John the Baptist, Saint (6 B.C.?-A.D. 28), in Christianity, was a prophet regarded as the forerunner of Jesus Christ. In his public ministry, John baptized Jesus, an event seen as the start of Jesus’ ministry.
John was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, who was a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus (see Elizabeth, Saint ). John was probably raised in a Jewish community in the wilderness of Judea. Pious Jews fled to these wilderness communities to escape the sinfulness they saw in their nation. About A.D. 27, John appeared in Judea, proclaiming the coming of God and baptizing people into a new, purified community. John urged people to repent, to turn away from their old lives, and to adopt new lives of piety and obedience to God. All this was in preparation for the coming of one who would baptize them in the Holy Spirit.
Many people were attracted to John and his call for repentance, and a large body of followers grew up around him. Within the larger group, John had a smaller group of disciples whom he instructed in pious living and who observed Jewish religious practices.
The political authorities were suspicious of the crowds John attracted. They feared the possibility of a popular uprising against the Roman rulers of Palestine. John was arrested by Herod Antipas, the governor of Galilee, imprisoned in a fortress, and eventually executed.
As Jesus’ ministry emerged, many of His followers seem to have been drawn from John’s followers. After John’s death, many more of his followers apparently joined Jesus’ movement. But John’s followers still made up a movement that continued after his death. Saint Paul found a group of John’s followers in the Greek city of Ephesus in the A.D. 50’s.
