Matthew
3 reminds me of my personal pre-baptism experience. Like most
people, I did not consider myself a sinner, certainly not as bad as
many others I knew. I was a new visitor to a church Bible study when
I heard and read the words that would call me to repentance. Romans
2:3 shouted out my own hypocrisy, “So
when you, a mere human being, pass judgment… do you think you will
escape God’s judgment?”
Yes, I did believe I was good enough to avoid judgment, but I never
considered that God’s standard was perfection. I realized
something had to change. Today’s chapter describes “John
the Baptist… preaching in the wilderness of Judea“.
His message was simple, “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven has come near“,
but the understanding was difficult for many. His audience was
Jewish. To the Jew, there was a universal day of atonement for the
nation. Jews were not sinners; that concept was reserved for the
uncircumcised. There is a quote included from Isaiah the prophet
comparing John to the Elijah preparing “the
way for the Lord“. To the
self-righteous Jew, this impossible; they believed Messiah would come
to judge the enemies of Israel.
John
did not fit any norm for the day. He dressed oddly, he ate oddly and
he called for personal repentance, knowing that all have sinned and
fallen sort of the glory of God. Many came forward, “People
went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea… Confessing
their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River“.
This was incredibly humbling; it is hard to admit publically that we
are in need and have made mistakes. This was an open admission of
guilt; involving both confession and change. He made enemies of
those that trusted in their tradition and their knowledge of the Law
of Moses. The Pharisees and Sadducees were the Jewish Leaders that
probably came to smugly observe the spectacle and ridicule the muddy
mess.
John
called out to the proud Jewish leaders, “You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”
He pinpointed their arrogance, as they claimed, “We
have Abraham as our father“.
He added, “every tree that does
not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire“.
Self-righteousness produces no fruit. The chapter closes with the
introduction of Jesus’ public ministry. “But
after me comes One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am
not worthy to carry… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
fire“. In complete humility,
“Jesus came from Galilee to the
Jordan to be baptized by John“.
John did not understand, “I
need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
Jesus was fully God, and fully man, tempted in all things, yet He
did not sin. He would fulfil the role of High Priest, but unlike the
earthly priests, He would not need to first sacrifice for His own
sins. Jesus would confess the sins of the people, “Let
it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all
righteousness“. After John
baptized Jesus, “he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And
a voice from heaven said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I
am well pleased“. In my own
pre-baptism moment, I did not know how I could avoid God’s
judgment. I knew I was not perfect. I began to understand that I
needed an advocate. To my great relief, my pastor read Romans 5:6,
“Christ died for the ungodly“.
It was time for me to stop smugly observing from the river bank.
Friend, are your sins forgiven?