Matthew 3:1-12
The Proclamation of John the Baptist
3 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’ ”
4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Meditation
See, the texts for this year are not very Christmasy. This one, however, is important to understanding the second Advent of Christ. At this point in Matthew’s story, Jesus has already been born. John, his cousin who is only 6 months older than Jesus (see Luke 1:24-27), is making his public appearance as the one Isaiah prophesied would come declaring preparations for the coming of the Lord (vs. 3). Tradition and scholars believe John was a member of the Essene community—the ascetic Jewish sect in Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The Essenes were hardcore into purity rituals one of which was the immersion into water in order to use God’s name in prayer—they did this every day. The ritual itself is very Jewish where cleansing with water either the hands, feet or whole body are necessary to purify the body (or hands and feet) after exposure to something unclean, in preparation to be in the presence of God, or to convert to Judaism. John, then, is not preaching a new message to the people at the Jordan. Baptism with water for repentance was a real practice for first century Jews.
What is new about John’s message is the urgency that repentance is needed because “the kingdom of heaven has come near” (vs. 2)[1]. His message is about preparing for a very present and imminent encounter with God. He may not have known exactly what he was preaching or who he was preaching about, but he knew it was coming and soon. Because prophets are like that—they may not know the whole picture—they know, however, when God is making a move.
In addition to calling the public to repentance, John calls out the Pharisees and Sadducees for their hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Note that they are presenting themselves for John’s baptism—they had the desire to be cleansed—John is instructing them (and us) that one cannot depend on privilege or ancestry or education or social status or past piousness for justification before God. John is telling the pompous that for the baptism of repentance to be truly acceptable, I mean deep spiritual cleaning repentant, there has to be a change in behavior. “Bear fruit worthy of repentance” (vs. 8). Stop sucking the life out of the people and misrepresenting God is how I would sum up John’s message to Pharisees and Sadducees—who are the religious leaders (not to be confused with political leaders).
John’s baptism is with water and needs to happen repeatedly as preparation to enter God’s presence in prayer or worship. He compares his baptism with the baptism of the one who is coming, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (vs. 11b). We have the benefit of hindsight (and other scriptures) in knowing that Jesus indeed baptized with the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26, 20:22, Acts 1:1-5, 2:1-4) which now permeates our baptism and need only be done once. The one who is coming, that is the one who is to return, will bring with him baptism by fire which separates the true from the false. Christ’s second Advent may or may not be imminent. So far, we have waited a long time and as last week’s message pointed out we need to be prepared. Like John told the Pharisees and Sadducees, it will be our behavior as carriers of the Holy Spirit that determines our righteousness when Christ does arrive. “Bear fruit worthy of repentance” is a fancy way of saying love God and love others which is the best preparation for Christ’s Advent that there is. Praise be to God.
[1] Another translation could be “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”