Year A Advent II Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 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.'"

As the days draw ever nearer to Christmas, my husband and I scurry about trying to get ready for the big day, and like everyone else in this country, we want to have gifts to give friends and each other. While we usually do reasonably well shopping for friends and family, our big problem is never knowing exactly what to give each other. Over the years we’ve hit on what for us is the prefect solution. We each buy what we want, then, before Christmas, we hand it to our spouse and say, “This is none of my business.” Obviously, this means that we always know what we’re getting, at least the big gifts. It also means we have to wait patiently until Christmas to receive them.

I shared this information with a friend of mine who, like my sister when she was young, always spent the days before Christmas hunting for his gifts, in order to see, before the day arrived, just what he was getting. He told me that, as a young lad he thoroughly ruined one Christmas by finding all his gifts beforehand and then having to act surprised as he opened them on the day. Still, he was amazed that my husband and I could set aside our most wonderful gifts to wait for Christmas morning.

I explained to him that for us, part of the pleasure is waiting for the day to arrive, knowing how wonderful the gifts will be. And for those of us, who live in these latter days, this is what Advent is about, waiting in anticipation for the coming of the Christ Child, knowing how wonderful the gift will be. It is also a time for us to consider how truly unworthy we are to receive such a gift, and to repent of anything we have done that has hurt our Lord. We are to prepare for His coming and await it with great anticipation.

In the Gospel reading this morning we hear John saying exactly this to those who have gathered around to hear him preach and prophecy. “Repent,” he tells his listeners, and “prepare”. But who is this John the Baptist, and why does he appear in the New Testament, the Good News of Jesus?

We aren’t exactly sure what John’s relationship was to Jesus. Luke tells us they were cousins, but no other Gospel writer backs this up. To truly understand John’s importance, we need to place ourselves back in Jesus day, and then we can understand why it was so important for John to get coverage in our Bible.

Mark, the oldest Gospel, begins with Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan. John is, by the time we meet him, a grown man and one who has, before Jesus has even begun His own ministry, gathered a large group of followers. Many believe John may be the Messiah; all are convinced of his holiness. Those who came to hear him preach and then wished to become one of his followers would, when he was baptizing, come forward. Those he baptized were then recognized as among his disciples. Jesus comes forward and is baptized, and this sets up what will be for the early church, an awkward situation.

Having been baptized by John, in the baptism of repentance, Jesus then appears to many to have become one of John’s disciples. Even after Jesus’ begins His own ministry, many do not leave off following John, and even after John’s gruesome death, his followers continue to believe in him. They continue unaware of Jesus as anyone but another of John’s followers. In Acts 19 we find Paul having to deal with small groups of them, baptizing them in Jesus’ Name.

So, to answer that question, why is John in our New Testament, he appears in our stories of Jesus because it is after he baptizes our Lord that Jesus’ ministry begins. John also appears because these collected writings we call the New Testament reflect and, in many instances, respond to the kind of challenges faced by the early church. Many of the early Christians were former followers of John, and many had questions about the role John played in Jesus’ life and ministry. Thus, the Baptist appears in our Gospels, with carefully selected passages that help to explain his relationship to Jesus.. But in today’s Gospel reading, we hear about him before Jesus’ baptism.

Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

John is presented to us as the very picture of a prophet, a man who has rejected the comfortable life and standards of the world, leaving it all behind. Wild men of the desert were more acceptable in Jesus time, so a nice respectable group of folks, the Pharisees and Sadducees, come out to see what this particular wild man is about. These religious pillars of the community, who come from good homes, have good jobs and nice families, who smile benevolently when they pass on the street, come to listen to John. You might say that they're folks just like us.

And what does the Baptist have to say to them, these goodly folk? You brood of vipers!" is his opening sentence, after which he tears into them in earnest. “Bear good fruit," he warns, "and do not presume to say to yourselves 'We have Abraham as our father," or to put it another way, don't think you're special to God.

It’s a wakeup call for folks like us, goodly people who all our lives have been taught, we are special to God, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are people who have become comfortable in the knowledge we are saved, bought and paid for, redeemed. Would we today bother to go and see John the Baptist, a crazy many shouting and yelling in the desert? Would we be prepared for what he would call us? You brood of vipers.

Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, who scoffed, we would do well the listen to John the Baptist. Advent is the time when we take that uncomfortable look at our inner selves. During this time of preparation we must scrutinize our own lives, those most personal depths and reaches which need our attention if we are to bear good fruit. We, who have been raised with happy Christmas carols, the flush of crowded malls, cookies and shopping, need to pay close attention to what John has to say.

He who is coming is mightier than I... His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

This information certainly does not blend with happy memories and present thoughts of Christmas. It is an alert, a warning to us to wake up and pay attention. Because life is already difficult and painful these days, it is human to look only at the bright, twinkling lights, baked goods, and seasonal specials that accompany the holidays. It is, as the Church tells us, a right and good and joyful thing to be happy at Christmas. But as we eagerly anticipate the coming of an adorable baby sleeping in the straw of a manger, we must be careful not to forget, His birth is also the coming of He who will judge the world.

Let us pray:

Lord God we thank you for the loving kindness you have shown to us by becoming incarnate in Your Son, Jesus Christ, and we look forward with joy to the celebration of His birth. Help us always to remember that we have done nothing to deserve your love, to be sorry for all that we do and have done that offends you, and to be ever thankful for every blessing you bestow upon us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen