Hello everyone.
Today, I will continue to look at the ministry of John the Baptist in Luke. Luke mentions that the people were expectant of the Messiah. (Luke 3:15) I'm sure that John’s message of coming wrath would likely encourage the thought that the Messiah was coming soon. in fact, many people were questioning in their hearts as to whether John could be the Messiah. It appears that this was something that they weren’t necessarily saying out loud, but ‘in their hearts.’ John addresses it anyway, talking about one someone coming after him who had a far greater worth. In his denial of Messiahship, John offers three statements about this one who would come after him.
First, he will be stronger than John. (Luke 3:16) Luke has repeatedly shown Jesus’ superiority to John throughout the birth narratives of chapter 1, and now John himself confirms. 'He will be ἰσχυρότερός (iskyroteros) stronger than me.' John says that the stronger one coming was so much greater than he was, that John was not even worthy to loosen the strap of his sandal. We understand that Jesus is the Stronger One. Compare with Mark 3:23-29. No one can bind the strong man unless he is even stronger.
Darrell Bock tells us that during Jesus time that untying of the Master’s sandals was the responsibility of the slave. But the act was so degrading that Hebrew slaves were not to do it. John is saying that he is so unworthy, in comparison to Jesus, that he is not even worthy of performing the most menial and degrading task for this coming Stronger One. (Bock, 321)
Second, He will bring a different baptism. John’s baptism was in water. The Stronger One, Jesus, would bring a baptism of the Spirit and with fire. It is not exactly clear what John means by this and theories abound. Robert Stein suggests two ideas. 1) We do see Spirit and fire together in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost. The apostles are filled with the Spirit as what appears to tongues of fire come to rest on them. 2) John is talking two different baptisms, both brought by Jesus. A baptism of the Spirit for the obedient, and a baptism of fire (judgment) for the disobedient. (Stein, 134-135.) (Personally, the second option here makes the most sense to me, but am open to other meanings.)
Third, He will bring judgment. John illustrates the judgment by comparing it to a process that most of his audience was undoubtedly familiar with. Using the winnowing fork to separate the wheat (good) from the chaff (bad.) The wind blows the chaff out from among the wheat. The wheat is gathered into the barn, while the chaff is gathered and burned. As we draw near to Jesus, we will be gathered by Him into Heaven.
Luke 3:18 tells us that John continued to preach good news to the people. So far, his repent-or-else message may not sound like good news, but it was, because John was preparing the way for the Stronger One, Jesus, to arrive.
John's message really challenged the people to repent. And he continued to preach this message even to rebuking Herod the tetrarch. (Bock points out that John 'exhorted' the people, but 'rebuked' Herod, maybe evenly publicly. (Bock, 328-329.) We can only imagine what he might have said to Herod that was harder than ‘children of snakes.’) One of the issues of the rebuke was Herod’s marriage to Herodias. She had been married to Herod’s half-brother, but both Herod and Herodias ended their previous marriages so that they could be together. So two marriages are destroyed so that Herod could violate the Old Law by taking his still-living brother’s wife. This, however, was not the only issue. Luke mentions the marriage to Herodias, but also states that the rebuke came for all of the other evil that Herod had committed. Then Luke states that Herod adds to his many sins by putting John in prison. We know that the eventual outcome from this is that Herod has John’s head cut off. Herod eventually silences the voice shouting in the wilderness, but before he had completed the task God gave him to do, to prepare the way for the Lord.
Tom
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