Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Wednesday, January 1, 2014 Read John 1:6-9 The poetic nature of John’s gospel is broken at verse 6. Suddenly we are in the midst of narrative much like that of the other gospels. John moves from a theological statement about Jesus as the Word of God to the introduction of John the Baptist. We may remember that Mark began his gospel in a very similar fashion introducing John the Baptist to his readers. But there is a marked difference between Mark’s use of the narrative regarding John the Baptist and John’s use of this character. For Mark, John the Baptist is the forerunner of Jesus – the one who anoints Jesus for ministry and the one who foreshadows what will happen to Jesus. For Mark, John the Baptist is the one who comes to prepare the way. For John, John the Baptist is the first of many witnesses to Jesus. John tells us that John the Baptist came bear witness to the light. From the very beginning we discover that there is a tension between John the Baptist and Jesus. That same tension was evident in the synoptic accounts too but it is much more evident and stronger in John’s gospel. There is competition between John the Baptist’s followers and the followers of Jesus. So John tells us right up front the John the Baptist is not the light but he comes to bear witness to the true light which is Jesus alone. We will need to follow the story of John the Baptist in John’s gospel.