Matthew 17:12-13 "But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him..."

“‘But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist” (Matthew 17:12-13).

Question:

In these verses from Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples quite clearly that John the Baptist is the prophet Elijah reincarnated. I’m not a Bible scholar, so I’d really like to hear your interpretation of this intriguing 2000-year-old message that comes down to us from Jesus.

Comment:

It isn’t quite true that Jesus clearly told his disciples that John the Baptist was Elijah. He makes, as he often does, a somewhat ambiguous, apparently metaphysical statement. His disciples believe that he is talking about John; he may well have been, but it’s their interpretation that has been passed down through the centuries.

The Jewish belief was that Elijah—who had not died according to Hebrew Scripture, but was taken up into heaven by a chariot of fire—would return as a sort of advance man for the Messiah or king of the House of David, who would vanquish the occupying Roman forces and restore the kingdom. To the extent that Jesus ever saw himself as that Messiah, he clearly understood the term very differently. His kingdom was not of this world, and it was not concerned with political power struggles. His kingdom is one of consciousness—a new, elevated awareness of our Oneness with the divine that allows us to make choices in collective consciousness that serve to bring his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, into expression.

The relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus was a challenging one for the early followers of Jesus. At the time, there were equally fervent, passionate followers of John, and a sort of competitive energy between the two groups arose. Each gospel tries in its own way to swing the pendulum in Jesus’ favor by depicting John as a forerunner, and by having John himself recognize that fact. In many passages Jesus describes John as, in essence, the last and greatest of the Jewish prophets. “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Mt. 11:11). In other words, John represents, as Elijah does, the highest spiritual levels attainable by working through established religious traditions. But Jesus calls us one crucial step further: to turn within, find our own connection to the divine, and use that Presence and Power to make the choices that will bring the kingdom of heaven into expression.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed