Episode Details

John the BaptistOur reading today is about John the Baptist and his baptism. Let’s begin by observing that John the Baptist would not have come across as a respectable character but as a madman. We do not have time to go into it in detail but, although he was from a priestly line, he was nevertheless a marginal figure – “The voice of one crying in the wilderness” – wearing a camel’s hair garment and a leather belt, eating locusts and honey.And what was his message? “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near”. “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”God himself is coming. Prepare your souls to receive him. Give him a straight path to your heart.Another way to translate the word for “repent”, metanoia, is “change your heart”. The Kingdom of Heaven is coming, so change your heart. Change your actions, your outlook, your priorities, all in the light of this.The baptism of John was a different baptism to the baptism we receive now as Christians. It was a baptism of water for repentance, a ritual washing related to a Jewish ritual called the mikveh. In other words, it was a personal response to this message, a personal response of a change of heart. It was like they were saying, “I intend to cleanse myself from sin, from the inside out, so that I might be prepared for the coming of the Lord.”This is the kind of change we are to consider in the season of Advent. We are to ask ourselves, “The Lord is coming and how do I want my heart to be when he arrives?”The Pharisees and SadduceesA key part of our text today concerns the Pharisees and Sadducees drawing near for baptism. These people represent the religious authorities of the day. Theological and spiritual experts. Memorisers of the Law. Preachers of sermons. And yet, they receive a stern rebuke from John, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in line with a change of heart. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raised up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire’.What was John rebuking in these people?Let’s observe several things:No repentance – Firstly, they were not repentant. Not willing to change their hearts. They wanted to join in the ritual but they were not willing to be obedient to what the ritual represented.This is religion without transformation. Friends, this is everywhere in our world and it is everywhere in the Christian Church. This is kind of empty religion that inoculates us against the real thing. Sometimes called “nominal” Christianity or something like that. It is the process of going through the motions without really meaning it from the heart.God is not interested in occasional church going or religious observances. He is interested in your heart. He wants a transformation that occurs at the very deepest part of your soul. A transformed life follows from this. That’s why John says, “Bear fruit in line with a change of heart”. The fruit is the outcome of a changed heart. We change first, deep down within, and so we give our lives to Christ.Trust in ethnic or religious status – Again, the Pharisees are rebuked for thinking that their ethnic and religious status will save them. They think, because they are children of Abraham, that they will be fine. But John lays waste to this idea, “God is able to raise up from these stones children of Abraham”.In other words, ethnic and religious descent is ineffectual and irrelevant without a change of heart, without true repentance.Do not presume to say to yourself, “I was baptised as a baby.” Do not presume to say to yourself, “We’ve been involved in this parish church for several generations.” Do not presume to say to yourself, “I give money to the church and serve on the rota”.These are all good things but they have to be accompanied by a genuine change of he