John the Baptist

Some say that Mark compares John the Baptist to Elijah (Elias), but he is also compared to Jesus, one mightier than he (Mark 1:7) and when Herod thinks Jesus is John returned from the dead (6:14). Mark's Gospel more frequently compares Jesus to Elijah, because whenever Elijah is mentioned, the reference associates Jesus with Elijah. Although the later gospels seem to make this connection, the nearest in Mark is in verses 9:11-13, which seem to require a knowledge of the later gospels in order to say that Jesus could have been referring to John the Baptist as Elijah.

When we look at the framework parallel structure of Mark, we can see a direct literary comparison between John at the beginning of the gospel and the young man at the end of the gospel. A parallel structure is a literary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first, using association for emphasis and to develop themes that would not otherwise be apparent, as can be seen from pair A in the following summary table: A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

In the above table, we can see the literary comparison between John the Baptist, who announces the arrival of Jesus, to the young man who announces the departure of Jesus (originally Mark ended at verse 16:8, and the 'Long Ending' was added much later).

Verse 1:6 describes John in terms that draws a parallel to Elijah. We can also see from the above that Jesus is compared to Elijah in event D, verse 1:13. The Transfiguration at verse 9:4-13 (event D') points back to verse 1:13, the story of Jesus going into the wilderness, where he was ministered by angels just as Elijah was ministered by an angel and in the wilderness forty days (1 Kings 19:5-7). There is no actual suggestion that Jesus fasted for this time, but those familiar with the story of Elijah are likely to have assumed he did do so, and this is made explicit in Matthew and Luke. This brings into play another allusion, to Moses when (Exodus 34:28) he fasted for 40 days while he wrote the words of the Ten Commandments on tablets.

Event P (6:14) tells us that Herod Antipas thought Jesus was John returned from the dead. In Event P', when asked what authority he had to do these things, Jesus asked the priests, scribes and elders whether the baptism of John was of heaven or of men.

A:

According to Luke's Gospel, Jesus probably would have known John the Baptist, although Jesus lived in provincial Galilee while John must have lived in or near Jerusalem. However recent scholarship has cast doubts on this relationship. For example, John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) says that neither of the nativity stories contains any historical truth. Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says that the nativity accounts are, with respect to time, place, and circumstances, a collection of legends. She even says that both Zacharius and Elizabeth, supposedly John's parents, were literary creations by the author of Luke's Gospel.

A:

Based on the writings of of the first- century Jewish historian, Josephus, it seems likely that John spent very little time in prison. John was imprisoned after the wedding of Herod Antipas to Herodias in 34 CE, and executed before King Antipas of Nabatea attacked and defeated Herod in 36 CE, an event which the Jews believed was divine retribution for the execution of John the Baptist. This places John's arrest no earlier than 35 CE and his execution no later than 36 CE.

There would have been some urgency on Herod's part in carrying out the execution, since Josephus says Herod feared that John could stir up a rebellion among the Jews. The relevant passage in Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18 says:

"Now many people came in crowds to him, for they were greatly moved by his words. Herod, who feared that the great influence John had over the masses might put them into his power and enable him to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best to put him to death. In this way, he might prevent any mischief John might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly John was sent as a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I already mentioned, and was put to death."

A:

Probably because he was not really the cousin of Jesus. It is only in Luke's Gospel that we are told they were related, because John's mother Elizabeth was the cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus. However, Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says that Elizabeth was a literary creation by the author of Luke's Gospel. So, on the scholarly view, John and Jesus were not cousins.

Mary (the mother of Jesus) and Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist) were cousins:-

Luk 1:34-36, 57, 59-60 MKJV [v.34] ThenMary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I do not know a man? [ie a virgin] [v. 35] And the angel answered and said to her [Mary], The Holy Spirit shall come on you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you. Therefore also that Holy One which will be born of you [Mary] shall be called Son of God. [v. 36] And behold, your cousinElizabeth also conceived a son in her old age. And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

[v.57] And the time was fulfilled toElizabeth for her to bear. And she bore ason. [v. 59] And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and were calling itZacharias, after his father's name. [v. 60] And his mother answered and said,No, but he shall be called John.

John the Baptist was born , according to the record in Luke chapters 1 -2, up to 6 months before Jesus. This is deduced from the visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, John's mother, when Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant. The suggestion is that Mary was already with child by this time (see Luke 1:41-43). Knowing the date of Jesus birth as being around 4-5 BCE (a while before the death of Herod the Great) we would suggest a birth date for John in 5 or 6 BCE.

On the other hand, Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) believes that Elisabeth was not a real person and that the author of Luke created the story of John's birth.

We can look at the evidence to see which of those views is most likely to be correct. Luke's Gospel is known as a 'synoptic' gospel because when laid alongside Mark's Gospel (and Matthew's) and read synoptically ('with the same eye') in the original Greek language, it can be established that Luke was based on Mark. The 'Missing Block' demonstrates that where Luke's source was incomplete, he was unable to fill the gap with information from any other source or inspiration. Other evidence shows that Lukewas written no earlier than the 90s of the first century.

What this means is that the author of Luke could not have known anything about the life of Jesus other than what he read in Mark, yet he confidently reported private family events that occurred at least a hundred years before the time of writing, providing the only gospel account of the birth of John the Baptist. Ranke-Heinemann would seem to have good grounds for assuming that Luke's story of the birth of John the Baptist was not really true, in which case we do not really know when or where he was born.

Another Answer:

John was born in the year 1 AD, give or take a few years based on calendar adjustments. The date is not known but it is celebrated on June 24.

Another Answer:

Although the Bible does not state his birth date directly as it was not the custom of the time, it tells us he was related to Jesus and was born six months before His birth. As some scholars place the birth of Christ to mid-September to mid-October in 5-4 BC, this then would make John the Baptist's birth circa mid-March to mid-April 5 BC.

As many calendar adjustments occurred after 1 BC, they have no bearing upon the above timeframes. The dates given in 'another answer' are according to the Hebrew calendar year.