Greatest John Of All Time
Notes
Transcript
G.J.O.A.T. (Greatest John of All Time)
Luke 1:5-25; Luke 1:57-66; Matthew 11:11
All four gospels begin Jesus’ ministry with his more popular cousin: John. John was a one-man spiritual revolution, a national superstar, and a prophet in the ancient tradition. He was among the greatest humans ever born. And yet, he saw his Purpose as “Preparing the way of the Lord.” Preparing for Jesus. That is what we are doing in the coming series. Preparing the way for Jesus, the Master himself, giving the Masterclass in life and how to live it. For “the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.”
Cousins
Cousins
What must it be like to have an awesome older cousin? It’s hard for me to imagine. ;)
For those who don’t know, Adam back there is my first cousin.
We were always compared to Adam and Eric. Mainly because Jono, my brother, and I fought all the time… and Adam and Eric never fought. Holy children. Good children.
Blessed with the Holy Spirit from birth… or something like that.
You ever wonder what it was like to grow up with Jesus as your older brother? Like, we talk about that with James and the others.
Some traditions has Jesus’ brothers as “cousins” since they claim Mary remained a virgin… but you have to get real creative with the Scripture and there was no tradition of that for centuries after the life of Jesus. “Stuff they made up later.”
Jesus did have a cousin, though. John the Baptist. Jesus’ 2nd cousin at best, though Mary and Elizabeth could have been more distantly related and were considered of different tribes...
Their moms were at least close enough that Mary went to visit Elizabeth when she got pregnant.
Jesus’ third, fourth or fifth cousin??? But family, and since the moms were close, I bet they grew up together in some fashion.
Now, keep in mind that Jesus lived a couple years in Bethlehem… and then some years in Egypt, but then back to the general region where Mary and Zechariah and John were living.
Here’s something interesting.
All of the gospels begin Jesus’ ministry… with John.
Why???
Who was this guy?
He didn’t seem to know that Jesus was the Messiah at first, perhaps… but can you imagine their moms trading birth stories???
You know Jesus’ story, the “Christmas” story… we’re going to skip that one. You may have heard John’s story as part of the Christmas story… but consider it on it’s own. It’s a solid Bible Super Hero origin story:
Origin Story
Origin Story
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.
7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty,
9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.
11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,
17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple.
22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.
23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying,
25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
Question: Does Zechariah being cursed with silence have anything to do with Elizabeth finally getting pregnant? I’ll leave that for your personal bible study time.
57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.
58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father,
60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.”
61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.”
62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called.
63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered.
64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.
65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea,
66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
And then Zechariah has this great prophecy and song of thanksgiving… and he says of John...
Holding the baby like Simba, probably...
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
and then finally:
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Wait what? How? How or when did he go out into the wilderness???
Maybe after growing up with Jesus… maybe before and that’s why he doesn’t immediately say “Hey, cous!”
Some scholars contend that “out in the wilderness” means a connection to the Essenes, a people who took themselves away from corrupting Roman and Greek culture, like monasteries dedicated to holiness. Maybe John left and went and learned there… although his ultimate message doesn’t exactly line up with theirs. More about that next week.
But from his epic origin...
He disappears into the wilderness. and the Wilderness is a sign throughout Scripture of God’s testing, and ideally purification.
God prepares John for ministry in the wilderness.
God prepares Jesus for ministry in obscurity, too, for the most part. Interesting. But John goes off the map.
And then… when he comes back on the map, he’s bigger than Elvis.
John’s Ministry
John’s Ministry
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ”
4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Somehow, John captures the absolute epitome of “the prophet” in the imagination of the Jewish people.
Jewish folks practicing Sader send a child out to look for Elijah. How do they know who they are looking for? Here’s the one description we get. When Elijah sends word to the king that he’s going to die, Ahaziah recognizes him through this description. …and then sends fifty men, three times, to kill him and they all die.
Elijah. Hairy dude with a leather belt.
7 He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?” 8 They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
So… same. If the kid walks out of the Sader looking for Elijah and sees John??? Come on in!!! “Elijah’s here!”
4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Eating locusts? Bible says no winged insects… but it specifically calls out winged ones with jointed legs, like “locusts of any kind...” go nuts.
So John eats locusts and wild honey. Doesn’t drink wine. Not as popular as the “Daniel Diet” for some reason.
He’s of the priestly family, his dad was a priest, like Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Isaiah.
Further, he comes in the “spirit of Elijah”, as Jesus says. In initial fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy that Elijah would come before the “Day of the Lord.” (Though we do expect a further fulfillment, for Elijah comes before the final judgment as well.)
