1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.
6There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light. 9The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him. 11He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him. 12But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John 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.’” 16From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. 17For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
19This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”
21They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
22They 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?”
23He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. 25They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”
26John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know. 27He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.” 28These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.’ 31I didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water, that he would be revealed to Israel.” 32John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him. 33I didn’t recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
35Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), “where are you staying?”
39He said to them, “Come and see.”
They came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour. 40One of the two who heard John and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ). 42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is by interpretation, Peter).
43On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
48Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”
50Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!” 51He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Other than designating that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, the writers of the 4 Gospels (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-23; John 1:29-39) do not tell us the exact location of the event.
Around A.D. 333 the anonymous Pilgrim of Bordeaux stated that from the Dead Sea to where the Lord was baptized in the Jordan River was about five Roman miles. He says there is a small hill nearby, on the east bank, that he marks as the spot Elijah was taken up. [1] This description agrees with the traditional location of Elijah’s ascension, retained in the name: Jebel Mar Elyas (Mount of St. Elijah). Later (c. 530) Theodosius agrees with this description, saying that it was five miles up the Jordan from the Dead Sea to the spot Jesus was baptized and that the spot was marked by a marble column topped with an iron cross. He also says there was a church there and mentions that the hill of Elijah was nearby.[2] Forty years after Theodosius the Anonymous of Piacenza says that people would come down to the Jordan at Epiphany to be baptized at the same spot.[3]
Jordanian Department of Antiquities excavator Mohammad Waheeb has argued he found the “Bethany beyond the Jordan” in John’s Gospel (John 1:28) based on excavations there.[4] Although the site is not directly on the Jordan River, it is near enough that if it is the “Bethany beyond the Jordan” of John’s Gospel (1:28), then John must have baptized Jesus in the Jordan near this site.
Excavations have revealed Byzantine churches on the east bank of the Jordan river, confirming the memory of the site as the place of Jesus’ baptism. Although there are churches and monasteries on the west bank today, this is probably the result of political situations during the Crusader period and the modern era. During the Crusades, the Jordan River was the de-facto border between the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Muslim Sultanate of Damascus. It is likely Christians (who had already mostly abandoned churches on the Jordan River) could not use the east bank and built churches on the west bank. In modern times (after 1967) the River was once again a tense border, between Israel and Jordan. Once again this necessitated the use of the west bank of the river as the site remembered as the spot where Jesus was baptized. After 1994 the area on the east bank was once again accessible and various Christian groups have built or have plans to build churches there. [5]
[1] LPPTS 1-b, 26; Geyer, 24.
[2] LPPTS 2-b, 14-15; Geyer 145-146.
[3] LPPTS 2-d, 10-12; Geyer 166-168.
[4] Jordanian Department of Antiquities, “The Baptismal Site (Bethany beyond the Jordan)” Online: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1556/ (accessed January 30, 2010).
[5] Michelle Piccirillo, “The Sanctuaries of the Baptism on the East Bank of the Jordan River,” in Jesus and Archaeology, edited by James H. Charlesworth, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s, 2006) 442-443.