John the BaptistOur reading today is about John the Baptist and his baptism. Let’s begin by observing that John the Baptist would not have come across as a respectable character but as a madman. We do not have time to go into it in detail but, although he was from a priestly line, he was nevertheless a marginal figure – “The voice of one crying in the wilderness” – wearing a camel’s hair garment and a leather belt, eating locusts and honey.And what was his message? “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near”. “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”God himself is coming. Prepare your souls to receive him. Give him a straight path to your heart.Another way to translate the word for “repent”, metanoia, is “change your heart”. The Kingdom of Heaven is coming, so change your heart. Change your actions, your outlook, your priorities, all in the light of this.The baptism of John was a different baptism to the baptism we receive now as Christians. It was a baptism of water for repentance, a ritual washing related to a Jewish ritual called the mikveh. In other words, it was a personal response to this message, a personal response of a change of heart. It was like they were saying, “I intend to cleanse myself from sin, from the inside out, so that I might be prepared for the coming of the Lord.”This is the kind of change we are to consider in the season of Advent. We are to ask ourselves, “The Lord is coming and how do I want my heart to be when he arrives?”The Pharisees and SadduceesA key part of our text today concerns the Pharisees and Sadducees drawing near for baptism. These people represent the religious authorities of the day. Theological and spiritual experts. Memorisers of the Law. Preachers of sermons. And yet, they receive a stern rebuke from John, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in line with a change of heart. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raised up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire’.What was John rebuking in these people?Let’s observe several things:No repentance – Firstly, they were not repentant. Not willing to change their hearts. They wanted to join in the ritual but they were not willing to be obedient to what the ritual represented.This is religion without transformation. Friends, this is everywhere in our world and it is everywhere in the Christian Church. This is kind of empty religion that inoculates us against the real thing. Sometimes called “nominal” Christianity or something like that. It is the process of going through the motions without really meaning it from the heart.God is not interested in occasional church going or religious observances. He is interested in your heart. He wants a transformation that occurs at the very deepest part of your soul. A transformed life follows from this. That’s why John says, “Bear fruit in line with a change of heart”. The fruit is the outcome of a changed heart. We change first, deep down within, and so we give our lives to Christ.Trust in ethnic or religious status – Again, the Pharisees are rebuked for thinking that their ethnic and religious status will save them. They think, because they are children of Abraham, that they will be fine. But John lays waste to this idea, “God is able to raise up from these stones children of Abraham”.In other words, ethnic and religious descent is ineffectual and irrelevant without a change of heart, without true repentance.Do not presume to say to yourself, “I was baptised as a baby.” Do not presume to say to yourself, “We’ve been involved in this parish church for several generations.” Do not presume to say to yourself, “I give money to the church and serve on the rota”.These are all good things but they have to be accompanied by a genuine change of heart.Religious hypocrisy that leads others astray – Finally, religious hypocrisy that leads other people astray. The phrase used by John to describe the Pharisees is “brood of vipers”. Jesus uses the same phrase to describe them in Matthew 23. There he launches into a tirade against these people.Again, there isn’t time to go into all of it but here is an idea: Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for not practicing what they preach. In other words, they preach a moral life, they preach devotion and obedience to God and yet they do not practice it.Jesus tells the Pharisees that they keep the letter of the law but they neglect the deeper parts of it and so they miss the point. They tithe their spice racks but they do not practice justice, mercy and faithfulness – all of which are a reflection of a changed heart.On the outside they look good – good clothes, good hair, good religious apparel – but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence and they are filled with dead men’s bones. They are pretending to be righteous. They are acting. This is ancient cos-play.“Woe to you Pharisees and Scribes, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” Matthew 23:13I’m not saying this because I think anyone here in particular is a Pharisee or a Sadducee. I’m saying it because something like this is a temptation for all of us. And I’m saying this because I want to make it clear that is not true religion. It is not what it means to be a follower of Christ.Let me be emphatic and say again: to prepare the way for Christ is not to change some external feature like one’s appearance or activity. It is to change the heart. It is to change not what is outside but what is inside. It is to give one’s heart to Christ in love for him.The Baptism of JesusHaving said this, let’s look at the baptism of Jesus. This was a different baptism to that of John, a new type of baptism.What is different? Well, earlier I said John’s baptism was a sign of repentance and faith. Here, there is something more: “I baptise you with water for repentance, but he who is coming is mightier that I…He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”Faith and repentance are a part of Christian baptism, as they were in John’s baptism. But all throughout the New Testament, we are told that Christian baptism is also linked to the gift of the Holy Spirit.One other example: after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, those listening responded by asking him what to do, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).When we are baptised into Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This means that Christian baptism is not just something that represents our repentance but it is a sacrament through which the power of God works. Indeed, in Christian baptism, God himself comes to live within our hearts.This means something quite wonderful: it means that the power of God lives within us and that he gives us the power to change.This is why we do that strange ritual in which the priest flicks holy water at the people in the church. It is to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit lives in us and that He was given to us at our baptisms. It reminds us that God’s power is within us and that therefore we can live the Christian life with his help.And if you have not been baptised and would like the Holy Spirit to come and live within your heart, then let nothing hold you back.Jesus came to baptise not only with water, but also with the Holy Spirit.With the Holy Spirit and FireOne further point: when John says, “He comes to baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire”, what does the fire represent?In my view, the context of the passage makes it clear that John means here the fire of judgement. There are two other references to fire in this passage: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” says John. And, speaking of Christ, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire”.Christ will baptise with the Holy Spirit and he will baptise with the fire of judgement.To put it in plain English, John’s message is therefore something like this:“Repent of your sin and start living a life that proves that you are sorry. Be baptised into Christ and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and this will give you power to live a new life. The alternative is the fire of judgement. No amount of religious observance will save you. Choose.”Maybe this doesn’t some like an uplifting Christmas message. If not, I’d encourage you to remember that the one who holds the winnowing fork in his hand is the one who was laid in the manger as a baby. He is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the one who emptied himself of his glory and became obedient to the Father by dying for us. He is the one who rose again to give us the hope of everlasting life with God.And so, may we, by the mercy and the grace of God, in light of his appearing amongst us in Christ, change our hearts, bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to heed these words.In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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