I begin with a theological discussion of John 1:6-8, 19-28. In verses 6-8, the prologue emphasizes John the Baptist as a witness to the light that has come into the darkness through the Word. The divine origin of the mission of John means we need to receive him in a way different from the way we would if he were simply an insightful human being. As such, consistent with four important themes of the Gospel of John, he is a (1) witness who (2) testifies to the (3) light, so that people might (4) believe through the Word. The author emphasizes that John was not the light. The world lives in darkness, but nothing so tames the terrors of the darkness for us than light. The Word is that light that falls upon a humanity who lives in darkness. God has directed the light of the Word toward human beings. Human beings will find their life as they open themselves to this Word, and therefore to this light and grace.[1] Verses 19-28 are the testimony of John the Baptist concerning his role. John offers his testimony referred to in verses 6-7 in a progression of three days, which is of symbolic significance, moving from a negative role for John, to a positive statement of who Jesus is, to sending his own disciples to follow Jesus. John takes the one trial of Jesus in the Synoptics and makes it apply throughout Jesus’ ministry. Legal terms abound. John the Baptist is under interrogation.[2] Although the book does not designate it as one of the signs of Jesus in the opening chapters of this gospel, the witness of John is the first sign. In this gospel, John Jesus work concurrently. By leading the first disciples to Jesus, John lays the foundations of the believing community that gathers round Jesus and receives his revelation fruitfully. The self-revelation of Jesus has already begun in this section. Nevertheless, in all he does and in all he says, the Baptist always witnesses to Jesus and his messianic identity. The occasion of the testimony of John are the questions designed to discover his identity and he addresses his testimony to the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem who had sent priests and Levites to John. The form it takes begins with a denial that he is the Messiah. The emissaries pressed him as to whether he was Elijah, referring Mal 4:5, where Elijah will appear at the end of time to prepare the world for the imminent arrival of the Messiah. His denial contrasts with Jesus, who identifies John as Elijah (Matthew 11:14, Mark 9:13=Matthew 17:12) in saying that Elijah has come, and the authorities did what they pleased with him. The early church certainly viewed the Baptist as the promised Elijah (Mark 1:2). In asking if John is the prophet, the emissaries refer to a tradition reflected in other part of the biblical tradition. I Maccabees 4:46 looks forward to a prophet who will tell the priests what to do with the desecrated stones of the altar. I Maccabees 14:41 refers to the appointment of a priest until a trustworthy prophet arises. Qumran famously looked forward to a prophet. Acts 3:22 refers to the promise of Moses that a prophet like him would come (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18). By the first century, many Jewish writers interpreted it as an apocalyptic promise who would announce the arrival of the Messiah. Given all of this, we might have some surprise that this gospel has the Baptist reject either title. As the emissaries press John concerning his identity, he begins with an “I am” statement that will major theme of this gospel. He identifies himself with the voice crying in the wilderness to make straight the way of the Lord in Isa 40:3. If he is not the Messiah, Elijah, or the prophet, the emissaries sent by the Pharisees press him further in asking why he is baptizing, showing that his action of baptism remains a mystery to them. Thus, even if John related to the Essene community, as many scholars suggest, his practice of baptism is different from that community, in which baptism was part of the entry into their community and was part of their regular purification rituals. Yet, John downplays his baptizing activity, admitting that he baptizes with water, contrasting himself with the important arrival of another coming after him, alluding to the greatness of the one yet to come, whose sandal he is unworthy to untie. The modesty of John is shown in his willingness to step aside when this one comes. The occasion of this first testimony is further identified as Bethany in Transjordan, unknown from any other source.
I now share some exegetical and homiletical reflections.
In John 1:6-8, the prologue emphasizes that John the Baptist as a witness to the light. It acknowledges that 6John was a man sent from God. This recognition of the divine origin of his mission means we need to receive him in a way different from the way we would if he were simply an insightful human being. Such insight arises from within their reflection on their experiences. John, as insightful as he may or may not have been, derives his authority from the divine origin of his mission.[3] As such, 7he came as a witness, a theme of this gospel, to testify, another theme, to the light, so that all might believe, another theme, through the Word. Only a few of the prophets lived to see the results of their witness. Moses did not. Jeremiah did not. It also stresses that 8he himself was not the light. We are those who live in darkness. Nothing so tames the terrors of the darkness like a light, a voice. Christ is our light, the light of the world. The gospel opens by focusing upon the Word as the light that falls upon humanity. This light is the grace of Jesus Christ. God directs this Light toward human beings. Thus, we are not isolated individuals. Human beings will find their life as they open themselves to this Word, and therefore to this light and grace.[4]
Victor Frankl wrote a classic account of his experiences in a Nazi death camp, Man's Search for Meaning. Frankl was taken to a camp. He had been a successful therapist. While in the camp, he spent his time observing himself and his fellow inmates. In fact, his curiosity, his inner determination to learn and to grow even in this horrible setting were major factors in his survival. Frankl noted that some of the prisoners just wasted away and died quickly, even though they had no discernible physical ailments. He recalls a man who one day was doing well, considering the deplorable conditions of the camp. The man often talked of his dream to get out of the camp and to reunite with his dear wife. Then the man received word that his wife had died in another prison camp. And in just a couple of days, the man died. Frankl concluded that the man died, not because of some bodily ailment, not because he lacked food or water, but because he lacked hope. He lacked hope that there was anything to be had beyond the darkness of the bleak prison camp, that there was anything beyond the present anguish of the Nazis and their brutality. We can live, said Frankl, longer without bread than we can live without hope.
