14,300 --> 00:06:17,600 In other words, they weren't picking, they weren't picking verses 108 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,866 that were well known by people and had established meanings. 109 00:06:21,100 --> 00:06:25,116 This a similar reality would be Jesus calling himself 110 00:06:25,133 --> 00:06:29,116 Son of Man, which is a fairly obscure title 111 00:06:29,116 --> 00:06:32,333 in the Old Testament, and not one that carried a lot of baggage with it. 112 00:06:32,333 --> 00:06:35,116 So John says here I'm I'm the forerunner. 113 00:06:35,116 --> 00:06:38,116 I'm the voice that cries out in the wilderness, 114 00:06:38,266 --> 00:06:40,200 make straight the ways of the Lord. 115 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:44,150 In other words, I'm, as you said, my God, I'm the one who testifies. 116 00:06:44,150 --> 00:06:48,266 I'm the one who announces, I'm the one who tells the truth 117 00:06:48,533 --> 00:06:53,033 about the one who is coming after me and is greater than I am. 118 00:06:53,116 --> 00:06:56,450 And this is what gives John the Baptist 119 00:06:56,450 --> 00:07:01,400 his flavor, especially in this gospel, the Herald. 120 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:07,350 And he has this essential role that he plays, and we jump straight into it. 121 00:07:07,583 --> 00:07:11,850 There's also another introductory note that I think is pretty subtle here, 122 00:07:11,850 --> 00:07:15,800 and I don't want to pass by it with us missing it in verse 20 there, 123 00:07:16,166 --> 00:07:19,050 when he confesses and doesn't deny, 124 00:07:19,050 --> 00:07:21,833 but says, I am not the Messiah. 125 00:07:21,833 --> 00:07:26,150 Now, if you've not read the Gospel of John yet, that may just sound like a denial, 126 00:07:26,150 --> 00:07:29,600 but if you've read the Gospel of John, you might know that to come 127 00:07:29,850 --> 00:07:33,566 Jesus will several times make him statements. 128 00:07:33,566 --> 00:07:36,800 Jesus will say, I am the bread of life. 129 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,283 I am the vine, I am Jesus repeats these. 130 00:07:40,283 --> 00:07:42,600 I am statements affirming who he is. 131 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,916 It's it's fascinating that the very beginning of the book, 132 00:07:45,916 --> 00:07:50,666 one of the first words offered by the one who gives a witness is I am not. 133 00:07:50,933 --> 00:07:53,483 I am not the one who is going to come. 134 00:07:53,483 --> 00:07:57,466 And this, just as you see the richness of this text, later on, 135 00:07:57,650 --> 00:08:02,000 we're going to discover that Jesus is all of the things 136 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,850 that these human witnesses could not be for themselves. 137 00:08:05,850 --> 00:08:09,716 And what's so amazing about John, I think, the telling of John 138 00:08:09,716 --> 00:08:14,416 the Baptist is that he is not competing for attention. 139 00:08:14,633 --> 00:08:19,016 He's not looking for notoriety, he's not seeking popularity, 140 00:08:19,216 --> 00:08:23,716 and he's also not looking to be raised up to to high religious power. 141 00:08:23,716 --> 00:08:26,716 What simply what John wants to do 142 00:08:26,783 --> 00:08:30,833 is to point others to the one who represents 143 00:08:31,950 --> 00:08:33,600 God in flesh, to 144 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,766 who is the one that has come to save the world, 145 00:08:37,766 --> 00:08:42,650 and that is the the beautiful witness that that sets off the tone. 146 00:08:42,650 --> 00:08:45,650 And, you know, if you're going to think about 147 00:08:45,900 --> 00:08:49,783 gospel starts and you want to think about the beginning of Jesus's story, 148 00:08:49,783 --> 00:08:53,600 I think most of us, Clint, we think of the Christmas story. 149 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:55,466 We think of angels and shepherds, 150 00:08:55,466 --> 00:08:59,000 and we think of nativity scenes and all these things. 151 00:08:59,250 --> 00:09:02,450 But in the Gospel of John, the most important 152 00:09:02,933 --> 00:09:05,933 introductory character is none of these. 153 00:09:05,950 --> 00:09:11,483 It's rather a person fully grown, simply recognizing Christ 154 00:09:11,483 --> 00:09:15,600 for who he is and giving witness to those who come asking about him, saying, 155 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,600 this is who Jesus is. He is the Messiah. 