It's Like When The British Copper Comes Along and Asks, "What's All This Then?"

John 1: 19                                           February 9, 2021

¹⁵(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) ¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ ²⁰He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ ²¹And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ ²²Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ ²³He said,
‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord” ’,
as the prophet Isaiah said.

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. ²⁵They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ ²⁶John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, ²⁷the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ ²⁸This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

            What is the testimony that John the baptizer gave?  Is it the stuff that came before or the stuff that comes after this verse?  Vss. 15-18 are one block of text, but John has been edited to speak only the first verse according to my translation.  Is this because the rest of it came after him?  But we talked about that. 

            The set up of the translation looks to make this verse forward looking, so we will go with that.  The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to talk to John.  This is like FBI agents sent from Quantico, from the head office, from the brain trust.  It’s like the Behavioral Analysis Unit in “Criminal Minds”, but for theological minds. 

            Seriously, the “Jews” sent them.  Who are the Jews?  The collective nation of God’s Chosen People?  This was a lesson in sensitivity picked up in Seminary.  The Jews is in reference to the Jewish leadership, not the collective of the Jewish people.  That may seem like a minor point here, but in the latter chapters of the gospel, it will be ‘the Jews’ calling for Jesus’ death.  That has been enough for some horrible incidents in Christian history where Jews were attacked and killed, justified that they ‘killed Christ’.  This is justification for violence, rationalization for violence.  So it is appropriate, it is necessary to make that distinction.

            They sent priests and Levites.  What’s the difference?  The priests were of the ‘worship leadership’ caste and the Levites were of the ‘worship support’ caste.  That is the short answer.  The longer answer is that the tribe of Levi, one of the twelve sons of Israel, was set aside as the priestly tribe.  In the entrance to the Promised Land, they were granted cities among the other tribes.  When Jerusalem became the center of worship, their strength and presence focused there.  Within the tribe of Levi, the family of Aaron (brother of Moses) became the designated high priestly line for the worship of God.  So, religious leaders were being dispatched to confront John the baptizer.

            Being sent from Jerusalem, they were sent from the central office.  The temple was the central location of Jewish worship and, therefore, politically central.  There was a king, but imposed by the Romans.  Being sent from Jerusalem, John was apparently not present in the City.  Verse 28 gives us context to that.  John is across from Bethany, at the Jordan, conducting his ministry of baptism.

            I wonder if the ‘home office’ became involved not because of John’s ministry on its own, but when his message turned to one announcing the one who comes after him was before him and is ahead of him.  No, they are not the grammar police, but they are investigating reports of someone that a local religious type has begun to promote.  In the very touchy atmosphere of Roman occupation, that was something to pay attention to. 

            This is because the Jewish leadership has a lot of autonomy under Roman occupation to live life as they choose.  This is given to them under two conditions.  One is the smooth collection of taxes.  The other is the smooth conduct of daily life.  Oppression was fine, but the people had to remain oppressed.  Once they started making noise, that is when the Romans would take notice.  And John has come onto their radar as one making noise.  So they are coming out to take a look.  Their first question is logical.

            “Who are you?”, perhaps a polite way of asking, “What do you think you are doing?”