Matthew 3:1-12: John the Baptist Is a Weirdo and A Pyromaniac

This morning I had the gift of sitting with several members of St. John’s parish to practice Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina. For the latter exercise, we read this coming Sunday’s gospel lesson, which is Matthew 3:1-12. In this passage we hear about John the Baptist who is crying out in the wilderness, as Isaiah foretold someone would. John, if you don’t already know, is a weirdo by today’s standards, or at least that’s what so many people say. He spent his time out in solitude, ate bugs and honey, and wore camel hair clothes with a leather belt. COMPLETE WEIRDO RIGHT?

Well, I’m not so sure. Prophets are supposed to be a little outside the box. If someone is swept up in the culture of the day, how could one actually say anything prophetic? One has to even step outside of one’s own home, one’s own town, one’s own immediate culture to have a resounding prophetic impact. Later in Matthew, Jesus himself will attest to this saying, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” (13:57). I think John decided to step way, way outside of the predominant culture, so that he could gain some perspective. Thus John gives us phrases like, “You brood of vipers” (3:7), “Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees” (3:10), “The chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (3:12), and my personal favorite “Bear fruit worthy of repentance” (3:8).

When John stepped out into the wilderness he left his kind and gentle turns of phrase back in civilization. As a result of the two thousand years of dissonance (in culture) and distance (in time and space) between John and myself, I tend to tune out what this great prophet said. I retain a bit of my childhood impatience and choose to skip over the hard message of Advent of which John is the head spokesperson. I want Christmas to be here already, so I create a more sterile version of this season of Advent. Primarily, from John’s message I run away, hide, and hope that I am not about to get axed and tossed into the unquenchable fire.
So I felt a bit squeamish at first hearing Matthew 3:1-12 multiple times this morning during Lectio Divina. Yet, sitting with the parishioners and John the Baptist enabled me to hear something new. This prophetic message from this strange man in the wilderness actually is a message of hope.

As stinging as his message is hitting our ears, John the Baptist truly was preaching good news about repentance, the forgiveness of sins, and the kingdom of heaven coming near! The Rt. Rev. Claude Payne in a meditation for today says that Advent is the season of the Old Testament, by which he means that it is the season of anticipating what the prophets are saying. We get to slow down, be quiet, and listen with hopeful ears for what is coming to us.

The Baptist’s message allows for us to dream how it is that the Christ’s coming will bring with it the Holy Spirit’s unquenchable fire. A fire that consumes our sins and our separations and melts away our distance from God and our neighbor. A fire that rips through our dying forests and dead tress to open up a new grove of growth. Fire is not easy to stand, nor is it easily controlled, but as we wait and watch for Christ’s coming the burning clears space for new life to blossom. John’s words burn like the fire that Christ brings.

Let the words into your heart. Let the fire consume you. Let Christ come into the world.