156 00:09:18,750 --> 00:09:21,600 And that that is an amazing sort 157 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:24,800 of opening invitation to to what's going to follow. 158 00:09:24,900 --> 00:09:27,900 We've noted this before, but the other thing that's 159 00:09:28,583 --> 00:09:31,850 sort of noticeably absent in 160 00:09:33,466 --> 00:09:33,983 John's 161 00:09:33,983 --> 00:09:37,516 gospel is, at least at this point, prophecy. 162 00:09:37,516 --> 00:09:40,516 All of the other gospels 163 00:09:42,016 --> 00:09:43,550 equate the coming of 164 00:09:43,550 --> 00:09:46,550 Jesus with predictions and forecasts. 165 00:09:46,583 --> 00:09:50,400 The closest we get here is this reference to Isaiah. 166 00:09:50,750 --> 00:09:53,816 But it's fairly minimal. 167 00:09:53,816 --> 00:09:55,733 And so 168 00:09:55,733 --> 00:09:59,100 John tends to focus on the moment at hand 169 00:09:59,100 --> 00:10:03,566 and tells the story with a kind of current urgency. 170 00:10:03,566 --> 00:10:06,416 And so that that's what we have here. 171 00:10:06,416 --> 00:10:07,666 I'm who are you? 172 00:10:07,666 --> 00:10:10,650 I'm the one making straight the way of the Lord. 173 00:10:10,650 --> 00:10:14,566 And we don't need, we don't get, nor do we need a lot of reference for what 174 00:10:14,566 --> 00:10:15,833 that means. 175 00:10:15,833 --> 00:10:18,716 We continue verse 20 for the next couple verses. 176 00:10:18,716 --> 00:10:23,400 So they asked him they had been sent from the Pharisees and they asked him, why 177 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:27,450 then are you baptizing if you're neither the Messiah nor Elijah, nor the prophet? 178 00:10:28,016 --> 00:10:30,533 John answered, I baptize with water. 179 00:10:30,533 --> 00:10:35,400 Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me. 180 00:10:35,850 --> 00:10:38,850 I'm not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal. 181 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:44,366 This took place in Bethany, across the Jordan from where John was baptizing. 182 00:10:45,650 --> 00:10:47,183 So, here 183 00:10:47,183 --> 00:10:50,266 we have this reference to John being the Baptizer. 184 00:10:50,266 --> 00:10:51,983 We call him John the Baptist. 185 00:10:51,983 --> 00:10:55,700 But Baptizer is probably a better translation 186 00:10:55,700 --> 00:10:59,866 of some of the titles, at least as they often appear in the Greek. 187 00:11:00,266 --> 00:11:02,933 He's the one who baptizes in baptism. 188 00:11:02,933 --> 00:11:04,066 There's history out there. 189 00:11:04,066 --> 00:11:04,950 You can get into it. 190 00:11:04,950 --> 00:11:07,850 We won't take the time to dive deeply into it. 191 00:11:07,850 --> 00:11:10,516 It was not a practice that John established. 192 00:11:10,516 --> 00:11:15,466 It had grown in some popularity, but it wasn't a widespread practice 193 00:11:15,466 --> 00:11:19,583 among the Jewish faith, though in small places, small, 194 00:11:21,300 --> 00:11:22,666 in certain places 195 00:11:22,666 --> 00:11:26,966 and in small minorities, it was practiced. 196 00:11:27,266 --> 00:11:30,450 And here John seems to have had a great 197 00:11:30,450 --> 00:11:33,466 following of people who responded to it. 198 00:11:33,466 --> 00:11:35,333 The idea was repentance. 199 00:11:35,333 --> 00:11:37,766 The idea was, 200 00:11:37,766 --> 00:11:40,650 turning away from your sin of being washed. 201 00:11:40,650 --> 00:11:43,650 It had that kind of symbolism, symbolism in it. 202 00:11:44,416 --> 00:11:47,700 It is not inherently Christian, though. 203 00:11:47,700 --> 00:11:51,650 It becomes fully Christianized in the wake of the gospel 204 00:11:51,950 --> 00:11:55,666 and in the testimony and work of John the Baptist. 205 00:11:55,666 --> 00:11:56,666 And really, 206 00:11:57,900 --> 00:12:00,266 his place in the 207 00:12:00,266 --> 00:12:04,366 story cements baptism as a kind of Christian ritual 208 00:12:04,366 --> 00:12:08,666 that ends up becoming one of the things we even call sacrament. 209 00:12:09,050 --> 00:12:12,650 So actually, baptism is one of the components of this 210 00:12:12,650 --> 00:12:16,816 that is so confusing to the religious leaders who come 211 00:12:17,150 --> 00:12:18,600 because we have the Pharisees. 212 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:22,100 And you may know that the Pharisees represent a group 213 00:12:22,100 --> 00:12:25,283 within the Judean faith 214 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:28,316 that was taking very seriously. 