We want our faith journey to lead to joy, but we too often end up sidetracked. We take a wrong turn and end up not knowing the way back to joy. Too many things in life lead us astray. One of those things can be a heavy dose of guilt. Although we can become good at tamping down our consciences, guilt that won’t go away weighs us down. Another path away from joy can be temptation. Temptation seduces us so smoothly that we slip into the wrong place before we realize it. Two of the things that can damage our faith include heavy-handed guilt trips and our battle with temptation. We don’t like either place. This passage for today sits right between these two experiences.

            Right before the baptism of Jesus, we hear the preaching of John the Baptist, a truly fascinating character in the gospels. Some things about John we would have liked: his fierce independence, his individuality, his tell-it-like-it-is attitude, his courage. The gospel writers extol his wild popularity: “Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him.” When city folk and country folk all flock to hear the same preacher, he has something going for him. We certainly have had enough of mealy-mouthed preachers who don’t really say anything. We have heard our share of people-pleasing preachers who dare not ruffle the first feather. We have heard the prosperity-gospel smooth-talkers who want us to consider God our personal concierge. Maybe the reason we like John is that he isn’t any of those things. Yet, could we bear much of his preaching? Would we like someone calling our parents snakes? How long could we abide a preacher hammering away at how God will chop down the trees and burn up the chaff? John expected repentance, and he preached in an uncompromising way to move people to it.

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