1The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2As it is written in the prophets,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you:
3the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord!
Make his paths straight!’”
4John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. 5All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. 6John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. 7He 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. 8I baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”
9In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
12Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals; and the angels were serving him.
14Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News.”
16Passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you into fishers for men.”
18Immediately they left their nets, and followed him.
19Going on a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20Immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.
21They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. 22They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 24saying, “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!”
25Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
26The unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!” 28The report of him went out immediately everywhere into all the region of Galilee and its surrounding area.
29Immediately, when they had come out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31He came and took her by the hand and raised her up. The fever left her immediately, and she served them.
32At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were possessed by demons. 33All the city was gathered together at the door. 34He healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. He didn’t allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there. 36Simon and those who were with him searched for him. 37They found him and told him, “Everyone is looking for you.”
38He said to them, “Let’s go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because I came out for this reason.” 39He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.
40A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.”
41Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.” 42When he had said this, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was made clean. 43He strictly warned him and immediately sent him out, 44and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.”
45But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places. People came to him from everywhere.
It is a long-held belief that John the Baptist ministered only in the Jordan River area. However, in 1999 James Tabor and Shimon Gibson were conducting an archaeological survey of the area at Kibbutz Tzova, near the town of Ain Karim – the traditional birthplace of John the Baptist. They discovered the entrance to a cave, and upon entering, discovered several carvings and paintings on the walls that appeared to be very early Christian markings. The two archaeologists decided to conduct a full excavation of the cave.
It turned out that the cave was not natural, but was hand-cut from the rock of the hillside. Fully excavated, the cave is 80 feet long, 13 feet wide, and originally (when all of the silt was removed) 16 feet high. The walls were plastered, indicating that the space was meant for water storage, and indeed, the excavators believe it was first dug in the 9th or 10th centuries B.C. as a cistern. At some point in the first century B.C., the cave ceased to be a water storage facility but was still used until the middle of the second century A.D. It was reoccupied during the Byzantine period (4th-7th centuries).
Controversy surrounds the site. Gibson and Tabor found very odd remains in the cave. The floor was covered with hundreds of intentionally broken pots that were dated from the first to mid-second centuries A.D. Another strange aspect of the cave is that the silt that accumulated in the cave during winter floods was not removed over time, but seems to be hard-tamped by foot traffic. Within these layers, the archaeologists uncovered stone basins and paving stones arranged in a circle near the entrance. Near the bottom of the silt layers, Gibson and Taylor found a carved stone that they interpreted as a vessel for placing the right foot in and having it anointed with oil. Near the ceiling of the cave, the excavators found images chiseled into the plaster. There are several crosses, a head, an upraised arm, and a figure. The figure was intriguing because it seems to depict someone wearing rough clothing, holding a staff and perhaps a bag, and having something on his head, such as a crown or halo. The inscriptions were created from the fourth through eleventh centuries, although this dating is subjective.
Gibson and Taylor have interpreted the cave as having something to do with John the Baptist, and associate it with some kind of early baptismal practice. They go so far as to suggest that John himself may have used the cave. They postulate that initiates came to the cave, performed some cleansing ritual in the circle of pavers, and then had their feet anointed on the carved stone. Over time, oral tradition preserved the association of John the Baptist with the cave.
Although the cave is near the traditional hometown of John the Baptist and may display an association with him, Tabor and Gibson’s interpretation has been met with widespread skepticism, even being called “imaginative speculation.”
There is no other evidence that John ministered outside of the Jordan River area, and the excavators’ interpretations of what they found in the cave, while interesting, are based mostly on assumption.
Shanks, Hershel. “John the Baptist’s Cave???.” Biblical Archaeology Review, Nov/Dec 2004, 18-19. http://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=30&Issue=6&ArticleID=4 (accessed 4/17/2010)