215 00:12:28,316 --> 00:12:31,850 The moral law, the the sort of handing down 216 00:12:31,850 --> 00:12:35,366 of the faith and trying to live that out in very concrete ways. 217 00:12:35,366 --> 00:12:40,200 So here, baptism in the Jewish tradition is certainly the Pharisees 218 00:12:40,433 --> 00:12:43,800 interpretation of it was connected to the end times. 219 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,550 It was connected to everything being fulfilled. 220 00:12:46,550 --> 00:12:49,816 And so here, there they at this point, 221 00:12:49,816 --> 00:12:53,216 the story, are likely asking this as a legitimate question. 222 00:12:53,216 --> 00:12:56,216 There's there's likely not a whole lot of, 223 00:12:56,300 --> 00:13:01,433 sort of argument or force behind it yet on the curiosity, if you are neither 224 00:13:01,433 --> 00:13:05,516 the Messiah nor Elijah, nor the prophet, then why are you baptizing it? 225 00:13:05,850 --> 00:13:09,050 And when John answers, this is an amazing statement. 226 00:13:09,533 --> 00:13:11,400 I baptize with water. 227 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:11,750 And one 228 00:13:11,750 --> 00:13:15,950 commentator makes the point of saying, this is written to almost have the force. 229 00:13:15,950 --> 00:13:18,833 I only baptize with water. 230 00:13:18,833 --> 00:13:24,316 And that is the amazing kind of witness and testimony we see in John, a kind of 231 00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:28,516 really unparalleled humility of a person from day one 232 00:13:28,966 --> 00:13:31,650 who is not striving for self. 233 00:13:31,650 --> 00:13:35,483 I think of someone like Peter, another example of a of a very prominent 234 00:13:35,483 --> 00:13:38,716 biblical character and we know, 235 00:13:39,016 --> 00:13:42,166 as we see Peter's story told in the Gospels 236 00:13:42,166 --> 00:13:46,433 that he struggled to to hear what Jesus was saying. 237 00:13:46,433 --> 00:13:51,800 He often got off place, either trying to build a tabernacle for Jesus, or 238 00:13:52,216 --> 00:13:52,916 he was trying 239 00:13:52,916 --> 00:13:56,900 to, you know, gain power and privilege in the places where they were here. 240 00:13:56,900 --> 00:14:00,266 John the Baptist is simply out in the wilderness. 241 00:14:00,266 --> 00:14:02,966 And here, this place, Bethany, that we talk about, 242 00:14:02,966 --> 00:14:07,250 it is really an unknown place to the archeological record. 243 00:14:07,250 --> 00:14:08,416 So it's a small place. 244 00:14:08,416 --> 00:14:10,316 It's out in the middle of nowhere. 245 00:14:10,316 --> 00:14:12,083 It's kind of off the beaten path. 246 00:14:12,083 --> 00:14:16,350 And even there, John is trying to set the path straight. 247 00:14:16,350 --> 00:14:18,350 He's trying to proclaim the good news. 248 00:14:18,350 --> 00:14:23,550 He's trying to, say to the people what they need to hear 249 00:14:23,550 --> 00:14:27,916 so that their hearts might be prepared to receive the Christ who is coming. 250 00:14:27,916 --> 00:14:33,083 I think that's what is so amazing about how John tells this story. 251 00:14:33,083 --> 00:14:36,083 It's both, on one hand, telling us 252 00:14:36,566 --> 00:14:40,683 that Jesus is a person who is great enough and powerful, 253 00:14:40,700 --> 00:14:44,100 not because he's the Word of God taking flesh, 254 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,450 that it's right for someone to proclaim his arrival. 255 00:14:48,083 --> 00:14:52,800 On the other hand, if that isn't done, if we aren't baptized, 256 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,883 if we're not transformed and clean from the inside out, 257 00:14:56,066 --> 00:15:00,900 then we won't be ready to know and to understand the story of Jesus Christ. 258 00:15:01,350 --> 00:15:06,450 And also, John is the kind of character who represents an ideal, or a call 259 00:15:06,450 --> 00:15:09,600 or a purpose for every Christian that follows Christ that, 260 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,950 in other words, just like John was there proclaiming this. 261 00:15:13,950 --> 00:15:17,600 So Christians too are called to proclaim just as he gave testimony. 262 00:15:17,700 --> 00:15:19,966 So to we are to give testimony that. 263 00:15:19,966 --> 00:15:23,600 So there are many, many layers functioning in the text like this. 264 00:15:23,816 --> 00:15:26,516 And I think every single one of them is important 265 00:15:26,516 --> 00:15:29,900 because 28 verses of chapter one, 266 00:15:30,466 --> 00:15:35,416 we've yet to have the first word of Jesus that's going to come next week, Monday. 