John the Baptist

Like Mr. Sutphin for DJ HighTop, John the Baptist was the “opening band” for Jesus (except he was actually listened to).
John, like Jesus is created by the miracles of God’s workings, for his mother Elizabeth was beyond her childbearing years when she conceived. John’s father, Zachariah is told this by the Angel Gabriel, who announces that the child will be filled by the Holy Spirit while helping to unite the people in order to be “prepared for the Lord”. What Gabriel says is huge, for not only does he say that John will be distinguished amongst God’s people, but he will have the power and wisdom to shape how his neighbors view God. This is something extraordinary and would be given only to those who have a deep sense of the true nature of God. Later, when John is born, Zechariah praises God for fulfilling the prophets’ words in his son. According to him, John comes to save the people from their enemies, and to remind them of the holy covenant. Most importantly he is to “go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins . . . to guide our feet into the path of peace”. John is obviously an important guy to God. The way in which Zechariah words the sentence is interesting though, in that one can interpret before as reference to position or time. If John prepares the way, then a reference to time would foreshadow a coming of the Lord.
When John grows older he fulfills these prophecies. He advises the people to repent for their sins, and baptizes them. He guides the people who ask him questions on salvation. For example, he tells tax collectors only to what is theirs, and for those with more to share with those who have less.
From these stories of John the Baptist we can see that he was precursor to Jesus. Both figures were chosen by God to help guide the people salvation. John and Jesus also shared common teachings of forgiveness, equality, and loving one another. Though John didn’t receive the same grandeur as Jesus, it is important to acknowledge that without John’s preaching many would not have been open to Jesus’ teachings. Therefore, John the Baptist should not be remembered as the “opening band that no one listened to”, but instead “the opening band that got everyone hyped for the star performer”.