John the Baptist

(Gospel of Mark 1:1 - 1:8)
The Gospel of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, began just as it was written down by the prophet Isaiah: "Behold, ahead of your arrival I will be dispatching a messenger to herald your coming.  He will be as a voice proclaiming from out of the desert, 'Prepare the way for the coming of the Master; clear a path for him!'"

And so appeared John, who performed baptisms in the desert and preached baptism and repentance as a means of achieving remission of sins.  All those in Judea, even in Jerusalem went out to him to confess their sins and be baptized in the waters of the River Jordan.  This John the Baptist wore garments of camel's hair and girded them round his waist with a leather belt.  His diet consisted of grasshoppers and the honey of wild bees.

He announced, "After me will come someone far greater than I, the straps of whose sandals I am unworthy to stoop down and undo.  I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Divine Spirit."

Notes
1. A gospel, literally "Good News," can be either a narrative of Jesus' life, an account of his acts and miracles, or a summary of his teachings and utterances.  Mark, like Matthew and Luke, is considered a synoptic gospel, that is, it provides a biographical synopsis.  Mark, written in Greek, probably for a Christian Gentile audience, is believed to have been composed before any of other four canonical gospels, perhaps about 70 AD.  There is no evidence that Mark was authored by the disciple Mark, but is generally believed to be the work of an unknown writer that drew from various sources.  (The gospel can also refer to the message preached by Jesus.)

2. The first prophetic quote is actually Malachi 3:1, the second, though, is from Isaiah 40:3. (It is disturbing that one cannot get past the second sentence without an inaccuracy being found.) Needless to say, these prophecies, like all the Old Testament statements supposedly alluding to Jesus as the Messiah, are ambiguous and vague; there is nothing here that points specifically to John and Jesus.

3. While most of the basic elements of Christianity were developed after Jesus (by others), we see here Christian practices and beliefs appearing before Jesus.  John the Baptist, a pre-Jesus Christian, advocates confession and repentance as a means of receiving forgiveness for one's sins.  This and the practice of baptism are basic tenets of Christian belief and distinct from Judaic practice.  In the Old Testament Jehovah rarely demanded confession or repentance, only that the proper animal sacrifices be made to him and tribute paid to his priests.

4. John the Baptist is portrayed as an ascetic: he lives simply and austerely and aloof from society, save for those who come to him to be baptized.  His camel hair clothes would have been rough and uncomfortable.  Grasshoppers (or locusts), unappetizing surely, were sometimes consumed by the poor and were kosher, that is, acceptable to the dietary restrictions set down in Leviticus.  Honey from wild bees is far less tasty than that from domesticated bees.  No religious reason is given for his lifestyle, nor are any moral judgments offered about it.  Perhaps the information is furnished merely as testimony to his character, letting us know what kind of guy he was.

5. Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah, the "Anointed One."  I am using the Hebrew word in favor of the Greek, for Christ has lost its meaning and is regarded by most people as merely Jesus' last name, when it is not uttered as a swear word.  (He should be referred to as Jesus the Christ.)