John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Luke 3:1-20 

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ² in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

³ He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins. ⁴ As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. ⁵  Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth. ⁶  All flesh will see God’s salvation.’”

⁷ He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptised by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! ⁹ Even now the axe also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ The multitudes asked him, “What then must we do?”

¹¹ He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.”

¹² Tax collectors also came to be baptised, and they said to him, “Teacher, what must we do?”

¹³ He said to them, “Collect no more than that which is appointed to you.”

¹⁴ Soldiers also asked him, saying, “What about us? What must we do?” He said to them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages.”

¹⁵ As the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ, ¹⁶ John answered them all, “I indeed baptise you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptise you in the Holy Spirit and fire, ¹⁷ whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ Then with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people, ¹⁹ but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, ²⁰ added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

² As it is written in the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you: ³ the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!’”

⁴ John came baptising in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. ⁵ All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptised by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. ⁶ John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey.

⁷ He preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. ⁸ I baptised you in water, but he will baptise you in the Holy Spirit.”

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days, John the Baptiser came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ² “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”

³ For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”

⁴ Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him. ⁶ They were baptised by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them,

“You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! ⁹ Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

¹⁰ “Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire. ¹¹ I indeed baptise you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you in the Holy Spirit. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

The Testimony of John the Baptist

John 1:15-28

John testified about him. He cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’”

¹⁶ From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realised through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.

¹⁹ This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰ He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”

²¹ They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

²² They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³ He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

²⁴ The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked him, “Why then do you baptise, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

²⁶ John answered them, “I baptise in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know. ²⁷ He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.”

²⁸ These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptising.