3 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, ² “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” ³ The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
    Clear the road for him!’”

⁴ John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. ⁶ And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

⁷ But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? ⁸ Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. ⁹ Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. ¹⁰ Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹² He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

Matthew 3:1-12

Dear God, my inclination is to figure out how I am or want to be like John the Baptist. What is he doing that I should be doing? How should he be my example. Then I am reminded that there is only one John the Baptist, but there are a lot of Pharisees and people coming to him to repent. Maybe the question should be how I become a “repenter” and not a Pharisee.

I wonder why kinds of sins the Israelites who came to John were repenting of. And were there any Gentiles in the mix who were coming into the Jewish faith? They might have been repenting of the same old sins that must of us struggle with like selfishness, lying, lust, etc., but I wonder if it was more fundamental than that. Were some of them repenting of not following your commands? Tithing. Forgiving debt. Debauchery.

That leads me to the uncomfortable question of, if John the Baptist were down at my local river outside of town, what would I be repenting of? What should I repent of? What are you waiting for me to repent of?

I still don’t think the practice of “confession” or “reconciliation” in the Catholic church is a mandate as the Church believes, but I do see the value in it. I do see the value in being vulnerable about our sins to another person and saying it out loud. And while I don’t do that practice with a priest since I’m not Catholic although I go to a Catholic church with my wife, who is Catholic, I do have two friends who I’m able to tell about my failings–and sometimes I tell them everything. I think if we don’t have godly people in our lives with whom we can share our thoughts, mistakes, misgivings, and then even be vulnerable about the types of motivations and actions that we would normally keep hidden then we will keep ourselves clear with you and with our own consciences.

Father, I feel like I want to close with the penitent prayer Catholics say at just about every mass: I confess to Almighty God that I have great sinned in my thoughts and in my words; in what I have done and what I have failed to do through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I ask blessed Mary, all the angels and the saints, and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord our God.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen