Saturday March 5, 2022

Preach true

But, seeing many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he (John the Baptist) said to them : Race of vipers, who taught you to flee from the wrath to come ? Produce therefore fruit worthy of repentance, and do not pretend to say within yourselves : We have Abraham for our father ! For I declare unto you that of these stones God is able to raise up children unto Abraham. Matthew 3:7-9

John the Baptist does not preach a theoretical message. He does not speak in vague terms to avoid scandalizing his audience, he preaches with conviction and severity.

The prophet addresses everyone, without distinction of rank or class :

- to crowds,

- to tax collectors for the Romans,

- to the soldiers,

- to the Pharisees and Sadducees,

- to King Herod.

John the Baptist denounces sins and speaks of judgment in very strong terms, but at the same time he points out the remedy. To prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, he goes to the source of his evils : the human heart, his pride and his bad thoughts, because it is from the heart that come bad thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, insults (Matthew 15:19).

The heart of man cannot be improved, despite all the attempts of reformation proposed by men. The prophet Jeremiah observes : The heart is crooked above all things, and it is wicked : who can know it ? (Jeremiah 17:9). Man must be born again and begin an entirely new life. This new birth, of divine origin, is wrought by God, and the means is his Word and the Holy Spirit.

John the Baptiste was only a man. He could not impart divine life any more than he could exercise judgment. He does not require legal observations or ascetic practices from his listeners. He simply tells them the first step to take: to repent by showing their sincerity with fruits.

The prophet baptized with water as a sign of repentance, that is, of returning to God. If he vigorously denounced what was false, he indicated at the same time the solution and directed the gaze to the Messiah : whoever would come after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit, he would introduce a power of life into a new state of things.

The prophet speaks to the conscience of his listeners ; he reproves them, exhorts them, evangelizes them. In this he is a model for every preacher.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)