NOTES for Mat 3:7-8

It is interesting to ask whether one can repent and be cleansed from sin just like that, just in case. Is this hypocrisy? Hardly: the Pharisees were deeply religious people who would scarcely have allowed themselves open deception. But what, then, provokes John's anger? Pride? The confidence of those who came that they, descendants of Abraham as they were, could not by definition be unworthy of the Kingdom? Yes, no doubt. Pride has never brought spiritual benefit to anyone. And yet the matter, it seems, is not only this.

Why would a cleansing washing, and the "baptisms" performed by John were precisely cleansing washings, be needed by someone who was confident of his own sinlessness? After all, Judaism of that era did not know such a concept as "original sin." For a Jew of the Gospel era, sin was something very concrete, and only the person who had committed such a sin was considered a sinner, not every human being by definition, as we think today. Why, then, should those who had not sinned be cleansed? As can be seen, precisely just in case. What if this strange preacher, so much like the ancient prophets, is right? What if one more cleansing is needed in order to be worthy of the coming Messiah? What if... In short, one extra washing, in any case, will do no harm.

Only spiritual life is not a religious rite; here nothing is done "just like that" or "just in case." Just as there is no "faith just in case." It exists, or it does not. No third thing is given.

How do we evaluate our life before God, our spiritual condition, our relationships with the people around us? If we think that everything is all right with us, "no worse than with others," and are satisfied with what we have, then we need nothing more, and we do not need God either. There is no repentance in this, not even its beginning. Repentance begins with the realization that not everything is all right, that all our efforts do not allow us to attain a life truly worthy of a human being, that we need God and His saving grace. That is, the first movement of repentance is the rejection of ourselves as we are, a refusal to consent to our own sin, a renunciation of it. The second step of repentance is turning to God, acknowledging the necessity of His presence, bringing Him our failure, and waiting for our cleansing, healing, and filling with life from Him.

But repentance also has a third component: the fruit of which John reminds us. Our expectation of change is meaningless if we do not show our readiness to change. We show it not by a "mood," not by a word, but by deed. We must begin to live as righteously as if we had already received everything from God; then He will have freedom to give us strength to carry out this righteousness, to fill our actions with inner content, with love. This will be the saving grace with which God answers our repentance.

Today we are going to hear John the Baptist’s words, friend of the Groom, the one who introduces the coming of the Savior. We need to remember the meaning of the word "repentance” in order to comment John the Baptist’s words".

How do we estimate our life in the sight of God, our spiritual estate, our relationship with people surrounding us? If we consider, that everything is alright with us, «not worse than others», that we are satisfied with what we have, we don’t need anything more, and God too. Then there is no repentance in us, even its beginning. Repentance begins when we become conscious, that not everything is alright, that all our efforts do not allow us to reach the real worthy life a person deserves, that we need God, His saving grace. This is the first movement to repentance – aversion to ourselves, as we are, disagreement with self-existence. The second step for repentance is talking to God, recognizing the necessity of His presence, bringing to Him our inconsistency and expecting our purification, healing and full life from Him.

But there is also a third component for repentance: the fruit, that John reminds us. Senselessly will be our expectation of changes if we do not show our readiness to change. We don’t show this by "mood", by word, but by action. We should start to live justly, as if we have already all received from God, - then He will receive freedom to give us strengths for the fulfillment of this goodness, making our deeds be in accordance with our inner meaning - love. This will be the saving grace by which God answers to our repentance.

When we read about the bewilderment and indignation of John the Baptist, who did not want to let Jesus be baptized in the Jordan, it becomes clear to us: John recognized Him. Participation in this baptism was supposed to testify that a person confesses his sinfulness to God, admits that he is not right; and now in the river stands the One who is right before God.

Yet Jesus still receives baptism, which means that God has another righteousness besides rightness before Himself. This is the righteousness of love, which is "fulfilled" when the righteous One decides to share life with the unrighteous, the sinless One with sinners. This may be incomprehensible and unpleasant; it may contradict our ideas about justice, but Christ enters the water together with everyone, and it turns out that the Father's beloved Son is one of us.

All the Evangelists tell of the ministry of John the Baptist. Apparently, it is evident to them that his very appearance was the sign promised by God, preceding the coming of the Messiah. It is impossible to receive Christ without receiving the message of His forerunner. John's preaching has two parts: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near.” The Kingdom is near, but it can be seen and recognized only after one has first changed. Repentance means an inward turning, a refusal to accept the present state of one's soul, and an appeal to the One who can bring about this necessary change within us. Such a turning requires courage, and John helps people resolve to take this step both by offering washing in the waters of the Jordan as an outward expression of what is happening in the soul and by pointing to the approaching Messiah.

If one listens closely, tension can be heard in John's call itself. After all, in order to call people to repentance, he had to remind them that the Kingdom of Heaven had drawn near. Alas, we too often have to be reminded of something requiring seriousness before we can remember what it would be good to do even without reminders. And if it is not possible not to sin at all, why not repent in time? But we drag it out to the limit.

John admits those who come to be baptized to baptism after they confess their sins. But from the Pharisees and Sadducees he demands that they produce fruit of repentance, that is, prove their faith by deeds. Moreover, he meets them very sternly. Meanwhile, one can reproach the Baptist for unfairness, since the other sinners also want to escape the coming wrath, and their sins are hardly blacker than those of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

But the Pharisees and Sadducees claim to be the elite, and therefore more is required of them. Yet that is not the only reason. These highly educated people no longer have the simple-heartedness of "ordinary" sinners, who habitually commit "customary" sins but are capable, after feeling revulsion, of turning away from them. But a mind inclined toward reflection and intellectual games too often tries to justify any actions of its educated owner. And therefore for those who have tasted the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees it is harder to grasp that repentance is not only a theoretical awareness that something is wrong, but also a decisive rejection of the former habitual way of life.

When we read the evangelists' accounts of the preaching of John the Baptist, which preceded the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ, we easily miss the direct meaning contained in the narrative. Thus the evangelist Matthew tells us about the preaching of the Forerunner by saying that "all Judea" was baptized by him. Of course, this is an exaggeration, and not all the residents of Judea were baptized without exception. Yet it is clear that there were very, very many of these people. That is the truly astonishing fact. To us, on the other hand, for understandable reasons, it looks natural.

John the Baptist, calling people to receive in repentance the Kingdom of Heaven that had drawn near, did not invent a new rite for repentance. He used the washing performed for "second-class" people coming to God: Gentiles and women underwent this procedure, while for Israelite men entrance into the covenant was circumcision. In essence, John's call was like someone calling modern Orthodox Christians to be baptized a second time. For those who came to John at the Jordan, this act meant confessing that they, as traitors and apostates, were unfaithful to God and were approaching Him in repentance not as full descendants of Abraham, but as Gentiles. This was exactly the kind of repentance Israel's prophets had spoken about earlier. Is it not astonishing that there were many people who repented with such humility?

The behavior of the Pharisees and Sadducees can more readily be called natural. Both groups thought that one more pious rite would do them no harm, thereby revealing their unbelief in pious rites in general. Both groups wanted to show off their piety before people; soon after His Baptism, the Lord Jesus Christ would expose them for this.

The fact that the evangelist Matthew emphasizes how many sincere penitents there were in the days of John the Baptist first of all reveals to us what the "fullness of time" is, in which, according to the apostle Paul, God sends His Son. It is the time when many hearts are ready to receive Christ in humility and repentance. Therefore the repentance of some and the hypocrisy of others are not the main point in the ministry of John the Baptist. The Forerunner preaches repentance and baptizes not in order to give people salvation, but so that Christ may be revealed to us.