Sunday, December 07, 2025
Sunday Reflection: John the Baptist
John the Baptist has always fascinated me. Here is how he is described in Matthew:
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.
The fascinating thing to me is that anyone looked at him and said "that dude has it going on! Time to get baptized!" But they did, even though he wasn't claiming to be the prophet, just to know who was coming.
That's a lot of trust-- someone you don't know telling you to believe in someone who isn't there yet. But in a way we do things like that all the time; we make choices because there is something that makes sense to us about what is being claimed.
I'm not sure I would have followed John's direction, since I am kind of a skeptic-- but I know in my heart that people did.
