So they ask him next why, if he’s not Elijah, or a prophet, he’s baptizing people.Įventually, John does answer the question, but first he tries to shift the focus. John the Baptist now says that’s about to happen in his time, and he is not the Lord, but he is the one who comes to declare the coming of the Lord, to return his people from another exile. But Isaiah predicted a day where the roads would need to be prepared, hence “make straight the way,” because the Lord was coming to bring His people back from exile. When Isaiah made that prophecy, Israel was in exile, meaning they had been driven out of their land. So Isaiah is the prophet, but John is one Isaiah prophesied of, who comes to make straight the way of the Lord. Finally they pin him down and he identifies himself as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said. And the first part of John the Baptist’s testimony concerns who he is not: His clear confession of verse 20 is, “I am not the Christ.” Not only that, he goes on to say that he’s not Elijah, one of Israel’s great prophets, nor is he the prophet. Lewis or Augustine if you’re a Christian, people who would probably make you feel pretty good about yourself if they told you they loved and accepted you. Fill in a voice you trust to understand the impact this would have had on the original audience: Trevor Noah, Elon Musk, Ibram Kendi, maybe someone like C.S. This Gospel was written by John, but the testimony is of a different John, John the Baptist, widely known to be a trustworthy voice at the time. Verse 19 introduces us well to the section: This is the testimony of John. We’ll look first at his statement that he’s not the Christ, and then at the two things he tells us about Jesus to show that He is the Christ: He’s the Lamb of God, and the Son of God. The Christ is the one who can actually save you, so John the Baptist wants to make sure we know who he is. His clear confession was I am not the Christ. Yet when he was questioned about who he was, he wanted to make clear that he was not the one who could actually make you ok. In the days of Jesus, however, the ancient approach was still dominant, and one of the respected religious teachers to whom people looked was named John the Baptist. Now, instead of needing our tribe, parents, or priest to tell us we’re ok, we need everyone to tell us we’re ok. It hasn’t solved the problem though in fact, it’s exacerbated it. Our approach to identity is not to let anyone else tell you who you are: Not family, not priest, not tribe, but instead to look inside yourself and decide who you are, then tell everyone else. Today we like to think we’re free of all that. In a religious context, if the priest told you you were good, you felt like you were somebody. So if you were a good son, a good daughter, a good mother, or a good warrior for your tribe, you felt like you were somebody. The ancient way was to get it from your family or your tribe. Send us feedback about these examples.Throughout human history there have been two basic ways of finding an identity. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'resolution.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Wendy Lee and Meg James, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2023 But in a note to members Thursday afternoon, WGA leaders dampened expectations of a resolution to the strike and expressed skepticism over the AMPTP’s intentions, noting during the 2007-08 strike both sides restarted negotiations only to break apart for a second time. 2023 Many hoped the resolution of land borders would follow. 2023 The Searcy County Quorum Court approved a resolution Monday calling for the north Arkansas county to move from using voting machines to paper ballots. 2023 Caplan said the photo is the highest resolution image of HH 46/47 to date and can teach scientists more about the star forming cloud. 2023 As a result, all Republican state senators voted to pass a resolution to take up Wolfe's reappointment. 2023 Two completely different strategies for finding a resolution. Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2023 The board did not vote on the resolution, but voted 10-9 to remand the discussion to the Executive Committee. Recent Examples on the Web Considering all of the features, the high resolution camera, and the interactive and responsive app, the Eufy camera more than earned our top spot among the best pet cameras.
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