In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea 2 [and] saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: “A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ ”4 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him 6 and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. 7 When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 Even now the ax lies 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 am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Christians regarded John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus. There was a Jewish tradition that Elijah was to return before the day of the Lord comes (Mal. 3:23-24). This meant before the end times. Jesus told his followers that Elijah had already returned in the person of John the Baptist, fulfilling that Jewish tradition (Mt. 17:12). Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kgs. 2:11).
John the Baptist (JBap), the divinely appointed herald of Jesus, led an ascetic life. He lived in the desert, dressed in the clothing of a prophet with his outer garment made of camel’s hair (Zech. 13:4; 2 Kgs. 1:8). He ate wild food, and covered a wide area preaching repentance, a change of heart, for the forgiveness of sins, and baptizing in the Jordan near Jericho. His baptism was neither the Jewish ceremonial bath to remove Gentile defilement nor a Christian sacramental Baptism (Mt. 28:19). The Pharisees practiced an extremely rigid and elitist form of Judaism which John the Baptist and Jesus criticized. Their Rabbis opposed Jesus’ teaching. The Sadducees were the Priestly sect connected to the Temple and were directly involved in the death of Jesus. JBap addressed the Pharisees and Sadducees as ‘You brood of vipers (v. 7)’ because they were not sincere. Christians are called not only to the good intentions of repentance but also to demonstrate the internal change by good works (v. 8). Salvation does not come from heredity (v. 9) but by being a child of the promise of God (Rom. 9:7-8).
In Rabbinic teaching, A disciple should do for his teacher anything a slave would do for his master except take off his shoes; hence the expression, ‘I am not worthy to carry his sandals,’ John expressed his subservience to Jesus. Jesus will baptize with fire and those who do not accept his teaching will be separated at the judgment and destroyed; “Therefore, thus says the Lord God: my anger and my wrath will pour out upon this place, upon human being and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruits of the earth; it will burn and not be quenched (Jer. 7:20).”
Almighty God, grant us perseverance as we can gather good deeds to offer Christ at his coming, so that when judges, we may be worthy to possess your heavenly Kingdom. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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