In those days, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Matthew 3:1-11 (NRSV)

This is the first blog update in a few weeks because of my inability to login and access the website. Thankfully, we have that fixed and now I can get back to regular weekly updates.

By the standards of people in first century Judea, John the Baptist was a weirdo. He stuck out like a sore thumb. I don’t know the exact origins of the idiom “stick out like a sore thumb,” but it usually is used to describe something that is clearly out of place and does not match its surroundings. John the Baptist certainly fit that description. He did not seem concerned with making himself look like other people. He did not seem concerned with acting like other people. Instead, he was focused on his mission to “prepare the way of the Lord.”

When the Pharisees and Sadducees showed up, he did not cut them any slack. He called them a “brood of vipers” (think “den of snakes”) and proceeded to tell them how the cow ate the cabbage, so to speak. John the Baptist doesn’t sound like the shining example of how to win friends and influence people, yet people from all over the countryside were coming to him for baptism in the Jordan.

What was his secret? Well, he was following God’s calling on his life for one thing. Another thing is that he was singularly focused on his mission. One of the most important things about John the Baptist though is that he was not afraid to just be himself.

He wasn’t weird just because of what he wore as clothing or what he ate as food. John was weird because, in a world of so many people who were so concerned with keeping up appearances, John just went along being his authentic self.

How often do we just allow ourselves to be our authentic selves? What kind of pressures do we face in life to present ourselves in a certain way? Who has God created us to be and how are we reflecting that to the world?

There is an old movie from the 80’s called “The Breakfast Club.” I’m sure you’ve seen it. Some teenagers get stuck in detention together after school and the whole movie is about how they relate to each other and the trouble they get themselves, and each other, into before they are allowed to leave. Each character is unique, and each one presents to the other as her or his authentic self. Through doing so they gain new understandings of each other and are changed in ways that make them better people. When John the Baptist preached repentance, from the Greek word metanoia meaning “change of heart and life”, what if he was telling the people, at least in part, to stop pretending and just be who God created them to be? That’s what John was doing. That’s what Jesus did.

Let us go with the confidence of children of God and do the same. Amen.