Here in Matthew 3 we are introduced to John the Baptist. John the Baptist is infamous for being the forerunner of Jesus who prepared the way for Jesus' ministry and mission. For someone to pave the way for Jesus one might think that one would have to be slick, with a polished and intellectual message. You might think that the forerunner of Jesus would be in the city with decent clothes. Probably, this guy should be nice and kind to help smooth the way for the coming Messiah. However, John is polarized opposite. In verses 1-11 we see the aspects of his incredible ministry of preparing the way for Jesus.
First, John preached a message of repentance. He told people to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Second, John understood his role and his ministry. He quotes from Isaiah, "the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the lord; make his path straight." Also in verse 11 John says, "but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry." This is a man who understood his role and mission and that he was preparing the way for someone much greater than he.
Third, John was not flashy and was not urbanized. He wore the latest fashion in camel hair and his diet consisted of South Beach Desert diet, which was locusts and wild honey. If we probably got a glimpse of John we would not think that he was civilized at all. He lived in the desert, wore desert clothes, and ate desert foods. The crazy part of all of this is found in verse 5, "Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him..." Who would have ever thought that people would travel to see and hear such a man? Again it is important for us to understand he had a message that was completely different than any message of that time. Nobody was preaching repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. The religious leaders at that time were going through the religiousity of being a Jew. There were no people who understood their role and mission in pointing people to God's Messiah. There was something undeniably different about John. He whole-heartily lived for God and was all about His glory and pointing people to the Messiah. He was all about someone else other than himself!
Fourth, John was not shy and timid about what he said either. He flat out rebuked the religious leaders of the day. He rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees so hard, snot came out. He tells them to quit being religious, prideful, lazy, good for nothing leaders; and bear fruit that accompanies true repentance. You can say that John took a stand to live for God. But not only live for God, to call others who claim to live for God, to truly live for Him. Why would he be so bold as to call these religious leaders to be authentic worshippers of God? Because those who go through the religious motions and live a prideful pious life (that says look at me), distort the truth of who God is and what He desires men and women to be.
So what does all of this have to do with you and me? We are called to share Jesus with the world. Therefore, just like John we are to prepare the way for Jesus to work in the heart of those we want to introduce to Him. We need to begin to think of ourselves as forerunners of Jesus. Those who prepare the way for Him to work in the hearts of those around us. The way we do that is to emulate John. We need to share the message of repentance. We don't have a spiritual or religious message, we have a message of life change that is produced when one repents of their sin. Second, we need to understand our role, who we are/who God is, and what we have been put here to do.
Third, we need to be ourselves and be true to who God called us to be. John did not try to be someone he is not. He was just an ordinary desert boy, who was used to do supernatural things for God. John did not need the city life, the city clothes, the city food. He needed to prepare the way! Last, we need to be bold and sometimes even confrontational. Those who claim to be believers/Christians but are blatantly living opposite to the ways of Christ, we should love them enough and love God enough to gently correct them. I am not telling us to be the spiritual police. But the leaders of John's day was obviously not representing God correctly or John would not have said what he did. Today for us, this could be a potty mouth believer, a cheating on a test believer, a married flirting believer, a stingy believer, an unfaithful to church believer, or anything that misrepresents who God is and desires us to be. Let us be faithful to preparing the way!
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