Portfolio 1: John the Baptist

John the Baptist was to praise God as Jesus was. His father Zechariah and his mother Elizabeth were to name him John by the holy spirt. Zechariah said John would be called a prophet of the Most High and will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give knowledge and salvation and give forgivness for sins. Jesus and John were cousins by Mary and Elizabeth, they were sisters. Both Mary and Elizabth were filled with the Holy Spirit and were told that their sons would be prophets for God. When Jesus was a little boy he didn't know his purpose was to be a prophet but he had a lot of knowledge about God. When at the temple people realized that he had wisdom and it wasn't until Jesus got older that he realized his place was to be like John and be a prophet.


John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin. He was born and raised in the same region under the same conditions as Jesus was. Therefore one could predict that their teachings may have things in common. John, like Jesus was born miraculously in ways never before imagined possible; his mother was past childbearing age and likewise Mary conceived a virgin. Great things are expected from people born miraculously as they were. John later in his age went around the area of Jordan and with him he spread his messages. He was quick to accusing his audience of evil actions calling them "A Brood of Vipers." He bitterly accuses his audience of hypocrisy and gives them advise for a more positive future. He claims that one cannot love God truly if he chooses to cheat his fellow human beings. He tells the tax-collectors to take only what is ascribed, and no more. He tells his audience to do good deeds and actions as to be saved. He claims that people need to infact do as they are taught, and actually work to serve others, not just discipline people. In essence, he told people to do what God guided them to do--what was fair and just. John's haughty statements may have come from his refugee background. He unhappy of the rich controlling everything and of the temple system only favoring the rich who flowed their money within it. He was tired of the tax collectors taking everything that the people had. He did not like the soldiers of the Roman empire, or even Herod's soldiers unfairly harrassing people with no motive. So, he felt if no one would stand up against these unjust actions, he would do it himself; and he did just that.