We will talk more about John’s message next week. The call to repentance, the urgency of it, for the “kingdom of heaven is at hand...”
But for now, just trying to understand who this guy was.
5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
all Judea and all the region about the Jordan.
So the Jordan stretches from above the Sea of Galilee, then South below it to the Dead Sea. So everyone in the “Jordan” area was going to see John… but from how far away?
Mark says it this way:
5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
So not just the boonies, the big city folks too. We’ll see, the Pharisees and Sadducees were going to. Not just the poor folks, it got popular enough that the rich folks, the influential folks, the religious powers were going.
Think Elvis and Beatles. Not worldwide, sure, but this corner of the world.
Think Billy Graham or Joel Osteen. Think back to George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards. Everyone who was anyone was going to hear this guy speak. To see him for themselves. And before there was a “Jesus Movement”… there was a “John Movement”...
All going to be baptized. That was revolutionary in its own way, more about that next week :D.
All of the gospels begin Jesus’ ministry… with John.
Why???
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ”
That echoes the prophecy his Dad made over him.
More than that, it is a familiar prophecy of Isaiah. It goes on “every valley lifted up… every mountain and hill made low… the glory of the LORD shall be revealed.
He “prepared the way of the Lord.” Simply: He made the people ready for Jesus.
He made the people ready for Jesus.
He made the people ready for Jesus.
Ready to hear him, ready to understand baptism in its fulness, ready for repentance, ready to behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Again, God’s timing is perfect. In the “fulness” of time. And can God create a person just for the purpose of making Jesus’ path straight? Yup.
In fact… maybe that’s why every person ever is created. To give greater glory, to create greater glory, all glory and honor is his and always has been.
But John, in particular, is given this mission. To “prepare the way of the Lord.”
And Jesus puts him among the Greatest Of All Time.
The greatest man who ever lived? At least among them. And yet...
11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
That’s… intimidating. How could I possibly be greater that John?
Preparing the Way
Preparing the Way
The absolute greatest thing we can do is “prepare the way” for Jesus. John knew it. Know it or not, it is true.
Because His is the Kingdom. To be “in the kingdom of heaven” is to be his.
Be like John. No, be better than John. Greater than John.
Greater than John? How is that possible.
First of all, with Christ all things are possible, so jot that down ;).
Preparing the Way Within
Preparing the Way Within
We are about to embark on this sermon series through Matthew, starting here in chapter 3.
Jesus, the smartest man who ever lived, the Master of life… giving a Masterclass on how to live life.
Are we ready to hear it. Ready to lean forward, learn from the one we “call” Lord, we “call” Master… ready to do life as he taught us to.
To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Jesus… every moment. The Kingdom is near, it’s right here. And if you will, the Kingdom of Heaven goes wherever you go.
Jesus says the least in the Kingdom is greater than John. And he will show us how, how to enter, how to live in it, how to be the Kingdom of Heaven.
Prepare the Way of the Lord… first within you. In every way available to you, in every discipline you can muster, in every act of worship and devotion, preparing the way for Jesus to be Master of your life.
Be ready for Jesus. Prepare ye the way within.
Prepare the Way Without
Prepare the Way Without
We are sent as John was sent, sent to Prepare the Way for Jesus… for Jesus goes with us wherever we go.
More than John, we are empowered in a way he was not.
That doesn’t mean we all need to be wearing hair shirts and eating locusts… though I’m down with the honey.
Humble witness to Jesus.
They asked, “are you the Messiah?” to John. Nope. Turned down the power and fame that would offer. I’m not him, I just point the way.
They asked, “are you Elijah.” He said “no.” That’s a theological conundrum. He didn’t understand himself to be, or understood that there was another, maybe more literal coming of Elijah they were referring to when they asked.
But he could have claimed it. “Nope.”
Humble and courageous. John had incredible popularity. Billy Graham, Joel Osteen kind of fame. George Whitfield or Jonathan Edwards.
But in the end, power doesn’t like to be told to repent. And his message got him in all the trouble. He was beheaded by Herod Antipas.
Humble and courageous. Sacrificial submission.
May we reflect the words of John Preparing the Way.
Prepare for the Way of the Lord.
Boldly declare the coming of Lord.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
With everything in you, making people ready for Jesus. In the way that you speak and don’t speak. In the way that you love, always. In the way you bring truth and grace.
And in a way greater than John the Baptist, for you are in the Kingdom of God.
Prepare the way of the Lord.
As the worship team comes up, let’s close with John words about Jesus. When they tried to make him jealous of of Jesus’ rising reputation, John responded:
27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.
28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’
29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”