Spying in the Bible 26 - AD 29

John the Baptist's Wet Job

In c. AD 29, when Jesus was 31 years old he was baptized by his cousin John to begin his ministry. By this time John had a successful ministry being a well-known preacher and had many disciples. In fact, many people considered John to be a prophet at the time. John the Baptist also began testifying about Jesus that he was the Messiah the Jews had been waiting for. Shortly after Jesus’ baptism, John the Baptist was arrested by Antipas for preaching against Antipas stealing his own brother’s wife (Mark 6:17-20a).

Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.

After John was arrested by Herod, Jesus went to Galilee, but it is commonly misunderstood why. Some theorize that Jesus did not want to be arrested, since it was known that he traveled with John, however, by Jesus leaving Judaea and going to Galilee, he was actually going into the jurisdiction of Herod, who had arrested John. To understand why Jesus did this, the differences in the four synoptic gospels must be examined. In the book of Mark, it is simply recorded what happened and there is not necessarily any connection made between the two events (Mark 1:14).

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee.

This succinct and strait to the point style of writing is what Mark is known for. Mark traveled with his cousin Barnabus and with Paul and his Gospel was an attempt to record what Peter had taught, with the Romans as the intended audience. Mark explained Jewish words, customs, and places and translated some words into Latin to get their meaning across better. He also used Roman time rather than Hebrew time and he translated some words into Latin. Mark also emphasized Jesus as a servant, which the Romans would be very familiar with. In the Bible, Peter referred to Mark as "my son" in 1 Peter 5:13. According to Papias, "Mark, who became Peter's interpreter, wrote accurately, though not in order, all that he remembered of the things said or done by the Lord." Also, Irenaeus wrote, "Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself also handed down to us in writing the things preached by Peter."

Matthew, on the other hand, implies that Jesus withdrew because he heard that John was put in prison. This also indicates by using the term withdrew that Jesus was going away from Judaea more than going toward Galilee, but still does not explain why (Matthew 4:12).

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee.

Matthew was a Jewish tax collector, who was probably very wealthy and well educated. Matthew was written to Jews who knew the old testament (and it’s prophesies) well to convince them that Jesus was the promised Messiah and King of the Jews. Matthew is said to have been written by a Jew about a Jew for Jews. As one of the disciples, he was also there at the time, so this is a firsthand account. It could be that Matthew did not explain more because he and his audience already would have known why Jesus would leave Judaea and go to Galilee.

In the Gospel of John, the reason for Jesus leaving Judaea is made clearer, but it does not explain what it has to do with John the Baptist being arrested. Jesus wanting to leave because the Pharisees heard he was baptizing many people does not seem to fit with leaving because John the Baptist was arrested. However, it is important to remember that John the Baptist was a very popular political figure and that even Herod was afraid to hurt him due to possible public backlash. John the Baptist also very vocally backed Jesus and claimed he was the Messiah, which was a powerful endorsement.

Therefore, the Pharisees would have been too scared to oppose Jesus while John the Baptist was around, but when he was arrested, Jesus no longer had the political backing that came with John’s preaching, so the Pharisees could have opposed him more safely. The Pharisees would have also wanted to oppose him quickly because when they saw that he was baptizing more people than even John the Baptist they would fear that Jesus would soon become even more powerful with the public than John the Baptist was. They feared Jesus would take John’s place since he was arrested. This shows that the Pharisees were doing sophisticated intelligence analysis and political projections. This also shows that Jesus and his disciples were keeping tabs on, or spying on, the Pharisees to have heard about them not being happy with his baptizing (John 4:1-2).

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John — although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judaea and went back once more to Galilee.

John and his brother James were fishermen who were business partners with Peter and Andrew, as Luke 5:10 explains. John was one of the three who were selected to be with Jesus at the raising of Jairus' daughter, the transfiguration, and in the Garden of Gethsemane. In addition to the fourth gospel, John also wrote 1, 2, and 3 John, as well as the Revelation. This gospel’s intended audience was the Gentile, Christian community, so more things about the Jews were explained than in Matthew’s gospel. John often explained Jewish customs and places. His focus was on the deity of Jesus and faith, summarized in John 3:16 and John 20:31.

Luke’s account of Jesus going to Galilee did not include any reasons why, but it did include what happened afterword. After Jesus enters Galilee he became very popular, which proved the Pharisee’s intelligence analysis, assessment, and projection of his political rise (Luke 4:14-15).

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

Luke was a Greek doctor, so he was well educated and was the only non-Jewish New Testament writer. Luke emphasizes Jesus as a human and as the savior of all mankind to the Gentiles. Therefore, the politics of the Pharisees was probably not very important to him when documenting the events. Luke’s Gospel was compiled from eyewitnesses and written with detail and chronologically. He also wrote Acts, wanting to document the events historically.