John the Baptist shows up and he’s bringing the heat!
Advent starts the same way each year: the one-two punch of the apocalypse and John the Baptist (or John the Baptizer, if you’re Mark—or if you just really like the sound of it).
J the B shows up, looking all prophety and stuff. Shouting about repentance. That’s always ripe for a good explanation.
Probably the most challenging thing about Matthew’s version here in Year A is that the text spends a lot of time on John railing at the Pharisees and Sadducees for joining the crowds to be baptized. This is sure to make most of us a tad uncomfortable in the telling.
It really shouldn’t be surprising that he has some words for them, given the context and given how the whole story ends. But it is no less striking. A lot of people have a problem with conflict. And this raises questions.
The real centerpiece of the story, though, is how John argues that the people are ultimately replaceable. And how, in the end, it is the grace of God that matters.
Everything else is our own self-importance showing up to pitch a fit.