NARRATOR: When John the Baptizer made his appearance as a preacher in the desert of Judea, this was his theme.
JOHN 1: Reform your lives! The reign of God is at hand.
NARRATOR: It was of John that the prophet Isaiah had spoken.
ISAIAH: A herald’s voice in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Holy One, make straight God’s paths.”
NARRATOR: John was clothed in a garment of camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist. Grasshoppers and wild honey were his food. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him. They were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. When he saw that many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were stepping forward for this bath, John said to them:
JOHN 1: You brood of vipers! Who told you to flee from the wrath to come? Give some evidence that you mean to reform. Do not pride yourselves on the claim, “Abraham is our father.” I tell you, God can raise up children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax is laid to the root of the tree. Every tree that is not fruitful will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
JOHN 2: I baptize with water for the sake of reform, but the one who will follow me is more powerful than I. I am not even fit to carry his sandals. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his grain into the barn, but the chaff he will burn in unquenchable fire.
Matthew 3.1-12
Sunday Readings: Isaiah 11.1-10; Romans 15.4-9; Matthew 3.1-12