John and Jesus

John the Baptist is a prominent character on the Advent stage. In the Gospel reading last Sunday (Lk 3:1-6), John received the word of God, marking his authority as a prophet, and he commenced his prophetic ministry. John utilized material from an earlier prophet, Isaiah, to connect his ministry with the traditional hope of Israel. The content of that hope was Israel’s restoration to a former national glory.

In our Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday (Lk 3:7-18), the urgency of John’s message becomes palpable. John called the crowds around him a snake pit. He attacked them with threats of the wrath to come. John told them not to rest on their laurels, basking in the accomplishments of others, but to be fruitful and righteous in their own right. Following specific ethical instruction to everyone, then tax collectors and finally soldiers, John pointed beyond himself to the one coming.

I have often heard the ministries of John and Jesus contrasted. Some like to paint John’s message as fire and wrath. Jesus is the opposite side of the coin, love and mercy. There are certainly ways that this appears to be true, but I think this analysis misses Jesus’ statements about judgement. Jesus preaches love and mercy, but never pretends that there are no consequences to the choices we make.

In some sense, I see their differences bound in their roles. John is the forerunner. He is proclaiming the coming of a new reality and is preparing his listeners to receive it. John’s teaching also contains a starting point for ethical transformation. Jesus, on the other hand, takes a prepared people and transforms them into a community. John’s instruction is about individual preparation for the dawning age. Jesus is the creator of a new community, an alternative in contrast to the present order, his own body.