The enigma of John the Baptist

You’ve seen him in pictures and maybe also on TV. Dressed in rags, eating bugs, shouting angrily at people. You understood why eventually he was locked up and died in prison. You never looked closely at him. Why would you spend your time on someone like that?

The fact that I could equally be talking about a homeless person in your city, or John the Baptist as most people imagine him, might not surprise you – but it should. The New Testament records that John’s followers could be found in places like Ephesus in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and Alexandria in Egypt, roughly 600 miles away from Jerusalem in either direction (Acts 18:24-25; 19:1-3). Herod Antipas the ruler felt threatened by John (as reported not only by the Gospels but by the first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus). Other religious groups were concerned about John’s influence, including the priests in the temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 3:7; John 1:19-28).