Some of you may have heard of John the Baptist. He was the cousin of Jesus who had the honor of preparing the way for Jesus and he also baptized Jesus. You can read about him in the gospels. He was the son of Elizabeth, who was barren for many years and become pregnant as a miraculous act of God. (What pregnancy isn't a miraculous act of God?? But that's not the point...)
So, John lived in the wilderness and he ate locusts and wild honey that were provided to him by the Lord. He was a social outcast. People thought he was weird. Anytime I have heard of him, I picture a weird, lowly looking man who might seem like a homeless man in modern times.
Well, what I learned about him this week is that the reason he lived in the wilderness is because he was disassociating himself from a corrupt priesthood.
I don't know about you, but this makes all my assumptions about him being weird change a little. This makes me think of him as more of a brave, bold man. I think it's pretty darn admirable that he wanted to be so far away from corruption that he didn't care if it meant eating locusts and honey! (Locusts and honey that were provided by the Lord no less.) All he cared about was spreading the good news of the coming messiah.
Pretty Fascinating.
I read about this in...
A Visual Guide To Gospel Events
By James C. Martin, John A.Beck, and David G. Hansen
pages 36-37
Have a good weekend! Happy New Year!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are a treat! Thank for stopping by:).