Blog Series: John (Day 1)

For this series I would like to look at a man named John the Baptist. Over the next few weeks I want to go into detail about his life, his passion, grooming habits, and his message. John the Baptist is a key figure in the stories of Jesus. According to the Gospels, John's role was to announce the coming of Jesus: in John 1:23 he tells interrogators, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord.'" According to Matthew 3:4, he wore clothing made of camel's hair and ate locusts and wild honey, and baptized people in the river Jordan.

Now I would like to point out in this very first post that this dude is not Baptist. This guy would be kicked out of most Baptist churches, and most churches for that matter. He didn’t groom himself very well so he probably didn’t smell pleasant and he was rather outspoken in his feelings for the religious leader; however, that is an entirely different message. John was a man who lived a fasted lifestyle and preached a radical message that was uncommon for the time. His purpose in life was not to build John the Baptist International but instead to live a life laid down of all other lovers and a life devoted to preparing the way for Christ; but, there is more on that next week when we go into the details of John’s lifestyle.