5 καὶ ἐξεπορεύετο προς αὐτόν πᾶσα

Εξερευνήστε την ουσία της πνευματικής ανανέωσης μέσα από την καθαρτική δύναμη της βάπτισης και της εξομολόγησης.

7 5 καὶ ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς αὐτὸν πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαία χώρα καὶ οἱ Ἱεροσολυμῖται πάντες, καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ ποταμῷ ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν. 6 καὶ ἦν ὁ Ἰωάννης ἐνδεδυμένος τρίχας καμήλου καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐσθίων ἀκρίδας καὶ μέλι ἄγριον.

 The Baptist becomes a point of attraction but does not failure to spark controversy through his message. In establishing that people turn to his message and want to get baptised by him, the evangelist establishes the public trust endowed to him. The Baptist remains an unattractive individual with little qualifications when compared to other religious leaders of his day. However, what establishes the power of his demonstrative message is the reciprocity it generates before its audiences. Hence, people identify with the novelty of the message as a personal experience that defines their own sense of being. Such understanding of religious action is different from other mainstream religious practices where participation in the norms is considered sufficient to allow people to gain recognition for their position within the ‘faith’.

7 Καὶ ἐκήρυσσεν λέγων· ἔρχεται ὁ ἰσχυρότερός μου ὀπίσω μου, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς κύψας λῦσαι τὸν ἱμάντα τῶν ὑποδημάτων αὐτοῦ. 8ἐγὼ ἐβάπτισα ὑμᾶς ὕδατι, αὐτὸς δὲ βαπτίσει ὑμᾶς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ

In moving forward to the time of baptism, the evangelist acts as a commentator and not just as a narrator for what happened. The evangelist is interested in establishing that a fulfilment of prophecy materialises as much before the words of proclamation as well as in the very events that occurred.

ἔρχεται ὁ ἰσχυρότερός μου

In pronouncing that there is an order of seniority between him and Jesus, the Baptist makes a categorial qualification that echoes the depths of the Messiah’s  upcoming impact to the world’s greatest spiritual need.

In using the comparative term ‘greater’ the Baptist introduces the swift motion of succession where anticipation of prophecy materialize before the very locality. Jesus is considered to be of greater ‘importance’ or ‘standing’ because of the sequence of attributions generated through his interaction ‘with’ the world and ‘within’ the world. Such qualification is clearly addressed onto the much-anticipated fulfilment for what was prophesised and anticipated but had to be yet fulfilled.  

The word ‘έρχεται’ underlines a physical as well as semiological occurrence that takes precedence because of its pace. Jesus ‘comes’ to John but ‘comes’ in an allegorical sense towards the fulfilment of a higher realization He has been destined.

In contrasting the motion of what is ‘still’ to happen, the evangelist creates attention by stimulating questions to his audience about what is likely to happen through this ‘coming. One’s realization of prophecy for what is going to happen correlates with some clearly already set definitive plans that cannot be negated for their actual occurrence and becoming.

γὼ ἐβάπτισα ὑμᾶς ὕδατι, αὐτὸς δὲ βαπτίσει ὑμᾶς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ

‘γὼ ἐβάπτισα ὑμᾶς’ ‘I have baptised you’. The evangelist records the Baptist’s pronouncements as if he were physically present. The past tense indicates the termination of a series of events that reach some end and signal the beginning of new ones. The comparative ‘δε’ suggests a comparative of what cannot still be accomplished.

In suggesting that Jesus will baptise you with the Holly Spirit the evangelist introduces readership to a new plot. Whereas the physical event of a baptism requires the presence of water, Jesus is now compared to the continuing work of the Baptism in the absence of water but in the presence of the ‘spirit’. The Baptist realises the different ‘type’ of baptism because of his understanding of what Jesus seeks to accomplish throughout the stages of His ministry on the earth. Even though Jesus is not physically performing the same work of baptism as John the Baptist, nevertheless, performs the same act of generating an experience for people that goes to the very self of human existence.

In suggesting that ‘this’ baptism will be different because it will occur through the Holy Spirit the evangelist describes the type of experience that can be generated because of the person who performs the action but also in light of the Spirit’s involvement. Clearly, the Holy Spirit exists throughout the duration of human existence. Such existence incorporates the time the Prophets as well as the contemporary that experience the arrival of the Messiah.

The word ‘εν’ suggests the substance that provides the baptismal event. As water happened to be the medium that enabled the emersion ‘in’ and ‘out’ of the water, in a similar way, the Holy Spirit becomes an entity that works in harmony with the baptismal process as an event.

The word ‘εν’ ascribes qualities situated best understood through the word ‘in’ rather than ‘with’. For example, the sentence ‘ἐν τούτῳ νίκα’ echoes the constitution of an act that takes place via the presence of an intermediary. The presence of the Holy Spirit within its functional use and power of influence to the people is guided by the initiation of Baptismal that is never announced by Jesus himself. This view suggests that the continuation of Jesus’ work with fulfilling the role of succession left by John the Baptism is situated in the very essence of its activity. The motion of ‘baptising’ describes a set of actions for what Jesus seeks to accomplish in coordination with the Holy Spirit.

This discussion generates the question of how and why the presence of the Holy Spirit might be a necessity for Jesus’s capacity to fulfil his role as the Messiah. Put differently, was the Holy Spirit of essential importance to what Jesus sought to carry out? Jesus could have continued preaching the good news’ and such message could generate a positive impact to the peoples’ experiences of God.

The introduction of the Spirit in the workings of spreading the ‘good news’ signifies a wider synergy between the sum of visible acts that can be recorded and understood through words as well as text. However, in further an experience of a ‘baptism’ through the Holy Spirit Jesus interacts with that manifestation of God that belongs to the world of the Spirit. That is, the intellect, conscious, immaterial layer of human existence that cannot be accessed through the physical senses alone. Hence the baptismal ‘with’ and ‘through’ the Holy Spirit identifies the overall constitution of an ‘experience-event’ that cannot be denied for its occurrence whilst also cannot be documented with the use of physical documentation.

Παρακολουθήστε το βίντεο που αναλύει τη ζωή του Ιωάννη και τη σημασία της μετάνοιας στην καθημερινή μας ζωή.