December 25, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

The Messianic Forerunner

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Opening Prayer

“After me comes one… whose sandals I am not worthy to carry” (Matt. 3:11). O come, let us adore HIM!

Read Matthew 3:1-12

[1] In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea [2] and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” [3] This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'” [4] John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. [5] People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. [6] Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. [7] But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? [8] Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. [9] And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. [10] The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. [11] “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. [12] His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

Because of Christmas Day, nothing can ever be the same again.

 

Matthew’s story now fast-forwards to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, passing over the silent years of growth in Nazareth and setting the scene by describing the ministry of John the Baptist. The social and religious tensions in the nativity story are still present 30 years later as the prophetic preaching of John triggers both a mass movement of restless people hungry for change (5,6) and a predictable alarm within the religious elite whose representatives appear on the banks of the Jordan to investigate the firebrand preacher (7).
The scene suggests a contrast between the center of religious and political power in Jerusalem and the people at the margins. John, like the earlier prophets of Israel whom he so clearly resembles, is an outsider: remote geographically and socially from those who possess power and are given honor. His location “in the wilderness” (1), his austere and simple style of life and his radical message of imminent judgment and the need for repentance set him apart from those complicit with the imperial power in Jerusalem who had reduced Israel’s covenant faith to a pride in ethnic identity (8,9). The Jordan River had significant symbolic and strategic importance: it was here that the tribes of Israel had crossed into the Promised Land to overthrow oppressive kings and create a worshiping community of justice and equality. Here, too, streams of Jewish pilgrims traveling from the East now crossed the river en route to Jerusalem. At this very spot, John announced the coming of the alternative kingdom of heaven and launched a movement of renewal and revival.
However, at the core of his proclamation was the humble recognition that his role was merely a preparation for the coming of another, the Christ whose birth we celebrate today, who comes with “the Holy Spirit and fire” (11).

Matthew’s story now fast-forwards to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, passing over the silent years of growth in Nazareth and setting the scene by describing the ministry of John the Baptist. The social and religious tensions in the nativity story are still present 30 years later as the prophetic preaching of John triggers both a mass movement of restless people hungry for change (5,6) and a predictable alarm within the religious elite whose representatives appear on the banks of the Jordan to investigate the firebrand preacher (7).

The scene suggests a contrast between the center of religious and political power in Jerusalem and the people at the margins. John, like the earlier prophets of Israel whom he so clearly resembles, is an outsider: remote geographically and socially from those who possess power and are given honor. His location “in the wilderness” (1), his austere and simple style of life and his radical message of imminent judgment and the need for repentance set him apart from those complicit with the imperial power in Jerusalem who had reduced Israel’s covenant faith to a pride in ethnic identity (8,9). The Jordan River had significant symbolic and strategic importance: it was here that the tribes of Israel had crossed into the Promised Land to overthrow oppressive kings and create a worshiping community of justice and equality. Here, too, streams of Jewish pilgrims traveling from the East now crossed the river en route to Jerusalem. At this very spot, John announced the coming of the alternative kingdom of heaven and launched a movement of renewal and revival.

However, at the core of his proclamation was the humble recognition that his role was merely a preparation for the coming of another, the Christ whose birth we celebrate today, who comes with “the Holy Spirit and fire” (11).

 

Apply

Give thanks for Jesus and ask him for a fresh anointing with the Holy Spirit (reread verse 11).

Closing prayer

Lord, just as John the Baptist saw his role in life and was faithful to it, show me clearly what You want me to do.

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