Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

There’s always a reaction to an authority figure entering a room. Kids will suddenly stop doing something they think is wrong if they hear a parent walking in. So too employees when their boss arrives. People act different around those with authority over them and rightly so. We know that we can get in trouble if we misbehave, fired from a job, or worse, thrown in jail. There’s meant to be a reaction.

Of course, there will always be that sibling who gives the warning, a coworker that signals of an approaching boss, or a friend that might nudge you before the teacher arrives. They’re simple message is this: Shape up, or else. Get it together before it’s too late and you end up facing the consequences. For so it seems, this is the role which John the Baptist assumes this week.

In our Gospel reading, John is in the wilderness preaching to the people of Israel. All the surrounding regions had come out to see him (Matt 3:5). John’s message to them was simple, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Matt 3:2. He was warning the people that the true authority was coming, lest they be caught unaware and face the consequences. For the reaction they were supposed to have to such news wasn’t despair or indifference, but repentance.

Repentance is much more than a call to “shape up.” It’s also a call to believe. Repentance is a changing of one’s whole being, a “turning of the mind” as the Greek suggests. For repentance isn’t a one and done type of thing. It’s a continual, ongoing, daily exercise. Repentance is a despising of the sin in our life and a seeking after the grace and goodness of God. Just as John tells the Pharisees, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance,” Matt 3:8. Just as one must tend and nourish a tree to bear fruit, so too must we water the seeds of faith that it may grow and bear fruit in our lives.

In this repentance and faith, the kingdom of heaven draws near to us. In the preaching of repentance, God asserts his rule and reign over us and in our hearts and minds. For it draws near, not only in the proclaiming of repentance but in the coming of the very Sovereign Lord, in Jesus. He draws near to us that he may gather the faithful into his kingdom, under his rule and thus protect and care for them. For this reason, Jesus comes in lowly fashion, being born of a virgin, raised as a carpenter’s son, even enduring the same temptations which besiege us. Jesus has come to establish his kingdom right here in our midst by his very death upon the cross. Prepare his way through repentance and faith that we may be ready for his coming and so enjoy eternal paradise! 

Pastor Sorenson

Prayer:

Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son, that by His coming we may be enabled to serve You with pure minds; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen!