I’m not sure what to think of John the Baptist. Jesus’s crazy cousin, John preached out in the wild lands of Judea, wore an outfit of camel hair and foraged for wild honey and locusts. Wonder how he brushed his teeth?
But John preached to the core. Crowds flocked to hear him and left changed by his message. John baptized loads of people in the Jordan River.
John conspicuously targeted the Pharisees. You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath! The ax is already at the root…and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
When I read about the Pharisees getting it from someone, like John here or Jesus later, I put myself in their shoes. Religious professionals, the Pharisees got up in the morning and worked at ministry. A religious professional myself, I hope to avoid the disregard for the kinder points of the law of God the Pharisees exhibited. While I don’t possess the societal status and power enjoyed by the Pharisee class, I can easily don their attitudes.
May the Lord call out such ungodly posturing in my life. Hopefully through someone other than a wild man crunching grasshoppers.
Matthew 3 in reading the Bible in 2023
Photo by David Clode
Nice read. BTW, I forgot you were a science major in college. I got my degree in Zoology.
Thanks Don. We should get together and talk biology sometime!