December 1998 Issue

The voice of the man standing on the corner was loud. With a microphone in his hand, the "preacher" was shouting to all the motorists passing by. What he exactly said I do not remember now. The essence of the message was "Repent!" I had passed by him many times and could tune him out. One night my daughter, Erin, was riding in the car with me. The questions of an inquisitive eleven year old began. "Who is he? What is he saying? Why does he preach on the street corner? What does repent mean?" My answers conveyed that I did not place much credence into what the man was saying. Erin simply asked, "What if he is right?"

As a young boy, there was an ongoing tent revival in our city. I could hear the preacher yell and the crowd respond when we drove by. The questions that formed in my mind were natural: "Who are those people? Why don't they go to a church?" That would have been the proper thing to do.

To the wilderness they came to hear John. The early day revival preacher said unconventional things. His appearance was different. The images were unsettling: a brood of vipers, an axe being laid to the root of the trees, the burning of chaff by unquenchable fire. The focus of the message was upon repentance and the coming of the kingdom of heaven. The message and the messenger even attracted the Pharisees and the Sadducees who came for baptism. That members of these two opposing religious parties would have in common this interest in John is itself an idea worth exploring. Much can and has been said about the opposition of these religious parties to John and later to Jesus. Likewise, it is worthy to note that John the Baptist's message is not consistent with current popular strategies concerning church growth. Yet, they came. They came to see him, to hear him, and to be baptized. Why?

Although the message of repentance, at first glance, is not conducive to our culture's celebration of the Christmas season, it strikes at the heart of the Gospel. Perhaps that is why there was an appeal to John and his message. The emptiness and void of their lives cried out to be filled. A trip to the wilderness was in order. Even with different views, the human need transcends differences so that a call to repentance serves as a warning concerning the coming of the kingdom of heaven.

It is so easy for today's proclaimers of the Gospel to look on this text with 20-20 hindsight. Today we have Jesus. We understand what John was saying, to whom he was pointing. It is with this kind of outlook that we ask of those first-century people, "Why didn't you get it?" The opportunity and challenge for the preacher is to ask the congregation, "Does Jesus have a claim on us?"

Like the Pharisees and Sadducees who had Abraham as their father, we claim to have Jesus in our hearts or to have Christ as our Savior.¹ However, something more is needed. What better time of the year to take advantage of the cultural propensity for generous hearts and benevolent action to encourage and invite persons to repent, to change?

The imagery of the fruit can be useful in this context. The bearing of fruit is the outgrowth of the fundamental disposition of the heart. I have heard it said that more people act themselves into a new way of thinking than think themselves into a new way of acting. Determining which comes first is not a useful debate. Inviting persons to live lives which bear fruit could be the key to genuine repentance and to their experiencing the kingdom of heaven. Concrete examples from the lives of persons in your congregation could help hearers' understandings. In this way questions regarding this revival preacher translate into questions about our lives and affirmation of varieties of Christian witness present in the lives of persons.

Michael McKee

1. Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew INTERPRETATION: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993), p. 20.