Nazi authorities sent Rabbi Hugo Grynn to Auschwitz as a little boy. Amid the concentration camp, amid the death and horror all around them, many Jews held onto whatever shreds of their religious observance they could without drawing the ire of the guards. One cold winter’s evening, Hugo’s father gathered the family in the barracks. It was the first night of Chanukah, the Feast of Lights. The young child watched in horror as his father took the family’s last pad of butter and made a makeshift candle using a string from his ragged clothes. He then took a match and lit the candle. “Father, no!” Hugo cried. “That butter is our last bit of food! How will we survive!” “We can live for many days without food,” his father said. “We cannot live for a single minute without hope. This is the fire of hope. Never let it go out. Not here. Not anywhere.” [5]
A candle light is a protest at midnight.
It is a non-conformist.
It says to the darkness,
“I beg to differ!”[6]
In her novel, The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan tells of a group of Chinese women who had been brutalized and horrified by the atrocities of the Japanese invasion in the 1930s and '40s. These women asked "How much can you wish for a warm coat that hangs in the closet of a house that burned down with your mother and father in it? How long can you see in your mind arms and legs hanging from telephone wires and starving dogs running down the street with half-chewed hands dangling from their mouths?" Such chaos created terror in their hearts. They had a choice. They could sit and contemplate such horrors with somber faces, or they could "choose their own happiness." Therefore, the four women chose to organize a club. They met once a week over the best meal they could prepare. They played games and told good stories that made them "laugh to death." They could win ten thousand yuan and still not have anything because toilet paper was worth more than paper money! "That made us laugh harder, to think that a thousand-yuan note was not even good enough to rub on our bottoms." They chose their own luck - to laugh at the absurdity and ambiguity of the world around them. They made their own luck during the disaster of war. They named their weekly parties the "Joy Luck Club."
The theme of John 1:19-28 is the testimony of John the Baptist concerning his role.
Some scholarly discussion suggests that John the Baptist may have come out of the Essene community at Qumran. Ritual baptisms, repeated ablutions, were a common part of this community's attempts to live a life of spiritual purity. Even if that faith community did play a part in John the Baptist's life, he does not take this moment of inquiry about his baptismal practices in a positive sense. John offers his testimony in a progression of three days, which is of symbolic significance, moving from a negative role for John, to a positive statement of who Jesus is, to sending his own disciples to follow Jesus. John takes the one trial of Jesus in the Synoptics and makes it apply throughout Jesus’ ministry. Legal terms abound. John the Baptist is under interrogation.[7]
While John 1:19-12:50 focuses on the acts and wonders Jesus performed during his ministry, the first "sign" in this "book" is the witness of John the Baptist. In John's gospel, however, recurring references to the Baptist suggest that Jesus and John preached and baptized concurrently for some time (see John 3:22‑30; 10:40‑42). He does not merely go before Jesus, as in the Synoptics, he works beside him and for him. By leading the first disciples to Jesus, John lays the foundations of the believing community that gathers round Jesus and receives his revelation fruitfully. The self-revelation of Jesus has already begun in this section. Nevertheless, in all he does and in all he says, the Baptist always witnesses to Jesus and his messianic identity.
