Tuesday, April 16: “Baptism Promises Change”

Matthew 3: 7, 8: “But when [John] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.’”

John the Baptist had earned that much-coveted seal of modern day approval: Trending now! Everyone (v. 5) was heeding his call to repent (v. 2), meaning change, and seeking his baptism, a symbolic pledge to follow through with that change. So why did John rebuke and reject the Pharisees and Sadducees? Because they had no intention of changing, they did not believe John (Matthew 21: 25). They thought they were already perfect; their promise was empty. They came because everyone was coming, or to critique John’s message. Such people, he did not baptize.