Smoodock's Blog

According to the Gospel of John, John the Baptist wasn’t cast into prison until after Jesus’ first Passover (John 2:13; 3:24), and perhaps not until after Pentecost of that year, because the text implies Jesus returned to Galilee after the Passover, but came into Judea again later, presumably to celebrate Pentecost (John 3:22). Furthermore, we are told that Jesus came into Galilee after John was cast into prison (Matthew 4:12; Mark 1:14), but the texts don’t tell us why, only that John was cast into prison, and afterwards Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God/Heaven.

If we pause briefly in our reading and consider the implications of the text, additional information can be gleaned from what John and the Synoptics tell us. For example, saying “John was not yet cast into prison” implies the events occurring in John 3:22-36 were close to the time of John’s arrest. Therefore, Jesus was in Judea, when his arrest occurred. Moreover, as I mentioned above, this event occurred during Jesus’ second visit to Judea, which he probably made to celebrate Pentecost (John 3:22). Nothing is mentioned, specifically, to show how the arrest came about, namely, that John was arrested by Herod, on a trumped-up charge that he was publicly accusing Herod of living in sin, saying Herod’s marriage to Herodias wasn’t lawful. However, the text implies that John accused Herod privately on this matter (Matthew 14:4; Mark 6:18). Why, then, was John arrested in the first place? John’s mission was to prepare the public for the coming of the Messiah, not to stir up trouble for Herod by accusing him of breaking the Law.

When the Jewish authorities wanted to get Jesus in trouble with the people and/or their rulers, they sent their servants to him, asking him loaded questions, which, of course, Jesus knew what they were doing (Luke 20:20; cp. Mark 12:13-17; Matthew 22:23-33; 22:34-40). Something like this probably occurred to get John in trouble with Herod. The Jewish authorities had other reasons why they wished to get rid of John, and getting John arrested over Herod’s marriage to Herodias was simply a means to that end.

Perhaps Jesus knew that John’s arrest was imminent, because he seems to have delayed his return to Galilee, because the text in the Gospel of John says Jesus’ disciples were baptizing folks in the Jordan River (John 3:26; cp. John 4:2). However, according to John 4:1-3, Jesus left Judea and journeyed to Galilee, once he learned that the Pharisees heard that he baptized more folks than John. The fact that Jesus didn’t return to Galilee, until after John was arrested (Matthew 4:12; Mark 1:14), implies that the Pharisees had something to do with John’s arrest. The text concludes at John 3:25 that there existed a controversy between John’s disciples and the Jewish authorities over the doctrine of purification (cp. John 1:25). The exact elements of the controversy aren’t revealed, but the Jewish authorities may have been taking issue with John’s baptism, because the authorities “baptized” only converts into Judaism, while John baptized Jews. Why would a Jew need to become a Jew? It is also claimed in the text that, at times, the Pharisees collaborated with the Herodians, when it suited their purpose. On at least two occasions they sought the help of the Herodians to get Jesus in trouble with Herod, and thereby get rid of him through imprisonment and/or execution (Mark 3:6; cp. Matthew 22:16-17). Thus, John 4:1-3 offers us a context and a timeline for events surrounding John’s arrest, when that text is compared with John 3:22-25. The fact that Jesus’ disciples had gone into the city of Samaria to buy food (John 4:8), indicates Jesus’ departure from Judea was hurried, and there wasn’t time to buy the supplies necessary for their journey back to Galilee. Moreover, the text concludes that it was necessary for Jesus to travel through Samaria on his journey back to Galilee (John 4:4). Most Jews at that time avoided entering Samaria on journeys between Judea and Galilee, because they believed the Samaritans were unclean, and dealing with them would have made a Jew ceremonially unclean (cp. John 4:9). Thus, the Pharisees would have sought Jesus in one of the routes to Galilee that skirted Samaria, because they wouldn’t have entered Samaria in their search for Jesus (John 4:1; cp. 3:25). Nevertheless, when Jesus did enter Galilee via Samaria, he was received by those who witnessed what he had done at the Feast (of Pentecost?), for they also went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Holy Day (John 4:45).