19 This is the testimony given by John offers gains some content. We learned in verses 6-7 that God sent John to offer testimony. Here, John will give his testimony. The setting is when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, with the intent of discovering his identity, “Who are you?” It seems as if these authorities are on a fishing expedition. For the reader, John has already made it clear that witnesses to the light and is therefore not the light. The gospel develops the content of this testimony by explaining the occasion on which the Baptist offers it, to whom he addresses it, and the form it will take. The consistent testimony to Christ is how this gospel presents the Baptist. Note the honesty of John in his response. He must have had some temptation to present himself as an important person. We all know clergy who cannot resist gorgeous robes and accouterments, and who dearly loves a principal place at the chancel when the crowds gather. Yet, 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” The affirmation of Jesus as the promised Jewish Messiah is the primary interest of this gospel. The emissaries will not allow the Baptist to dismiss them so easily. 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” Malachi 4:5 declares that the prophet Elijah will appear at the end of time to prepare the world for the imminent arrival of the Messiah. Jesus identifies the Baptist as Elijah (Matthew 11:14, Mark 9:13=Matthew 17:12) in saying that Elijah has come, and the authorities did what they pleased with him. The early church certainly viewed the Baptist as the promised Elijah (Mark 1:2). The emissaries ask again “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” I Maccabees 4:46 looks forward to a prophet who will tell the priests what to do with the desecrated stones of the altar. I Maccabees 14:41 refers to the appointment of a priest until a trustworthy prophet arises. Qumran famously looked forward to a prophet. Acts 3:22 refers to the promise of Moses that a prophet like him would come (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18). By the first century, many Jewish writers interpreted it as an apocalyptic promise who would announce the arrival of the Messiah. Given all of this, we might have some surprise that this gospel has the Baptist reject either title. All of this, however, may have behind it the continuing existence of a Baptist sect that did view him as the Messiah. We can also see evidence of this in the Pseudo-Clementine literature from the 200s AD. The emissaries seem frustrated and demand he reveal his identity, 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” The Baptist finally identifies himself: “I am, this gospel having a major theme of “I am” statements by Jesus, but the Baptist is the one who begins this form of self-identification, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ” as the prophet Isaiah 40:3 said. While this gospel opens with identifying Jesus as the divine Word, John is this voice for the moment.[8] The Baptist views himself as the one whose role is to announce the appearance of Christ. John is waiting. He says that this one for whom he is preparing is one who is great. Nevertheless, John does not seem to know many details. He does not know how this one is coming, and he does not know when this one is coming. He only knows that his coming will be light in the darkness; his coming will be that great advent for which people are expecting.
We speak of waiting in too negative a sense. Show me a person who is not waiting, not yearning, not leaning forward, standing on tiptoes hoping for something better, and I will show you a person who has given up hope for anything better, someone who has settled down too comfortably in present arrangements. That is sad. The future belongs to those who wait, for those who know that God intends something better for us. The present darkness is not our destination.
Yet, this response does not impress the emissaries. 24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” The activity of baptism by the Baptist remains a mystery them. It becomes clear that baptism in this context prepares the people for divine intervention. Thus, 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. The Baptist downplays his baptizing activity by contrasting with the far more important arrival of another. Yet, among you stands one whom you do not know. Even the Baptist refrains from the Messiah title at this point in applying it to Jesus. Some religious people think they know everything. John knew that he did not know. He was waiting. Rather, he identifies him as 27 the one who is coming after me. This phrase may well summarize the expectations of John. He alludes to the greatness of the one yet to come. John’s mission was to announce to people the fulfillment of their long-awaited hopes and dreams. He further says I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal. Note the modesty of John. He was ready to step aside to make way for Jesus. He equates his status before the one to come as less than the status of a slave. A rabbinic axiom, however, says that a disciple will offer to do any service for the teacher, except that of unfastening sandals. The gospel then further identifies the place where this exchange takes place as 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. The place, which would be in Transjordan, is unknown from any other source.
John was a man of exceptional courage. Abraham Lincoln told about the fellow whom the people tarred, feathered, and rode him out of town on a rail. Abe quoted the man as saying, “If it were not for the honor of the thing, I would just as soon it was someone else.” John must have felt that way.
John the Baptist proclaims the advent of a new world, yet it is a world that is not totally new because it is a world based upon the promises of God to Israel. The story of John builds upon this historic expectation for deliverance that the prophets lovingly nurtured in Israel, expectations of which Isaiah 61 so beautifully writes. Martin Luther King Jr. also built upon the historic promises of this nation to its citizens, all its citizens, in this famous speech about King's dream:
I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
This is our hope. This is our faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together... knowing we will be free one day.
...And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from very village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children - black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and to sing in the words of that old Negro spiritual, "Free at Last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"[9]
[1] Barth (Church Dogmatics, II.2 [36.1] 539)
[2] Raymond Brown
[3] Soren Kierkegaard, 1847, the difference between a genius and an apostle.
[4] Barth (Church Dogmatics, II.2 [36.1] 539)
[5] Tom Long tells this story
[6] (Peter Storey. With God in the Crucible: Preaching Costly Discipleship, [Nashville; Abingdon Press, 2002], 33, 142.)
[7] Raymond Brown
[8] Augustine.
[9] (Quoted by Doris G. Kinney, Life, Special Issue: The Dream, Then and Now, "The Poetry of Protest: A Sampling of His Message, Which Rang Out Across the Nation," Spring 1988, p. 9.)
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