Jesus saying that John is the expected Elijah, and John saying he is not. Part I

The Gospels Depiction of the Work of John the Baptist 

Based on Old Testament Prophecies

The Gospels concur in there existing a special relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist. The Synoptic Gospels depict John as an special envoy from God to 'prepare the way" for people to come to Jesus. Luke and Matthew introduce John's mission as that prophesied in Isaiah 40 about  an anonymous voice crying “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.." 

When Mark introduces John from verse 1:2, he adds to this formula a small part that comes from Malachi 3:1  "I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me." Matthew also adds this verse on a later occasion when John has been already put in jail and Jesus speaks to the people about John. 

Jesus gives the following words: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸ But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces! ⁹ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is the one about whom it is written,

‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You (Malachi),
Who will prepare Your way before You (Isaiah).’

The Fourth Gospel does not have Jesus speak much about John's role. However, in the much debated verses 1:6-8 that appear in the hymn style Prologue to the gospel, the words from Malachi and Isaiah are rearranged into the author's understanding of John's special mission!  
There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
 
The active voice in Malachi of I send my messenger has now now become the passive There was a man sent from God. The vagueness of the phrases in Isaiah of to prepare the way and make the path straight has now been emended into the unequivocal task of to testify...so that all may believe through him.

The incorporation of the prophecy in Malachi becomes very important for our understanding of the providential role that John played in relation to Jesus, for in a later chapter Malachi expands upon this prophecy by naming the person who will serve as God's messenger and adds a special task for that person to perform. In Malachi 4:5-6 we find: “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

Hence, the anonymous voice from Isaiah's preparer, becomes the prophet of Israel, Elijah.  The Jewish people knew the prophecy about Elijah's return very well as they knew all messianic prophecies. They were expecting Elijah just as the prophecy said he would come, prior to the coming of the Messiah (the great and terrible day of the Lord, and also I send my messenger before me).


Who was Elijah? 

He was a prophet that lived in Israel during the period of the Divided Kingdom. Elijah with powerful faith in God defeated 400 false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. However, before Elijah completed his divine mission he was caught up to heaven in a chariot of fire.  

Malachi brings God's message to the Jewish people: Await for the return of Elijah who will come prior to the arrival of the Messiah! Elijah will have the critical mission to turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents. John 1:7 does a similar task of clarifying this job as it did in respect to the phrase of preparing the way of the Lord from Isaiah. For the author of the last gospel, the heavenly mandate to turn the hearts ... refers to the task for which John the Baptist was sent, that of convincingly testifying to Jesus before the people. 

Jesus Publicly Declares that John is Elijah

400 years after Malachi, we find the Jewish people conducting messianic quests as the one they sent to John the Baptist  (John 1:19-28), attempting to find if the Messiah or Elijah had arrived yet. During that time Jesus began his ministry and his disciples very soon were telling people that the Messiah had arrived. No doubt they would be questioned by the scribes about the whereabouts of Elijah, as we shall see soon. But in the Gospel of Matthew 11:14-15 Jesus speaking about John after the latter had been imprisoned declares that: And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.


 The Disciples' Difficulty in Understanding the Identification of John with Elijah  

Had the declaration been accepted it would have been very favorable to Jesus. However. we will see how difficult it was, in the case of disciples, to grasp the significance of Jesus' words, and much harder for the people to believe them. 

In Matthew 17 after Peter, James, and John had gone through the experience of the Transfiguration they brought to Jesus a challenging question the teachers of the law had posed to them.  In Matthew 17:10 they ask: “Why then (does) Elijah must come first?”

If we believe Matthew presented a chronological story the disciples should have been able to give an answer to them.

That the disciples present their concern before Jesus means that they did not have those "ears to hear". We must ask ourselves if anyone else could have accepted Jesus' declaration.

Nevertheless, Jesus did not reprimanded the disciples and went ahead clarify the issue for them. In Matthew 17:11-13  Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

Though Jesus did not directly reproof his disciples , we can see that he did not repeat what he had directly declared before. The narrator says that the disciples understood  that Jesus was referring to John the Baptist. For some the disciples understanding who Jesus meant without saying it openly may indicate that the disciples had spiritually matured.  

However, an incident on the previous chapter in which the word understand plays a crucial role may help us see that even the disciples could not easily grasp the idea of John the Baptist being the prophesied Elijah.

The verb συνῆκαν (understand) appears in16:12: Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. That time  Jesus questioned his disciples their lack of understanding of his warning to them:“Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” The disciples thought Jesus was talking about their negligence in bringing any bread. Jesus could not be patient with them and spoke strong words:
“You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? ⁹ Do you still not understand?

 Thus, though it seems that describing the disciples as having understood Jesus is a positive observation, the previous parallel situation may be telling us that the disciples once again, failed by not grasping the meaning of something Jesus had told them very clearly. 

Appreciating this will help us to see the great difficulty before the Jewish people in deciding if Jesus' declaration about John was true. We shall look at that on the next post.