Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/559

 JOHN

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JOHN

Messias: they assign this as the reason why John at first refused to baptize him; Init the heavenly mani- festation liail, a tew moments later, changed this intimation into perfect knowledge. " And Jesus an- swering, said to him; Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfil all justice. Then he suf- fered him. And Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened to him. . . . And, behold, a voice from heaven, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt., iii, 15-17).

.\fter this baptism, while Jesus was preaching through the towns of Galilee, going into Judea only occasionally for the feast days, John continued his ministry in the valley of the Jordan. It was at this time that "the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask him: Who art thou? And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ. And they asked him: What then? .\rt thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered: No. They said, therefore, unto him: Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias" (John, i, 19-23). John denied he was Elias, whom the Jews were looking for (Matt., xvii, 10; Mark, i.x, 10). Nor did Jesus admit it, though His words to His disciples at first sight seem to point that way; "Elias indeed shall come, and restore all things. But I saj' to you, that Elias is already come" (Matt., xvii, 11; Mark, ix, 1 1-12). St. Matthew notes " the disciples understood, that he had spoken to them of John the Baptist" (Matt., xvii, 13). This was equal to sa.ving, "Elias is not to come in the flesh." But, in speaking of John before the multitude, Jesus made it plain that he called John Elias figuratively: " If you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt., xi, 14, 15). This had been anticipated by the angel when, announcing John's birth to Zachary, he foretold that the child would go before the Lord "in the spirit and power of Ehas" (Luke, i, 17). "The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him and he saith : Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said: After me there Cometh a man, who is preferred before me: because he was before me . . . that he may be made manifest in Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. . . . And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptize with water, said to me: He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and I gave testimony, that this is the Son of God" (John, i, 29-34).

Among the many listeners flocking to St. John, some, more deeply touched by his doctrine, stayed with him, thus forming, as around other famous doctors of the law, a group of disciples. These he exhorted to fast (Mark, ii, IS), these he taught special forms of prayer (Luke, v, 33; xi, 1). Their number, according to the pseudo-Clementine litera- ture, reached thirty (Hom. ii, 23). Among them was .\ndrew of Bethsaida of Galilee (John, i, 44). One day, as Jesus was standing in the distance, John, pointing Him out, repeated his previous declaration: "Behold the Lamb of God". Then .\ndrew, with another disciple of John, hearing this, followed Jesus (John, i, 36-38). This account of the calhng of An- drew and Simon differs materially from that found in St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke; yet it should be noticed that St. Luke, in particular, so narrates the meeting of the two brothers with the Saviour, as to let us infer they already knew Him. Now, on the other hand, since tlie Fourth Evangelist does not say that Anelrew and his companions forthwith

left their business to devote themselves exclusively to the Gospel or its preparation, there is clearly no absolute tliscordance between the narration of the first tlu-ee Ciospels and that of St. John.

The Precursor, after the lapse of several months, again appears on the scene, and he is still preaching and baptizing on the banks of the Jordan (John, iii, 23). Jesus, in the meantime, had gathered about Himself a following of disciples, and He came " into the land of Judea: and there He abode with them, and bap- tized (John, iii, 22), — "though Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples" (John, iv, 2). — "There arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews [the best Greek texts have "a Jew"] con- cerning purification" (John, iii, 25), that is to say, as is suggested by the context, concerning the relative value of both baptisms. The disciples of John came to him: "Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou gavest testimony, behold he baptizeth, and all men come to him" (John, iii, 26-27). They undoubtedly meant that Jesus should give way to John who had recommended Ilim, and that, by baptizing. He was encroaching upon the rights of John. "John answered and said: A man cannot receive any thing, unless it be given him from heaven. You yourselves do bear me witness, that I said, I am not Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, re- joiceth with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. He must in- crease, but I must decrease. He that comet h from above, is above all. He that is of the earth, of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh. He that Cometh from heaven, is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth. . . ." (John, iii, 27-36).

The above narration recalls the fact before men- tioned (John, i, 2S), that part of the Baptist's min- istry was exercised in Perea: Ennon, another scene of his labours, was within the borders of Galilee; both Perea and Galilee made up the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas. This prince, a son worthy of his father Herod the Great, had married, hkely for political reasons, the daughter of Aretas, king of the Nabathfeans. But on a visit to Rome, he fell in love with his niece Herodias, the wife of his half -brother Philip (son of the younger Mariamne), and induced her to come on to Galilee. When and where the Pre- ciirsor met Herod, we are not told, but from the synoptic Gospels we learn that John dared to rebuke the tetrarch for his evil deeds, especially his public adultery. Herod, swayed by Herodias, did not allow the unwelcome reprover to go unpunished: he "sent and apprehended John and bound him in prison". Josephus tells us quite another story, containing perhaps also an element of truth. " As great crowds clustered around John, Herod became afraid lest the Baptist should abuse his moral authority over them to incite them to rebellion, as they would do any- thing at his bidding; therefore he thought it wiser, so as to prevent possible happenings, to take away the dangerous preacher . . . and he imprisoned him in the fortress of Machaerus" (Antiq., XVHI, v, 2). Whatever may have been the chief motive of the tetrarch's policy, it is certain that Herodias nour- ished a bitter hatred against John: "She laid snares for him: and was desirous to put him to death" (Mark, vi, 19). Although Herod first shared her desire, yet " he feared the people: because they esteemed him as a prophet" (Matt., xiv, 5). After some time this resentment on Herod's part seems to have abated, for, according to Mark, vi, 19, 20, he heard John willingly and did many things at his suggestion.

John, in his fetters, was attended by some of his disciples, wlio kept him in touch with the events of