Father Michael H. Crosby's article Why Didn’t John the Baptist Commit Himself to Jesus as a Disciple? makes a very good point about the reality of making exegetical work. He writes: In the “Interpretation of the Bible in the Church,” the Pontifical Biblical Commission (q.v.) discusses “pre-understanding.” This notion refers to ways we approach a biblical text with certain mindsets that cannot find verification in the text itself. This presents a “danger,” according to the PBC. It notes that in “Catholic exegesis, the risk is that of attributing to biblical texts a meaning which they do not contain but which is the product of a later development within the tradition. The exegete must beware of such a danger” (§513). Aware that this “pre-understanding” may color our own “received” notions about John the Baptist, his story as well as that of his disciples, yet building on 25 points raised in the four Gospel accounts, I have concluded that nothing in the scriptures sho...