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DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

St. Matthew 4:12-17 (1/13) The Sunday after the Theophany of Our Lord Jesus Christ

St. John as Forerunner: St. Matthew 4:12-17, especially vs. 12: “Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.” The Church identifies John, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, with a variety of names: “Forerunner, Prophet, Baptist, and Servant.” The title “Forerunner” is particularly intriguing since Holy Scripture does not apply that specific term to St. John. Of course, when we speak of St. John as the Forerunner, it is because in the first century, he helped to “prepare” men and women for the Lord’s ministry to them, which he still does.

In that time, two thousand years ago, St. John’s preaching and baptizing signaled that the time had come for the Lord Jesus to leave His private life in Nazareth and assume a public ministry (Mt. 3:13). In a similar way the imprisonment of the Prophet was a sign for the Lord Jesus to go into Galilee and begin preaching, discipling, and healing (Mt. 4:12-17). The title, “Forerunner,” is fortuitous in several ways. The Baptist’s prophecies forecast that the Lord’s ministry would illumine men with the Holy Spirit. St. John’s message and work foreshadowed Christ’s emphasis on repentance, and the Prophet’s death forebode the execution of the Savior.

St. John was a forerunner because he “forecast” the dynamic role of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Christ. When John was questioned about himself and his mission, he stated plainly that he was only a messenger announcing One “coming after me Who is mightier than I, Whose sandals I Am not worthy to carry. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt. 3:11).

In the present reading, the Evangelist Matthew indicates that the Lord Jesus, being filled with the Spirit (Mt. 3:16), caused “Light” to dawn for “those who sat in the region and shadow of death” (Mt. 4:16). The Spirit enabled the Lord’s preaching to illumine the hearts of His hearers. By the power of God the Holy Spirit, the parables, the healing acts, and the teaching of the Incarnate Word of God were effective in the hearts of those who heard Him. The Lord Jesus declared the presence of the Kingdom, and the Holy Spirit caused Divine “Light” to shine within them, freeing them from the kingdom of sin and death, bringing them to the Kingdom of Light.

St. John was a forerunner because he “foreshadowed” the message of the Lord’s preaching and works. St. John warned the people to prepare their hearts for the mighty One from God. Men should change their lives beginning with active repentance prior to the Messiah’s arrival (Mt. 3:2). Later, when Christ began His ministry, as the Gospel shows, He also placed repentance as a starting point for all He did (Mt. 4:17). Hence, repentance lies at the heart of the Gospel, the healing response initiated and made effective by the Lord’s saving Death and Resurrection through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Forerunner cast the shadow, but the Lord engendered the saving reality.

Finally, St. John was the forerunner of the saving Passion, for his unjust death served as a type and “foreboding” of the Lord’s sacrificial death on the Cross. After the Lord’s Baptism, the Prophet was arrested by the Tetrarch (the ruler of a fourth part of a region), Herod Antipas. John had said to him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her’ (Mt. 14:4), referring to Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother Philip. St. John, as a faithful Servant of God, never hesitated to speak God’s truth honestly against adultery, as the Gospel summary of his preaching shows (Mt. 3:7-10).

John’s death, like the Lord’s, witnesses to the fact that our race prefers lies and murder to truth, even to Truth Himself. The Lord Jesus’ own preaching was equally forthright (e.g., Mt. 23), and in a short three years, an unusual coalition of religious, economic, and political groups decided on His death and brought about His arrest and crucifixion (Jn. 11:47; Lk. 23:12).

The Master did forecall thee a Prophet, O thou who art more exalted than the law foretold; and having baptized Him, thou didst appear nobler than all men. Pray for our souls.

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