Repentance and Preparation: A Meditation on Matthew 3 for the 2nd Sunday in Advent

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair,

and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

 

Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea,

and all the region round about Jordan,

 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism,

he said unto them, O generation of vipers,

who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father:

for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees:

therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit

is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance.

but he that cometh after me is mightier than I,

whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:

he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor,

and gather his wheat into the garner;

but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

 

There are few biblical words that raise hackles in our age quite so quickly as the command to Repent!  The Greek word which underlies the English translation here is a combination of turning or changing, and of mind or thinking—thus St. John the Baptist’s command to all who would hear him was to literally turn your mind! or change your thinking! in light of the reality that the Kingdom of God is at hand.  “At hand” is an old Hebrew idiom brought forward in the Greek and directly translated into English, which means literally that the subject is within reach or immediately in the hearer’s presence.  This combination of phrases in St. John the Baptist’s preaching make inescapably clear that the proper preparation of one’s mind is critical to being in the presence of God—or perhaps more directly, that the condition of one’s mind will determine how one is met by God when He approaches.  While phraseologies of the time sometimes used the imagery of the heart as the seat of the emotions and the head as the seat of knowledge, the mind is here directly related to the convictions and commitments which inform a person’s life, and from which flow their words and deeds.  John made that link directly when he ordered the religious leaders who came to be baptized to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, since a truly changed mind must by necessity bring forth a changed life.  In the immediate context of this passage, Jesus had already come and had been walking among the people of Judea somewhat unnoticed, thus making the Kingdom of God very near at hand, and the condition of meeting Him an immediate reality.

 

In our contemporary context, the Church waits in a liturgical way for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, but in a very real and tangible way, we all know that He has already come.  Roughly 2000 years ago, the Word of God became incarnate in Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary in the real and gritty town of Bethlehem.  He came as the old Hebrew Prophets had foretold, lived His early years in submission to His earthly parents, and after about 30 years presented Himself to His cousin John for Baptism and the inauguration of His preaching ministry.  We know that path ended about three years later on a Roman Cross, before He emerged three days later resurrected from His tomb and triumphant over every enemy of mankind.  Some 40 days after that, having given His Word and authority over sin, death, hell, and the devil to His Apostles, He ascended into Heaven in preparation for His final return at the End of Days, then sent the Holy Spirit to empower His people until His return.  The indivisible Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has thus been with His people and His Kingdom has come into this world, marked by the gathering of His saints in faith around His Word and Sacraments.  Thus, even as we celebrate another coming Christmas with the trappings of Advent and recreating all the joy of His first arrival, we know that we dwell with Him even more closely at hand than did the first hearers of John the Baptist, and that His final coming is imminent even if presently unknown.

 

Living in the presence of Jesus and His Kingdom come, makes many demands upon our earthly minds, and consequently upon the totality of our very lives.  We are in the presence of the King who spoke the universe into existence, who thundered the Law from Mount Sinai, sent fire upon Mount Carmel, who preached and healed upon the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, who died for the sins of the world upon Mount Calvary, and who breathed out His Gospel of peace and forgiveness to His disciples before ascending into heaven from the Mount of Olives.  This is the very God who will come again in glory as the disciples saw Him go up, returning to make final all that He promised.  The condition of our minds, of our convictions, our trust, our commitment, is the very basis upon which we meet the King of Glory, who is very much at hand.  His Word comes to us demanding the faith which that Word itself creates, and thereby issues the grace which forgives and enlivens all who will abide in Him.  That Word comes to change our minds, to reform our convictions, to make firm our commitments, so that authentic repentance of the mind will become a change in how we act, speak, and perform the duties which God has given us in our time and place.  It is a Word which gives the life it promises, so that fallen men might rise up as children of God who live and move and find the entirety of their being in the unending life of their Savior.

 

And though the command of St. John the Baptist to Repent! and the power of God’s Word to create what it demands are unconquerable, they are not coercive.  There is no one who is forced to love God as their Creator, Savior, and Sustainer, nor to turn their minds from evil to His righteousness, for authentic love can never be coerced.  The appeal of God to man is one of love, and the only way to receive that divine love, is to love and trust Him in return.  There will come a day when all the appeals of God to man shall cease, when the last efficacious preaching of His Gospel will ring out over the corrupted earth, and the Day of Grace will become the Day of Judgment at His final return.  In that Day, those who refused to let their minds be reformed by His Word will see Him as the One

 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor,

and gather his wheat into the garner;

but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

On that Day, there will be no bickering or debating about pointless nuances of theology, politics, philosophy or anything else—only the living reality of God’s Kingdom fully come, those who live by grace through faith in Jesus, and those who do not.  As the old saying goes, there are only two ways to meet God:  either as Savior, or as Judge, and the crux of that distinction rests on faith.

 

In this Advent season, hear the Word of God come to you, that your mind may be changed from fascination with evil, earthly things, to an unassailable trust in the loving promises of God.  May His Word so transform your heart and mind into the image of His Son, that your whole person cannot help but bring forth fruits worthy of so great a repentance, reflecting outward the divine love which His Word pours into all who will trust in Him.  Hear the Incarnate Word calling to you across the expanse of eternity, so that you might dwell with Him forever in the blessedness of His presence.  For even more urgent today are the words of St. John the Baptist:  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, turn to Him, believe His Word, and live forever in Jesus, forgiven and free.  Amen.