John 1:19-27
New Catholic Bible
Jesus Is the Expected Messiah[a]
19 John the Baptist Is Not the Messiah.[b] This is the testimony offered by John when the Jews[c] sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”[d] 21 Then they asked him, “Who then are you? Are you Elijah?”[e] He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Therefore, they said to him, “Who are you, so we may have an answer to give to those who sent us? What do you have to say about yourself?” 23 He replied, in the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’ ”
24 Some Pharisees were present in this group, 25 and they asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water; but among you there is one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me. I am not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandal.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- John 1:19 Right from the Prologue, Jesus Christ is present in this Gospel as the Word and the only-begotten Son of God. Jesus communicates his life to us and makes known to us his glory. We are present at a great trial. In this trial, Jesus appears as witness of the truth, he alone. John’s whole Gospel draws the reader, page after page, into this drama.
- John 1:19 At that time, there was lively expectation in Israel that the great personages of the past would reappear in order to prepare for the coming of the Messiah (in Greek: Christ) (see Deut 18:15; Sir 48:10-11; Mal 3:23).
The sudden popularity of John the Baptist alarms “the Jews,” i.e., all those who have authority. In the political circles of the priesthood, there is fear of uprisings; among the “pure,” i.e., the Pharisees, there is concern for the good observance of the practices of the Law. The response comes—public and confirmed by the prophet Isaiah (40:3): John is not the Messiah, but the Precursor who announces him. By contrast, here is a testimony to the unique role of Jesus. - John 1:19 The Jews: this phrase occurs more than 70 times in the fourth Gospel—sometimes in a favorable sense (Jn 4:20), others in a neutral sense, but most often in a pejorative sense referring to the leaders of the Jews who were hostile to Jesus (Jn 8:48, etc.). Here it means the delegation sent by the Sanhedrin to assess the activities of an unauthorized teacher.
- John 1:20 Christ: the Messiah, the anointed vicegerent of the Lord, usually regarded as the heir of David.
- John 1:21 Elijah: this prophet who had been carried away to heaven in a fiery chariot was expected to return to earth to announce the end time. The Prophet: i.e., the Prophet mentioned in Deut 18:15, 18, the one like Moses (see Acts 3:22), who was expected to be the Messiah and repeat the prodigies of the Exodus.
