Sunday 17 December 2023

Psalm 126

Background

Today's passage comes from John's Gospel, which may or may not have been written by the disciple John, son of Zebedee. This is not the same John as the text refers to: the text is talking about John the Baptist.

John's Gospel was written between 90 and 100 AD, and so quite some time after the events which are being described here. However, both when it was written and at the time the events took place Israel was part of the Roman Empire and under Roman occupation. The writer of this gospel appears to have been influenced by Greek culture and thinking as well as Roman and Jewish cultures.

Why is this background to the gospel relevant? Well firstly the Greek influence explains the focus on binary thinking between light and dark, which is evident in the passage when the reader has it explained to them who John the Baptist is and his role in the narrative. The Jewish influence is evident in the way in which John the Baptist quotes Isaiah 40:3 when he replies to them (verse 23). The Roman influence is also important, because it explains why the Jewish leaders were so edgy and wanted to know who he was. There was a tacit agreement between the Romans and Jews that the Jews would be tolerated as long they didn’t cause any trouble, and worked with the Romans.TheJewish leaders needed to know who John the Baptist was in order to identify if he were somebody they could view as legitimate, or a threat to them and the fragile relationship they had with their Roman occupiers.

To Ponder:

• If you were asked, “Who are you?” how would you answer?
• What different groups or cultures have influenced how you speak to people?