Killing Jesus: A History

these people, deep in his heart, wonders if John himself is the coming Messiah of whom he preaches.
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    The answer comes the following day.
    Once again John stands in the Jordan. The village of Bethany is behind him, on the far bank. As usual the day is hot, and long lines of believers wait their turn to be baptized.
    In the distance, John spies a man walking down to the river. Like the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth has long hair and a beard. He wears sandals and a simple robe. His eyes are clear and his shoulders broad, as if he is a workingman. He looks younger than John, but not by much.
    Suddenly a dove lands on Jesus’s shoulder. When Jesus makes no move to shoo it away, the bird is quite content to remain there.
    The dove changes everything. 4 In that instant, the rage that so often fuels the Baptist’s words disappears. In its place is wonder, brought on by the awareness that his vision has now become a reality. As the crowd of pilgrims looks on, an awestruck John motions toward Jesus. “Look, the Lamb of God. I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom the Spirit will come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.’”
    The believers drop to their knees and press their faces into the earth. Jesus does not react to this sign of worship. He does nothing to discourage it, either. The Nazarene simply wades down into the water and takes his place alongside John, waiting to be baptized.
    John is dumbstruck. “I need to be baptized by you , and yet you come to me?”
    Jesus does not clarify his identity. He is a simple carpenter, a builder who has labored his whole life. He has memorized the Psalms and Scripture. He pays his taxes and takes care of his mother. To a casual observer, he is just one of many hardworking Jews. There is no obvious sign of his divinity.
    In the Jewish culture, to proclaim you are God is a capital offense. So now, speaking softly with John the Baptist, Jesus does declare who he is. Bowing his head to accept the water, Jesus tells John, “Let it be so. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”
    John places one hand on Jesus’s back and slowly lowers him into the water. “I baptize you with water for repentance,” John says as he submerges Jesus in the current.
    He then lifts Jesus to his feet.
    “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God,” John cries out.
    “Son of God” is a regal title indicative of one’s being a Messiah, a title attributed to King David. It is believed that when the Messiah returns, he will be king of the Jews, in keeping with David, the perfect king. The people looking on understand “Son of God” as a Davidic title, the anointed one, who is coming as ruler and king. 5
    The crowd remains on its knees as Jesus steps onto the shore and keeps on walking. He is headed alone into the desert to fast for forty days and nights. It is a journey he makes willingly, knowing that he must confront and defeat any and all temptation in order to make his mind and body pure before publicly preaching his message of faith and hope.
    John the Baptist’s work is now done. But along with that, his fate has been sealed.
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    John is that rarest of all prophets: a man who lives to see his predictions come true. The people still desire to be cleansed of their sins through baptism, and huge crowds continue to follow John wherever he goes. If anything, his following is growing even larger. And while there is no longer a need to prophesize the coming of a new Christ, John has a powerful gift for speaking. He is not the sort to remain silent about immorality and injustice. So when he learns that Herod Antipas has divorced his wife and then violated Jewish religious law by taking his brother’s former spouse for his new bride, he cannot remain silent. Walking the countryside, John the Baptist loudly decries Antipas wherever he goes, turning the people against their ruler.
    Antipas orders the spies who have been keeping an eye on John to arrest him. John is chained and then marched fifteen miles over hot desert terrain. Finally, he sees a vision in front of him. It is Antipas’s mountaintop fortress at Machaerus. John is then forced to walk three thousand feet up to the citadel, which is surrounded on all sides by rocky