We are the Forerunners for Jesus
Luke 1:57-67
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
Luke 1:57 Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.
Luke 1:59 And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father. 60 But his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. 63 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished. 64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God. 65 Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.
The birth of John the Baptist is an interesting narrative of Luke’s gospel. Preaching circles usually overlook it or connect it to Zacharias' prophecy, which follows. Why did the author of Luke’s gospel include this birth narrative? First, he wanted to show that John the Baptist was a few months older than Jesus. He also wanted to show that he believed that John the Baptist was Jesus’s was first cousin. Another purpose for including the birth narrative and the circumcision is that Luke wanted to prove that Christianity had its roots in Judaism.
The development of Christianity over the centuries is an interesting thing to study. It actually started with a Jewish rabbi who went around the territory of the Galilee preaching something new and to most of the common people quite exciting. He preached we should all love each other and live in peace. This was pretty radical for Jesus' time on earth.
Let me remind you of the time that Jesus lived. The Roman government had taken over the territory of Judah. Why would the Romans be interested in an area like Judea? This is where we need to investigate history, so indulge me for a few minutes while I give you a little history lesson. Alexander the great and the Greeks had invaded the territory of the Middle East around 250 BCE. Alexander the great defeated the Persian Empire and in doing so he took over all of its territory. The Persian Empire extended from what we know to be Iran today to Egypt.
When Alexander the great died, his will divided his kingdom into four parts. The area of Syria and Judea came under the control of the Seleucids. A revolt started in Judea against the Seleucids around 168 BCE. The Jewish people wanted to be freed from the tyranny of the Seleucids and a man name Matthew Maccabee, who was a priest, could put together a small army to attack the Seleucids. History tells us that his five sons are the ones who led the war against the Greeks. Judas Maccabee became known as the victor of the war against the Greeks.
What happened was the Seleucid governor in Jerusalem placed an idol on the top of the Ark of the Covenant, the holy place in the temple. When he did, the full-fledged revolt started. The Maccabees forced the Seleucids to leave the territory of Judea. Therefore, the nation of Judea was reborn. Most of us believe Judea was a sovereign nation and, it was. However, it was constantly at war with the Seleucids who wanted to take back the territory.
One-hundred years later, the incursions were still occurring and the leadership of Judea went into negotiations with the new power that was rising in Western Europe. That power was the Roman empire. So, Judea asked the Romans if they would come into the war and dispose of the Seleucids. The Romans came into the territory, and they remove the Seleucids. However, since the Roman army was sitting in Judea they annexed that territory into their empire and thus Jerusalem became a part of the Roman Empire.
History tells us that the Assyrians did invade the Northern Kingdom of Israel exactly the way the Bible states it. We have to remember theologians wrote the Northern Kingdom’s history. The Egyptians were attacking the northern kingdom from the South and the leadership knew that they would not survive. Therefore, they invited the Assyrians to join with them in the attack against the Egyptians. Once the Egyptians were repelled, the Assyrians decided they like the territory of the Northern Kingdom and stayed. Sounds very much like what Judah did in calling in the Romans. This is a problem when one does not know one’s history. The saying "history repeats itself" was clear when the Romans arrived and assisted Judea in 68 BCE, ultimately choosing to stay.
Getting back to the biblical story, it was time for Jesus the Messiah to be born. But Jesus had to have a forerunner for the people to accept him as the potential Messiah sent by the Lord. Tradition said that Elijah would return. Many people thought that meant Elijah in the flesh would return and there are some very intriguing Jewish stories about what happened to Elijah’s body and how he would return. However, the person who would introduce the Messiah to the world would be of the same spiritual sense as Elijah. It was John the Baptist who did this.
Therefore, the author of Luke’s gospel felt it was important to introduce John the Baptist before he introduced Jesus. After all, if John is the true forerunner of Jesus, then shouldn’t he come first in the gospel? Luke’s author also wanted to show us that Christianity was rooted in Judaism.
What is the purpose of Luke’s gospel bringing up John the Baptist’s birth? Well, one area we talked about is the rooting of Christianity in ancient Judaism. He even tells us John the Baptist was Jewish because he was circumcised on the eighth day. If you are reading the story in Luke for the first time and not knowing anything about Christianity, you quickly learn from Luke’s gospel that this child named John is going to do something great. So as a literary work, the story is built up right from the beginning. A woman who was barren gave birth to a son. That son was going to be the forerunner of the Messiah. So, John the Baptist had a monumental task in front of him.
One thing Jesus told us in the Gospels as we have to become like John the Baptist in that we have to introduce Jesus to the world. Just because a child is born to Christian parents does not mean that child will become a Christian. Jesus needs to be introduced to that child. Here, the parents become like John the Baptist. The parents need to introduce Jesus to their children.
Also, a purpose of the church is introducing Jesus to those who don’t know him. We call this evangelism, and is probably one of the most difficult things to do. However, God gives us many gifts and graces to do this. Jesus was a man of peace and good living and an evil world. Today, in 2024, the world is evil and the only way we're going to get out of this is by shining God’s light into the world. Jesus Christ represents the light of peace and love that we might shine into the world. I like to hymn titled “Go Tell It On The Mountain”, not just because it’s a really cool Christmas song but because it tells us what we should do for Christ. Each of us, every church, every denomination, needs to place evangelism at the top of their list of what to do. There are so many distractions today for people and for the church that the evangelism and shouting the message of Jesus Christ just is not happening as well as it could be.
Go shout it on the mountaintop that peace and love can be had through discipleship to Jesus Christ. It is imperative that we do this as soon as possible because, frankly, this world is falling apart and is fracturing all over the place. It is through Jesus Christ that we will help bring peace and love back into an angry and hurtful world.
