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Sep 30, 2025 18:00pm

Walking Through Luke: John the Baptist

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Have you ever known someone who society might consider a little strange? When someone doesn’t conform to cultural standards of what “normal” means, they tend to get branded as a strange person. In my opinion, that is far from being a bad thing. If everyone were exactly the same, it would be a boring world. But there are some who just stick out as particularly different individuals. They march to the beat of their own drum, as the saying goes.

I am sure I’ve given the impression to some people I’ve met that I’m a strange guy. When I was in third grade, my family had moved to a new town. School had just started, and I was trying to make friends. Two boys sitting across from me were talking about the Kansas City Chiefs. I knew nothing about football, but I grew up in a family that loved baseball. So I interrupted their conversation to say, “Well, I love the Kansas City Royals.” They stared at me like I had grown a second head, said nothing, and returned to their conversation.

A few years later, I was part of a homeschool group. We were running track and field. One afternoon, when we were at the track practicing, I heard two high schoolers talking about a video game they had been playing. It just so happened it was a game that I had played before and that I loved, so I inserted myself into the conversation. They included me at first, but eventually I got called away to practice and they left. A little while later, I noticed them walking near the fence, so I rushed up to talk to them. I don’t even know if they were still talking about the video game anymore, because I was still far enough away that I couldn’t hear their conversation. But I shouted loud enough for them to hear, “Hey!” They turned to look at me. I stopped, still pretty far away from them, and started listing random facts about the game. They gave me odd looks, said, “That’s nice,” and turned and kept walking to continue their conversation.

I’d never deny my own strangeness. I have my quirks, and I have learned to accept that.

In Luke 3, we’re introduced to someone far stranger: John the Baptist. Matthew 3:4 tells us that he wore a robe made of camel’s hair and he ate wild locusts and honey. He was probably the perfect picture of a wild man. Imagine the long, tangled hair, the unkempt beard, the whole ensemble. But his appearance would not have been the most unusual thing about him to those who listened to him.

John proclaimed “baptism for the repentance of sins” (Luke 3:3). Right off the bat, this would’ve been odd to his Jewish listeners. They believed that as God’s chosen people, they didn’t need to repent, because obedience to the law was all it took to be right with God. By following the law, they were already right, while outsiders were sinners incapable of forgiveness unless they converted to Judaism ritualistically (including by baptism).

He also taught that all things would be made equal (3:4-6). Equality is something that the world has always struggled with. They did in his day, and we certainly do now. What John the Baptist was saying is that in God’s eyes, all people are equal recipients of His gift of salvation if they believe—“all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (3:6). No one is left out and no one is automatically included because of bloodline, ethnicity, or denomination.

Then, he insulted his listeners, calling them a brood of vipers. In essence, he was calling them toxic. They claimed salvation from God’s wrath just because they were descended from Abraham, but they were not doing good works in harmony with their claims. He was saying that just because their bloodline went back to Abraham, it didn’t secure their salvation. The same is true for us today. It doesn’t matter if our parents or grandparents are Christians. If we do not make the personal decision to believe in Jesus for salvation from our sins, we’re not saved. It’s not something inherited by family; it’s a choice for each individual to answer His call.

John also focused on generosity and fairness. While the Jewish religious leaders (the Pharisees) claimed to follow the law, they often hoarded wealth. John said that everyone who had plenty should give to those who had little. God cares more about how we treat the needy than how pious we are or how loudly we pray. While prayer is important and devotion is essential, if it is done for show and not proven through action in how we treat others, it is all in vain.

The people began to wonder if John was the Christ, or Messiah—their promised Savior. John was quick to tell them that he was not, but the Messiah was coming soon, and He was far greater than John was. He warned them to be ready, because this Messiah would clear out the useless and unbelieving from the true believers.

Eventually, John made powerful people mad. Herod the Tetrarch, a local king, became angry when John preached against him for stealing his brother’s wife (Mark 6:14-29). This led Herod to arrest John and have him thrown in prison. But this did not happen until John had baptized those God had prepared for him, including Jesus Himself. Jesus’ baptism is not a point of focus in Luke—covered only briefly in verses 21-22 of this chapter—but it is described in greater detail elsewhere (Matthew 3:13-17). The snippet we see here, including the importance of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus, symbolized that He was truly the Messiah.

Why did Jesus need to be baptized? Not because He was a sinner in need of repentance or because He did not have God’s power on His life until then. No, it was a symbol of obedience to God, and to show us that if even Jesus was baptized in obedience, then we should also take that step after our salvation. It is a public declaration that we are identifying ourselves with God and dedicating ourselves to serving Him.

John was a little strange. Sometimes, being obedient to the lifestyle Jesus calls us to live might make us seem strange, too. But being separate from the world is not a bad thing. We should do our best to live in harmony with others, and we should certainly never consider ourselves to be better than anyone else, but we do have a responsibility to live in a way that makes the sincerity of our faith evident to those we encounter. If the consequence is being considered a little strange, that’s a title we should wear with honor.