The gospel reading for Sunday, December 4th comes from Matthew 3:1-12. This Sunday is the Second Sunday of Advent, and this text is second in a series of four gospel passages taken from different parts of Matthew (Chapters 24; 3; 11; 1).
Matthew 3:1-12
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But 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 wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to 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 he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. 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 gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
It helps to know
What John looks like. John looks like Elijah. Says Jesus: “He is Elijah” (Matt. 11:14). I’ll write more next week on the meaning of Jesus’ words. Both John and Elijah are depicted as wearing a garment of hair and a leather belt (2 Kgs. 1:8; Matt. 3:4). Like Elijah, John will rebuke leaders, call fire down from heaven, and exhort Israel to turn back to God.
What the Jordan River means to Israel. In the Bible, passing through water was a symbolic rite of passage into a new world God was making. It was death unto new life. Noah passed through the flood (Gen. 9), and St. Peter said, “Baptism which corresponds to this, now saves you” (1 Pet. 3:21). Israel passed through the Red Sea (Exod. 14), and St. Paul says, “all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:1). Israel passed through the Jordan in order to clean themselves before entering the land they would conquer (Josh. 3). By returning to the wilderness, and the Jordan River, John is saying that Israel has become unclean and has to “wash” again before entering the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 3:1-2).
What baptisms were. We take “baptism” directly from the Greek, baptismo. In the NT, the word refers generally to water-washing rites (e.g. “various washings,” Heb. 9:10; in the OT, see Ex. 29:20-21; Lev. 14:7; Num. 8:7; 19:13, 18-22; Ezk. 36:25). The Church has “various washings,” or baptismos, of our own. Some do a foot-washing ceremony that commemorates the Last Supper; priests sprinkle their hands before celebrating the Eucharist; Christians dip their fingers in holy water before entering the church building. That’s how we should understand John’s baptismo in Matt. 3:1-6: a water-washing ritual that is inspired but not mandated by Scripture, used for a particular devotional purpose. We do them too. And our sacrament, Baptism, relates to all of them.
What I noticed
Matthew depicts John the Baptist as a preacher: he “came preaching” (3:1). He gives us a summary of John’s general message (3:2), and then a specific instance of him preaching it (3:7-12).
The first word of his general message, “Repent,” he shares in common with other NT preachers. It is the first word Jesus says (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:14). It is how the disciples start to preach: “They went out and proclaimed that people should repent” (Mark 6:12). It is Peter’s first exhortation in his first recorded sermon: “Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you…’” (Acts 2:38).
Then the people “were confessing” their sins.
In the past, I’ve pictured John holding a series of confessions. People stood in line, took turns, confessed, and received words of pardon and redirection.
The word translated “confessing” is exomologeomai, which is ex (out of) + homo (sameness, agreement) + logeō (speaking). Putting it together, speaking out of agreement. The confession in view is not saying the bad thing you did, but speaking out of agreement with the words with which you are being addressed.
The new picture this gives me is of John, dressed as he is, baptizing as he is, and calling out the characteristic sins of the age, and of the place, and of everyone there saying “That’s right!” and nodding along.
These first six verses create a setting for the next six—John, Judea, wilderness, Isaiah 40, hair and locusts, preaching, repentance, crowds, baptism, confessing.
In a word, the setting is “John’s baptism.” Matthew says as much: “[John] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism” (v. 7).
I’ve written about the Sadducees. But that was in Luke. In Matthew, the text has told us nothing about them yet. This is their first appearance.
In John’s first paragraph (vv. 7-10), he talks about fatherhood and sonship:
The Pharisees and Sadducees claim to come from Abraham: “We have Abraham as our father” (v. 9). John calls them Snake Babies: “brood of vipers” (v. 7). Brood is the past passive participle of “breed”, meaning “those who have been bred.” Graphic. I guess I hadn’t noticed that “brood” literally means children.
Being children of Abraham is not so special because God can raise children from stones (v. 9). What matters is not what you’re from, but what comes from you: “Bear fruit… every tree that does not bear fruit…” (vv. 8, 10).
In summary: Even if you come from Abraham, you might also come from snakes. Be a tree, so fruit comes from you.
This isn’t the only bit about trees, fruit, judgment, and the “brood of vipers” in Matthew. See Jesus in Matthew 12:
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (vv. 33-37)
So Jesus and John are aligned. Jesus is the Messiah, so there are reasons why his lineage matters (Matt. 1). There are reasons why ours doesn’t (Matt. 3). Fruit means everything.
John’s question—Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?—reminds me of Jesus’ words in Luke: “Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains… for these are days of vengeance” (21:21-22). I don’t know what to do with that yet, but I’m thinking on it.
In John’s second paragraph (vv. 11-12), John finishes talking about baptism, saying of Jesus, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
There are two traditions for interpreting this verse: Either the “you” is a mixed group and the verse means “Jesus will baptize [the repentant] with the Holy Spirit and [the unrepentant with the] fire [of judgment];” or the “you” is everyone who receives Jesus’ baptism, and the verse means “Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and [the] fire [of holiness and sanctification].”
In short, the question is, is this good fire or bad fire?
It seems bad. When John baptizes Jesus (vv. 16-17), there’s no fire, just water. John only uses fire to talk about judgment (vv. 10, 12), and calls it “unquenchable”. Jesus talks about throwing bad trees into the fire a few chapters later (7:19). When the apostles speak about fire, they talk about judgment (e.g. Paul in 2 Thess. 1:8; Peter in 2 Pet. 3:7). Plus, trees and chaff both burn up. When they burn, there’s nothing left.
It also seems good. When Jesus sends the Holy Spirit onto his disciples, the Spirit and the fire appear at once: “divided tongues as of fire appeared to them… and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:3-4). St. Paul also describes our works—of gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw—as being tested by fire (1 Cor. 3:10-15).
What we often fail to notice is that wind (pneuma) and fire (pur) play a role in the process of winnowing wheat.
To winnow wheat, the laborer lifts a fork with wheat and chaff together and tosses it up. The wind carries off the (lighter) chaff, while the (heavier) grain falls to the floor. The wind naturally creates two piles, the former of which can be burnt up. The point is, Jesus’ baptism of pneuma and pur will be like the process of winnowing.
If I could summarize the import of John’s sermon in three words, it would be these: Jesus be tossing.
There is plenty of room for spiritual interpretation of those words. Jesus tosses Jerusalem; he tosses the world; he tosses the Church; he tosses our households, our relationships, and our hearts.
But Jesus does toss. Many times. The pneuma carries some off to a pile that will be burned with pur, and Jesus gathers the rest.
Lectionary resonances
Advent used to prepare the Church for Christ’s coming in judgment, not for Christmas. So do these readings:
Who will bear fruit? Jesus will: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isa. 11:1). The Spirit will accomplish this. Isaiah describes what the Spirit-covered root will be like in vv. 2-5, and what he will achieve in vv. 6-9.
Psalm 72 describes the king, Jesus, who will “judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice” (v. 1). Some of the yardsticks we use to measure virtue privilege educated and noble classes. Jesus’ yardstick isn’t quick to criticize the poor…
… or the weak: “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak” (Rom. 15:1). The purpose of John’s parable is not to help us to measure ourselves against one another, but to “live in harmony,” “welcome one another” and glorify God “with one voice” (15:5-7). It should also be mentioned that St. Paul refers to the Root of Jesse at 15:12.