John The Baptist

Question of the Week from the 3rd grade class: John the Baptist
I know, that's not really a question. We had many, many questions about John the Baptist, and rather than lose the whole hour to a history of this man, we told the kids we would blog about him. Get out your Bibles -- it's time to take a trip through the scriptures.

John the Baptist was chosen before he was even born
Check out Luke 1:5-25. John's parents were old, and his father was a priest. His father was chosen to go into the temple to burn incense, and while he was there, an angel visited him, and told him he'd have a son. More than that: he told Zechariah that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth, and he'll bring people to God, and prepare them for the coming of the LORD. Zechariah was surprised, and a little unsure this could actually happen. Can you find out what happened to him because he didn't believe the words of the angel? If you want to find out about John's birth, and how his father recovered, read Luke 1:37-66.

John the Baptist starts to preach
Read Luke 3:1-6. This is the scripture we read on Sunday. It gives us a time stamp as to when John started. He called for repentance (turning the other direction, away from sin/wrong). Keep reading, through vs 18. John taught them how to be better people, and they thought maybe he was the promised Messiah. How did he respond? Read verse 16. Right away, John told them that Jesus was coming, and he was going to be SO much bigger than John.

How did John get the name "John the Baptist"?
Sometimes they call him "John the Baptizer". And that's what he did. He baptized people, when they decided to change around their lives and live for God. This was actually pretty unusual. Jews might baptize Gentiles (anyone who wasn't Jewish) if they wanted to become Jewish. But to baptize a Jew meant that maybe the Jew wasn't already in God's favor, and they considered themselves the chosen people (God had told them they were, after all, His chosen people). But John was convincing these people that just being born a Jew didn't make you right with God. Radical!

Who's the most famous person that John baptized?
Jesus! Read Luke 3:21-22. Now read Matthew 3:13-17. Both tell about Jesus' baptism.

Seems like a good guy. How'd he get into trouble?
When we look at prophets, we find that speaking the truth does not always go over well with people. Especially when you speak it to someone who thinks he's in charge. Read Luke 3:19-20. John was fearless, and confronted Herod. The word "tetrarch" means he was a kind of ruler - not quite a king, but close. "Rebuked" means he told him right to his face that what he was doing was wrong. So what did Herod do? Read verse 20. For more of the story, go to Matthew 14:3-5. At first, Herod was afraid of killing John because of the people who liked John so much.

From Prison to Death
John hung out in prison for awhile. But his time came to an end one day. Read Matthew 14:6-12 for that story. I think the interesting part there is the choice that Herod made. He could have said NO to the request of the girl -- he was the king, after all! But he was afraid of what his people would think.

Gory Details
Yes, he was beheaded. They didn't have a guillotine back then, so it means his head was cut off with a sword. Philip asked if he was already dead, but no, I think that's the way they killed him. The question was also asked if he wanted to die. I would guess not -- given his choice, he would have preferred to be out in the world, doing God's work. But many years later, the apostle Paul, also writing from prison, wrote the words "For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." He knew that while alive he would do what he could to tell people about Christ and help them make a choice for Christ. But when he died, he'd get to BE WITH Christ in heaven, and that's way better than living forever here on earth!