So the big day is only a few weeks away, and like every other year, JTB shows up shouting his usual tune. Let it be said, it doesn’t sound like a holiday song. Listen, man, or Son of Man as you call yourself, you are such a novice at this sort of thing. For Christmas’ sake, what were you thinking using that weirdo JTB, a guy who worked out of a limestone desert, as your advance team?
Now remember this: the poor guy couldn’t help himself. Yeah, John the Baptist was a little strange, weird even, dressing in itchy camel hair, eating grasshoppers flavored with honey. He, for the most part, lived in the wilderness, the kind of place where when nothing good is around you, God shows up. In the uninhabitable, forbidding, empty regions of life, God speaks to the soul. To John the Baptist, a message had been given there. He was sent to proclaim it.

Maybe so, but no matter, this guy is just plain no fun, no HO HO HOs out of him. First thing he says is to turn from all your negative stuff and go to God. New habits are supposed to be for January 1. Then it’s, “The end is near.” He shouts about heaven. Hey, we’re just trying to get through until the end of this year. That’s near enough.

Right. Life is uncertain. So prepare for it. Keep your eyes wide open for what might still happen. Put away what sinks you into despair and hopelessness. Allow God to wash over you in expectation of new understanding even in this too-long season when upheaval is the new normal. 

Prepare New Roads in Yourself

“Prepare!” JTB called to them echoing an ancient prophet, “Make the roads straight and smooth!” It was the call to get ready. When great rulers and sovereigns were traveling, the people would clear out the rocks and fill in the potholes that not only made a ride easier but also travel faster. 

People were looking for someone to come, and this someone they’d been waiting for a long time. From all over the region and into the desert wilderness they came, hoping the wait would not be long now.

John proclaimed prepare in yourself that which will lead to something better. See ahead the beauty, justice, truth and dawns with a new day.

Again, nice. Take the old message, (you say they had heard this before in their ancient writings?), and reframe it, make it mean more, something new to wrap their heads around. That’s good for you, Son of Man. You can build on that kind of thing. If only JTB stopped there. No, your friend (distant cousin? that makes sense), really stretches it out from there.

The people, allowing new perspectives in themselves, submitted to be baptized in the Jordan River. Live in straight, smooth roads of life. Forgiveness and acceptance by God rest in that cleansing with a sense of rebirth, revitalization. It’s ongoing work. 

Around rivers life is within the water and along the shore. Rivers provide hydration, a cooling of the bodily core after arid heat has burned your skin, and a soothing flow of current to massage the physical frame. By immersion in water and rising from it comes that sense of renewal, a cleansing from what life and choices have laid on you. 

Snakes in the Sand

Hovering nearby were those who had a lot to lose from John’s message. Oh, they looked like the good guys, priests and assistants in the Temple. They even get in line with everyone to get baptized. “Brood of snakes!” he hisses.

No one likes to be called out as scheming traitor in their first meeting. JTB probably couldn’t help himself. His attack challenges their position of piety, showcasing their falseness. These leaders taught that descendants from Abraham gave them a kind of immunity above the rest of the world in the sight of God. JTB won’t have it. He spits judgement with words of damnation for those who don’t live up to reversing focus on oneself to that of God and others.

Sorry, desert-dweller, but if you keep up with this talk of “the ax of God” and “never-ending fire,” well, don’t say you weren’t warned. Somebody’s going to be gunning for you. So much for all this Good News you’re supposed to be shouting about. Geez, guy, the holidays are coming, so lighten up!

John the Baptist won’t back down. He tells it like it is. Someone is coming, and you know what, I’m not worthy to even bow to him as a servant. In other words, if you are threatened by me and this message, if your phony positions won’t stand up in the face of this declaration, if I scare you in the least, then here’s your bad news. Someone is coming after me who’s going to really upset this scene and who will reveal you for what you are not.

Transformed in the Fire

John the Baptist had a good idea it would be really something. Even so, he wasn’t taking credit for it. Whew, that’s humility. He knew his limitations. To baptize with water was his thing. But from this coming one would be a baptism with the Holy Spirit? What the heck does that mean?

Good Question. (Don’t you love it when people answer like that. Usually, it means their mind is spinning.) To be fair, it’s not an easy answer. As with most spiritual encounters, you have to experience it to even start to understand it, and yet the mystery of it will remain. The short answer though lies in the life of the one to come, the one for whom this preparation, reversal, and renewal is meant. 

Prepare for it. 

Matthew 3:1-12

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