267 00:15:35,816 --> 00:15:36,616 Join us for that. 268 00:15:36,616 --> 00:15:39,900 But up to this point, we've had this beautiful prolog, 269 00:15:39,900 --> 00:15:42,916 the theological foundation that's been laid. 270 00:15:43,283 --> 00:15:46,283 Now you have the first witness to the glory of Christ, 271 00:15:46,466 --> 00:15:48,533 and now we're going to see Christ himself. 272 00:15:48,533 --> 00:15:50,750 And John's built that for some purpose. 273 00:15:50,750 --> 00:15:53,666 It's kind of a matter of perspective, but one of the things 274 00:15:53,666 --> 00:15:58,216 that scholars wonder about is that in this opening 275 00:15:58,216 --> 00:16:01,216 part of the gospel, the first few chapters, 276 00:16:01,350 --> 00:16:04,350 there is a kind of comparison 277 00:16:04,816 --> 00:16:07,816 of John and Jesus, and the speculation is 278 00:16:08,216 --> 00:16:12,416 that John is aware of a community that lifts 279 00:16:12,916 --> 00:16:17,933 John the Baptist up, perhaps, in his opinion, too highly. 280 00:16:17,933 --> 00:16:21,916 And so while he simultaneously celebrates 281 00:16:22,133 --> 00:16:26,366 John's role in the gospel, as the Herald, as the announcer, 282 00:16:27,083 --> 00:16:30,383 as we go through this, notice how many times John 283 00:16:30,383 --> 00:16:33,416 is going to say things like, I'm not the Messiah. 284 00:16:33,416 --> 00:16:35,066 He's greater than I am. 285 00:16:35,066 --> 00:16:38,216 He must turn into more while I turn into less. 286 00:16:39,266 --> 00:16:41,516 That any 287 00:16:41,516 --> 00:16:46,500 any comparison that could be made is addressed by John, 288 00:16:46,500 --> 00:16:52,016 the author in the gospel to make sure that his readers understand 289 00:16:52,433 --> 00:16:58,133 that Jesus is in the superior role here, that John is a servant, 290 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:03,716 a willing one, a knowledgeable one on an incredibly important one, 291 00:17:03,983 --> 00:17:09,533 but that he himself understands he is a subordinate to Jesus. 292 00:17:09,533 --> 00:17:13,550 And that has again just led some to speculate that 293 00:17:13,966 --> 00:17:18,266 maybe John is aware of some questions along those lines, 294 00:17:18,450 --> 00:17:22,466 and he just wants to make sure he provides absolute clarification. 295 00:17:22,466 --> 00:17:25,466 That's not so much a part of the text as it is with 296 00:17:25,766 --> 00:17:29,550 what people have wondered about the text, but you will notice 297 00:17:29,550 --> 00:17:33,166 that as we go through these first couple chapters, whenever John shows up, 298 00:17:33,683 --> 00:17:37,166 he clearly understands his relationship to Jesus 299 00:17:37,166 --> 00:17:41,333 to be one of underling underneath servant. 300 00:17:41,333 --> 00:17:44,033 And that's important in in the context. 301 00:17:44,033 --> 00:17:46,850 And it creates a kind of tension even within this gospel client. 302 00:17:46,850 --> 00:17:48,200 Because on one hand, 303 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,266 John is such an important character because of the witness he gives. 304 00:17:51,266 --> 00:17:55,283 And on the other hand, the gospel writer John doesn't want us to give John. 305 00:17:55,283 --> 00:17:58,366 To or. Credence that he's do either. 306 00:17:58,816 --> 00:18:03,500 That is a that's a balancing act that is intended to be held in tension. 307 00:18:03,750 --> 00:18:06,716 And yeah, that's absolutely purposeful. 308 00:18:06,716 --> 00:18:08,933 Hope that you found this conversation interesting. 309 00:18:08,933 --> 00:18:12,350 Hope that you might join us for the study as we continue. 310 00:18:12,350 --> 00:18:15,200 Indeed, next week on Mondays, we continue together. 311 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:16,516 We're going to come right 312 00:18:16,516 --> 00:18:20,216 into the heart of Jesus's arrival and some of those first words from him 313 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,666 and hope that you will be part of the continuing study as we learn, 314 00:18:23,900 --> 00:18:24,916 not just about the 315 00:18:24,916 --> 00:18:28,883 I am not that we discovered today, but the image of Jesus to come. 316 00:18:28,883 --> 00:18:30,683 So subscribe so you get more of that. 317 00:18:30,683 --> 00:18:33,683 I like this video if you found it helpful and we will see you next week. 318 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:34,566 Have a great weekend!