John was called “The Baptist” because he baptized people. However, according to Jewish religion he was baptizing the wrong people. Jewish tradition recognized only one baptism, and that was the baptism of a Gentile converting to Judaism. Baptism represented dying to the Gentile life and accepting the God of the Jews. The baptized person was born again as a Jewish child of Abraham. John the Baptist was not baptizing Gentiles, he was baptizing Jews and there was no precedent for this. John was telling the people he baptized what it signified. It signified they were repenting of sins and were looking to a new hope that would be found in the coming Messiah.

When the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem heard about the work of John the Baptist they had a problem. John the Baptist was not one of them and he was doing something that they did not understand and did not approve of. For his baptism to be righteous, John would have to be the Messiah, Elijah or the prophet; if he was not one of these, he was a heretic. The leaders did not want the people to follow anyone other than themselves. John the Baptist was a threat to their power and needed to be dealt with. They did not go themselves; they sent other people in their place.

When the Pharisees arrived, they questioned John, and demanded he justify himself to them. He did not do so in the way they expected. He answered that he was nobody. He was only a messenger telling people to repent and to watch for the coming Messiah.” The Jewish leaders did not repent, and they did not watch for the coming Messiah. The people who were watching for him recognized Jesus, but the Jewish leaders did not recognize him and rejected him.

The Jewish leaders failed because they did not go in person; they sent others on their behalf. The search for truth cannot be delegated. We only find Jesus when the search for truth becomes personal.