It was a big moment. What would he say first? The crowd was gathered. Expectations were high. How would he start?
“You brood of vipers!” (Luke 3:7)
Yikes. He starts by insulting the crowd? That’s one way to do it.
The ministry of John the Baptist starts with a bang; a scary dude yelling at people in the wilderness about their sin. We have looked together at the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel, but those are more like a prequel to the main story. The main story starts here with a scraggily scary prophet screaming, calling all who would listen to repentance, aggressively confronting them on their failure and sin.
Surprisingly, the bible summarizes John the Baptist’s message this way, “with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.” Good news!?! How is this message of repentance good news?
This is what we will focus on this Sunday: the truly good news of an invitation to repent. When we see it correctly, repentance is honest, hopeful, and really just the beginning of the beautiful life we all long for.
Repentance is where we should start… with everything.
I can’t wait to worship together.
Pastor David
