John 1:6-8, 19-28

This passage occurs in the Revised Common Lectionary during Advent (year B), most recently December 17, 2023.

Summary

I have not preached on this passage in years, choosing to focus on the Isaiah passage or the words of Mary in the Magnificat.  In many ways, it is the tamest picture of John the Baptist we have in the New Testament.  The Gospel writer John effectively takes the focus away from John the Baptist and returns it to Jesus.  This then is a model for confessing Christ!

John is asked "Who are you?"  His answer is in relation to Christ.  May we answer likewise when asked this question.

Confessing Christ - Words and Grammar

μαρτυρια (as verb and noun, "testify", 1:7)  

Translation note:  What the NSRV translates as "witness" and "testify" are both the same word in Greek (or the same word in verb and noun forms).  This distinction in translation of the root "martyria" has no basis in the Greek but reveals the English language's disdain for the same word in a sentence twice!

• To give witness does not necessarily mean to have all the answers; nor does it mean to have an emotionally cathartic story.  It simply means to point back to Jesus Christ.
• The witness of John conforms to the New Testament pattern in which the witness we will need to give is over and against a skeptical but curious, if not threatened world.

Συ τις ει; (question asked to John, 1:19).  

Translation note:  The NIV botches the translation of this sentence by making the question, "Who are you?" into an indirect question. It is a direct question in the Greek

• We will be asked the question: "Who are you?" in life.  This is especially true in the 21st century, when identity is a construct of (perceived) choice rather than something given through family or genes. 
• John answers his identity in terms of Jesus.  How many of us would do the same?  We did learn as children - "If anyone asks you who I am, tell them I am child of God."  We must learn as adults to sing this again.
• Almost all of the speaking verbs in this section are in the aorist; yet here John must say repeatedly (present tense): "I am not." Perhaps a suggestion that we have to confess Christ over and over again.

ομολογεω (meaning "to confess", 1:20).  

Pronunciation and translation note:  The o here has a rough breathing mark, meaning it is pronounced "homologeoo."  This word literally means "same speak" or "to speak the same as another."  

• It is interesting that a unilateral confession is unintelligible!  In the case of Christians who feel that we are alone in our context, we never confess the faith alone, but stand with others across the globe and across time.

Warning

• The people asking for the witness, in this case, are "the Jews."  In light of the rise of antisemitic words and actions, I would humbly offer to translate "the Jews" as "the Jewish leaders of Jesus day."