Well, My Mom Went to Church

Matthew 3:4-12

⁴Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,

⁶and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

⁸Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

⁹And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

¹⁰Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

¹²His 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.”

There have always been people who think that they are part of the faith because one of their relatives was a church-going believer. “Well, my mom went to church every Sunday.” I recently heard a guy claim he was a Catholic because his mom attends mass every Sunday. He doesn’t go himself, but claims membership in the Catholic Church (vicariously?); you get the idea. That’s who we’re looking at today. John the Baptist is out on the River Jordan doing his baptism thing and the Pharisee and Sadducees try to get in on the deal. John takes them on without pulling a single punch.

Let’s approach a few of details of this story, because there is really a great deal of information here in just a few verses.

~ John wears a camel hair tunic with a simple leather belt and eats locusts (yuck). This attaches him to the prophet Elijah who bears a very similar description (2 Kings 1:8). John comes with exactly the same message as Elijah – repent.

~ The people are hungry for John’s message. They flock out to the Jordan to hear him and participate in the baptism of repentance. There is a very interesting connection to the River Jordan here. Back in the book of Joshua, the Children of Israel pass through the Jordan to claim the Promised Land as God directs them. Now, with John, God’s people are returning to the Jordan as the Messiah makes His entrance onto the world stage. (I know, it’s not much, but I found it interesting.)

~ The people are responding to John’s cry for repentance. They are being prepared to hear the message that Christ will be bringing to them very soon.

~ The Pharisees and Sadducees come out too. But John knows that they are not there with repentant hearts. They are there to claim their own righteousness; they are banking on their heritage through Abraham. John lets them know this is a claim to nothing and challenges them to actually live like they are repentant.

John’s castigation of the leaders of the Jewish faith is total. They are the ones who will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Any claim to Abraham will mean nothing and destruction awaits them. The Pharisees probably didn’t like John any more than they’re going to like Jesus!

Who do you claim as the foundation of your faith? Are you counting on the faith of your parents or is your belief in Jesus personal? It’s an important question and has to be answered by each one of us honestly for He comes for each person individually. My parents may have taught me about Jesus, but their faith is their faith, and my faith is mine.