Testing the Water

I wonder if I have always been looking at John the Baptist the wrong way.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe 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. ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ - Matthew 3:7-12

We have been taught that John prepared the way for the Lord, but what does that mean?

Was he getting people ready for baptism by the Holy Spirit, and if so, how?

In today's reading, he encounters the leaders of the faith who come to be baptized by him, and he gives them a hard time.  It sounds like he doesn't want them to "flee from the wrath to come."  But if they truly believe, why wouldn't they be able to be saved?

I think he may be warning them that their faith will be tested.  None of us can pretend to be faithful, to come to the water and say to ourselves, we're good now.  We don't have to do anything else. 

Instead, the baptism of John was a kind of test.  Are you ready to take the next step?  Can you truly repent and strip yourself of all your sins?

The righteous who came believing they were already saved because of their station would soon learn that position in the community, or status of birth was not enough.  They had to live the part fully.

This is our lesson as well.  We need to live life filled with an abundance of love for one another, and be willing to give up everything else for it.

That is the true test of our faith.

If we can't do that, we are just testing the water to see if it is too cold or too hot, without committing to jump in.

More to come...