START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 3:1-12
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OBSERVE:
John the Baptist is one of the most fascinating figures of the New Testament. We know from Luke’s Gospel that he is the son of a priest named Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth; and that he was born when his mother was well past the normal childbearing age (Luke 1:5-25). We also know that he is related to Jesus through the kinship of Elizabeth and Mary (Luke 1:36). And also from Luke’s Gospel we know that John is dedicated to the Lord from childhood (Luke 1:15). This may well have been a Nazirite vow, based on Yahweh’s prescription in Numbers 6:
When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried (Numbers 6:2-3).
However, as fascinating as all of this back story may be, Matthew’s Gospel simply begins with the announcement that:
In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea.
Matthew does tell us a little about John’s eccentric lifestyle:
Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
The impression we have is of a rather wild preacher who lives off the land in the wilderness.
His message is very simple and direct:
Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!
This will be the same essential message that his kinsman Jesus will proclaim. After Jesus has been baptized by John (Matthew 3:13-17) and has undergone testing by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11), and after John is arrested by King Herod (Matthew 4:12), Jesus begins to preach:
Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17).
There is a significant difference, however. John prepares the way for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is the King whose presence reveals the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matthew links John’s ministry to the prophecies of the Old Testament. Thus, John serves as a bridge between the Old Testament revelation and the New:
For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.”
This is a direct quote from Isaiah 40:3. John is perceived to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. He is the forerunner and “advance man” for the coming of the Messiah, much the way an advance team might have announced the coming visit of a Middle Eastern king in ancient times.
John was obviously a magnetic and charismatic figure:
people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him.
They responded in great numbers to his message, and:
They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
Baptism was not unknown in Judaism prior to John’s baptism. However, baptism was a rite observed for new converts to Judaism, usually seven days after they had been circumcised. Baptism was interpreted as a ritual of purification and entry into the covenant community.
But John wasn’t baptizing Gentile converts — he was baptizing Jews, who were already part of the covenant of Israel with God! Was he suggesting that their sins were so serious that they needed to come to repentance as though they were new converts?
There is also fascinating speculation that John may have been a member of the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect dwelling in the desert near the Dead Sea, who also practiced ritual washings. They also taught an apocalyptic message concerning the future. Was John an Essene? We don’t know for sure.
In any event, it quickly becomes clear that his ministry is oppositional to the religious and political authorities of his day:
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!”
The Pharisees and Sadducees, though bitter rivals with one another, represented the “establishment” of the day. The Pharisees were a deeply devout sect that embraced the Law of Moses and the Writings and Prophets that are represented in the Old Testament today. They also accepted what was called The Oral Law — these were interpretations of Scripture by respected Rabbis and their schools. They believed in the hope of a Messiah, in the resurrection of the dead, and in angels. And they were deeply devoted to their interpretation and rigorous application of the Law — their very name, Pharisee, means “separated ones.” Hence, they could be extremely judgmental of infractions by other Jews who were not as scrupulous as they were.
The Sadducees, on the other hand, were far more conservative in their religious doctrine — they accepted only the Law of Moses as authoritative, and did not believe in a coming Messiah, or the resurrection, or angels. They identified with the upper classes of social and religious elites in Jerusalem. Their name was associated with Zadok, the first high priest to serve in the temple built by Solomon almost 1000 years earlier.
But so far as John is concerned, both groups are relying on their genealogical pedigree as descendants of Abraham instead of repentance from sin:
Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”
Obviously, John’s language is quite vivid — first comparing these dignified religious leaders to snakes, and then using the metaphor of cutting down an unfruitful tree to describe what happens to those whose repentance bears no fruit:
Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
Still, John is aware of the contrast between himself as the voice in the wilderness and the coming Messiah. His is a baptism of repentance symbolized by water, but the Messiah will bring a baptism in the Holy Spirit (and with fire in some early manuscripts):
I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
Finally, in his apocalyptic vision he uses a vision from agriculture:
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.
After the wheat was harvested, it was brought to the threshing floor. A large pitchfork was used to throw the wheat into the air — the chaff would blow away, and the heavier grains would fall back to the floor to be scooped up and stored. The chaff that might be left would be useless, and would be burned.
Jesus uses similar language when he tells the parable of the enemy who comes and sows weeds among the good wheat. When the wheat and the weeds grow up together, the owner of the field instructs his workers:
Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:30).
Clearly, John’s style may be more ‘wild’ and fiery; but his message is very similar to the message of Jesus. Jesus requires repentance and warns of judgment, but he also offers what John cannot — the Holy Spirit and grace.
APPLY:
John the Baptist seems an unlikely figure to feature at the beginning of Advent. He is a little wild, a little unpredictable, and preaches a “fire and brimstone” message.
We tend to forget that Advent was never designed to be a season of Christmas pageants and premature Christmas decorations. Like Lent, Advent is intended to be a penitential season of self-examination and self-denial as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.
In that sense, John is a helpful reminder that the best way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to repent. And repentance doesn’t mean merely feeling remorse for our sins, but bearing fruit worthy of repentance.
This may mean giving up habits that take us away from God. It may mean seeking reconciliation in relationships with others. It may mean ministry to the poor and the hungry.
We don’t presume because we are children of Abraham, or good church members, that we have truly repented. Repentance requires taking a “fearless moral inventory of our lives, and making amends” (to paraphrase the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous).
RESPOND:
John the Baptist fascinates me. Born into a priest’s home, to an older couple. Dedicated from infancy to be separated to the Lord. He never drank wine, or even ate grapes, but subsisted on locusts and wild honey that he presumably found in the wilderness! Dressed in the rough clothing of a prophet, in camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist.
This preacher begins a unique ministry, baptizing those who are already regarded as part of the covenant community; and preaching repentance to those regarded as holy! And then he takes on the political powers of the day!
King Herod Antipas, the half Jewish, half Idumean Ethnarch of Galilee and Perea, has entered into a marriage that is contrary to the Law of Moses. Already married to Phasaelis, the daughter of King Aretas of Nabatea, he divorces her to marry Herodias. The problem there is that Herodias was married to Herod’s half-brother Herod II, who is still living.
John denounces this unlawful marriage, and is subsequently arrested and, finally, beheaded at the behest of the sensual Salome (the daughter of Herodias) who danced provocatively before Herod Antipas. John was a man of such integrity that he was, in a sense, either the last martyr of the Old Testament or the first martyr of the New Testament!
What is most telling about the character and integrity of John is his humility and self-denial. He was asked if he was the Messiah, if he could be the hope of Israel.
What a moment of temptation! Like that moment when, in the Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins offers the Elvish Queen Galadriel the One Ring to Rule Them All for safekeeping. In a moment she sees the terrible power she would have if she kept the ring and used it for herself. She says:
In place of a Dark Lord, you would have a queen! Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Treacherous as the sea! Stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love me, and despair!”
Then she swiftly returns to herself, refusing to take the ring, and she declares: “I pass the test.”
Likewise, John recognizes his role in relationship to Jesus, and he declares:
He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:29-30).
John passes the test.
Lord, prepare the highway to our hearts. And may we prepare the way for others as we call our churches, our cities, our nations to repentance. Amen.
PHOTOS: "Saint John the Baptist" by wes hill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
![This stained glass window depicting "The Visitation" is from Magdalene College, Cambridge. [photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.]](https://soarlectionarybiblestudy.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/8899849150_999568bc44_o.jpg?w=460&h=576)
![This stained glass window depicting "The Visitation" is from Magdalene College, Cambridge. [photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.]](https://soarlectionarybiblestudy.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/8899849150_999568bc44_o.jpg)
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