The character of the Baptist is thought to be modelled on Elijah who gave his cloak to Elisha upon his death. As Elisha succeeded Elijah so Jesus succeeded the Baptist who was of the Levite caste, of the line of Aaron who served as High Priests. The priests took turns to attend the Jerusalem Temple, burning incense, sacrificing animals, tending the lamps, renewing shewbread, all pertaining to the 23rd chapter of Leviticus. John could have continued this privileged work but chose to baptise in the name of forgiveness in the Jordan. Another type of priestly work unrelated to the purchase and burning of animals.
Just as Abraham and Sarah bore a son in their elderly years, and Samson, the hero was born also of elderly parents, the Baptist was born of an angelic miracle. His elderly mother Elizabeth was a descendant of the high priest, Aaron, and was too old to have the child she had always prayed for. Her husband, Zacharias was the High Priest of the Jerusalem Temple, of the eighth class, that of Abia.
Twice a day in the Temple, the high priest performed the offering of incense on the altar of perfumes in the holy of holies, hidden behind a veil, the smoke of which represented the prayers of the faithful outside. One day, an Angel appeared to him in this place, announcing that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son in answer to prayer. The Angel insisted on a number of vows pertaining to the Nazarites: no wine, to live under the shield of Elijah, to prepare the way of the Messiah in words used by the ancient prophet Malachi. Zacharias asked for a sign to show this experience was real. “I am the Angel Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and has been sent by him. And I strike you dumb until the days when this prophecy shall come to pass.” Zacharias remained unable to speak until after the baby was delivered. Would the child be named after his father? Elizabeth insisted on the name Johanan that in Hebrew means Gift of God. Zacharias wrote that the child’s name would be Johanan, and then he spoke “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. And has raised up salvation for us. And our child shall be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people through the remission of their sins. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”
When Elizabeth declared she was pregnant, she was visited by Mary, her cousin who was carrying her son, Jesus. John lept in her womb. John grew to be unlike Zacharias and the priestly role he held in the Jerusalem Temple. John went into the desert to pray and he prophesied, and chastised, and baptised people in the Jordan river in the name of forgiveness. His prophetic ministry was as of the Old Testament prophets, Elijah, Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah, and Isaiah, to call out evil and wrongdoing through repentance and to prepare the way of the Messiah. “O, generation of vipers, flee from the wrath to come. Every tree which brings no good fruit will be hewn down and cast into the fire.” His baptising in water was his own individualised person rite of transformation and redemption.
Like Jesus, John was also in prophecy. He was described as one crying in the wilderness, to make way for the lord, make straight his path because he will gather the wheat and burn the chaff in the fire. He lived simply, ate locusts and honey, wore a robe of camel hair, and like Elijah, he wore a leather girdle round his loins. The times were desperate as the land of the Jews was oppressed by the Romans, and the Jewish religious leaders were obsessed extremists without true caring spirituality. John was the herald of the ministry of Jesus. He baptised with water but spoke of one who would come after him who would baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Malachi foretold that the Messiah would have a forerunner. John baptised Jesus in the Jordan, setting up the rite of Christian baptism. When John saw Jesus approach, he cried out “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. This baptism in the Jordan by John began Jesus’s three year ministry.
John was the first son of a High Priest, a position handed down from father to son, but he became a preacher who baptised in the name of remission of sins, laying his hands upon the forehead of the baptised. His message was the forgiveness, and charitable works. “Do violence against no man. He that has two coats should gave one to the poor. Give food likewise.” Herod Antipas, a puppet king appointed by the Romans, sat upon the Judean throne. John accused him of adultery, having married his brother’s wife, Herodias, and this brought about his ten month imprisonment in the fortress of Marcherus and his death by beheading. Before John was killed, he sent two messengers to ask Jesus if he was the awaited one, and Jesus sent his reply via a messenger, “Tell John what you see and hear, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, leprosy is cured”. Jesus spoke of justice, generosity, truth and mercy, and in so doing, he showed, as the son of god, a kinder and more loving father god.
It is said by tradition, that John’s disciples took his remains to the land of the Samaritans, and buried them at Sebaste, now a mosque. Jesus said “There is not a greater prophet than John”. His feast day is 29th August. The Baptist was the first martyr. The Hospital of St John of Jerusalem was built on the said site of the birth of the Baptist and named after him. Sebastia has a crusader cathedral said to be on the site of the Baptist’s grave.
John may have been an Essene, and they might have used the sacred rite of baptism, water itself being a sacrament. Current followers of John the Baptist are known as Ebionites. Man deans still exist as a community calling themselves “Christians according to St John” and their holy book is “Rechter Ginza which describes Yahya-Yohanne. He said when he baptised Jesus “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. This was revolutionary because killing and burning animals awas the daily task of the high priest and John is sometimes said to be the last High Priest.
The words of Zacharias! Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant, David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been, since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath, which he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us deliverance from the hands of our enemies, to serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the Days of our life, and your child will be called the prophet of the highest, and will go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God which the day will spring from and has visited us. To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Wendy Stokes https://wendystokes.co.uk Published June issue 2021 Catholic Directory.
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