John the Baptist has usurped the role of the Marcion's Jesus

[MrMacSon]

This was posted on a reddit 'subreddit' a couple of months ago, r/AskBibleScholars -

What was John the Baptist doing, in a Jewish context?

So in Christianity, John the Baptist is like a precursor to, and legitimizer of, Jesus the Messiah.

But I wonder what his whole project would have looked like to Jews at the time. Like, I don't think he was trying to break away from Judaism. But by what principles was he supposed to do these sort of "free-lance" baptism rituals? AFAIK, he wasn't a priest or a rabbi. His acetic lifestyle seems at odds with what little I know about Judaism.

To his followers, what was he up to? How did it fit into Judaism and the events of the day? To the Jews who were getting baptized by him, what did they think the ritual was doing?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBibleSchola ... _a_jewish/

There were 9 replies.

It has been crossposted on r/AcademicBiblical in the last day or so - https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblic ... _a_jewish/ - with 2 replies currently.

[Giuseppe]

Talking of embarrassment by Mark, the only other case that comes in mind is the following:

21 And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

(Mark 4:21-25)

The part in red seems to be an apology to correct the gnostic excessive tone of the part in bold. To remain in the metaphor, the light of the lamp is too much disturbing for Mark, at least in the case of John (given the fact that he denies to John the evidently disturbing knowledge of the true identity of Jesus), hence, how can Mark himself desire that the light lamp should be brought on a stand, when he is the first best candidate who is eclipsing that light (at least before John the Baptist)?

Mark seems to be aware of the problem, since he writes :

For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

To my knowledge, the Gnostic apostles exalted themselves in virtue of their rejection of any possible connection with the world of the demiurge. They were the one who "has not". Mark is warning that if the readers are so idiots (like myself) by reading the parable of the lamp according to a marcionite sense, then they will be punished.