Why did Jesus need John the Baptist?

Answer 1

John was sent to prepare the way for Jesus through preaching to the Jews of the need for repentance,the subsequent forgiveness of sins, and the use of baptism as a sign of that. This was a new concept for the Jewish people, and prepared their hearts for the coming of Jesus who was the means of forgiveness. The Jews had long been looking for a Messiah, and John alerted them to the imminent coming.

Answer 2

It is a rather profound question to ask why Jesus would need John the Baptist. The gospels say that John prepared the way for Jesus, yet there is nothing said in any of the gospels to suggest that the mission of Jesus was made any easier or more fulfilling because of John's preaching.

We do know from extra-biblical references, such as from Josephus, that John the Baptist was extraordinarily popular among the Jews. A secular view could be that by 70 CE, at the time the gospels began to be written, the followers of John were competing with the followers of Jesus for adherents. In that case, it would make sense for the Christian evangelists, rather than fruitlessly attacking John, to claim him as one of their own, but willingly subordinate to Jesus. This hypothesis would also explain the chronological disparity between the gospel account of John's death and the historical account in Antiquities of the Jews.

Josephus says the wedding of Herod Antipas to his brother's former wife took place in 34 CE and suggests that the subsequent execution of John the Baptist took place in 35 or 36 CE. However, the synoptic gospels say that John was executed at the very beginning of the mission of Jesus, or around 29 CE.

If indeed the gospel account was a literary invention, it would have been important to remove John from the dialogue early in the mission of Jesus, otherwise what was his message to be after Jesus began to preach and work miracles? On this view, the gospel Jesus needed John the Baptist so that John's followers would accept Christianity. This is a claim the Mandaeans make, saying that John was really a founder of their religion.