Rival Baptisms

#41: “Rival Baptisms” by Brendon Wahlberg
In Christian tradition, John the Baptist was the revered forerunner to Jesus, sent to help announce Jesus to the world. To Christians, John was certainly secondary in importance and authority to Jesus. But John had followers of his own, disciples to whom John was the important one. To them, John was the great Rabbi who brought forgiveness of sins and was put to death by the authorities. In New Testament times, there were followers of John, and followers of Jesus, and they were probably rivals, at least in the eyes of Jesus’ followers, the ones who wrote the Gospels. The Gospels reveal hints of this rivalry if you look closely enough.
John the Baptist was born of the priestly line, but as an adult, he preached in the wilderness of Judea, dressed like a prophet, and offered a new ritual, baptism. John said that people had to radically repent and be immersed in the waters of the Jordan to be cleansed of their sin in advance of the coming Day of the Lord. Those baptized were redeemed and reborn. This new ritual made the Temple and all its old rituals unnecessary. Men and women flocked to John to participate, and among them was Jesus.
Was Jesus baptized by John? It sounds like a simple question, until you think like a follower of Jesus who feels a rivalry with John’s followers, in the years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, when the Gospels were written. If John baptized Jesus, then John could be considered superior to Jesus in some way. The superior one blesses the inferior one. This idea was not acceptable, and if you look at the Gospels in the order that they were written, you can see how the writers began to deal with it.
Let’s take the Gospel of Mark first. In Mark, there is no question; John baptized Jesus. “John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. […] He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.” (Mark 1:4-9) Mark was not troubled by John baptizing Jesus, but notice that he has John make a little speech about how he is not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals (the action of a slave). Mark has to make sure we know that John is the inferior person.
Luke, like Mark, does not mind saying that John baptized Jesus. “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:21-22)
But later in his Gospel, Luke makes sure we know that John is just the messenger preparing the way for Jesus. “The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ When the men had come to him, they said, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” ’ Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’ When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.” I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’” (Luke 7:18-28)
Mark and Luke are okay with John baptizing Jesus, but they make sure we know that John is not superior to Jesus. Matthew is a little different. Matthew has a problem with the baptism itself. Matthew’s Gospel has the following exchange between Jesus and John. “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented.” (Matthew 3:13-15) Matthew couldn’t deny that the baptism had happened, but he could portray Jesus and John as saying, in effect, we know how this looks, but it is okay, it is proper to fulfill God’s plan by doing this.
Then we get to the Gospel of John, probably the last one written. This Gospel deals with the baptism in another way – by not even mentioning it. “The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’” (John 1:29-34)
The beginning of the Gospel of John is a famous poem about Jesus being the same as God and present at creation. There are two passages that seem to interrupt the flow of it, and these are both about John the Baptist. Both passages make it clear that John was secondary to Jesus. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:6-9) “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (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.” ’)” (John 1:14-15)
Now we can see how the Gospels dealt with John the Baptist, putting him in his high place of reverence, but not too high. Were there still followers of John in the communities of these Gospel writers? Were there rivals who followed John, still enacting his baptism rite, and did the followers of Jesus feel they had to correct these people, or stop them from attracting more followers who might otherwise have joined the young Church? Were the passages in the Gospels, which we have just examined, ammunition for arguments against such rivals?
The Acts of the Apostles suggests that there were still followers of John in Paul’s time. “While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ They replied, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ Then he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ They answered, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 19:1-5) This passage suggests that sometimes the followers of John were absorbed into Christianity.
Another passage in Acts describes a hybrid believer in both John and Jesus who had to be corrected. “Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord; and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately.” (Acts 18:24-26)
What was to become of John’s followers? They could not be rivals forever. The Jesus movement continued to grow. Jesus rose from the dead and John did not. The following passage from the Gospel of John attempts to provide the consolation that John the Baptist himself would have been happy with his role and his fate. “Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. They came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.’ John answered, ‘No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, “I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.” He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.’” (John 3:25-30)
Curiously enough, there are still followers of John the Baptist in the world. A religious group called the Mandaeans, perhaps the last surviving Gnostics, still reveres John the Baptist as one of their greatest teachers. And of course, John’s words will always be there to inspire us to repent. “John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’ And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’” (Luke 3:7-14) What then, should we do?