John’s rhetoric was unlikely to win friends and influence people. He attacked the crowds, which came out to be baptized as “You brood of vipers!”

John was talking to supporter’s who recognised the evil within and around them and wanted to be washed clean and start again.

I would have expected John to welcome, encourage and tell them they had made the right choice.

When I baptise, I rarely talk God’s anger because I would be frightened my congregation would think God was hateful and didn’t like them. I tell them God loves them and in baptism they are plunged into the love of God.

When John insulted his congregation calling them vipers, he reminded them of the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve. Like vipers they have led others into sin, dragging them down. They speak malice and poison. The image also epitomised the mess human beings had got into as a result of evil entering into the world, which meant their lives would one day end in pain, destruction and death. Because of the fall of Adam and Eve who had listened and obeyed the serpent rather than God, God’s people had been evicted from Paradise and separated from God’s close presence. There was no worse insult John could have given.

He asked the crowd a rhetorical question. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

John was warning them. God was through their consciences. Maybe the condition they found themselves in as an oppressed people meant they could see the signs of the times.

Maybe John was saying, you are so evil that I don’t know how you can show your faces here and ask to be baptised. You deserve everything coming to you.

John was preaching in a desert covered with stubble and brushwood. Sometimes sparks set the desert ablaze, just as we have seen in the wild fires which burned over the summer. As a result, vipers came scurrying out of their hiding places in terror to flee from the flames.

The wrath of God was being compared to desert fires which both cleanses and clears the debris destroying much of the life already there.

Unless these people repented and changed their ways, John was saying, they too would suffer the wrath of God and the fire of cleansing.

John ordered them to bear fruits worthy of repentance through the transformation of their lives. John wasn’t going to withhold Jewish baptism, but he wasn’t offering them cheap grace. They were to look deeply into their lives and confess publicly what they knew they had done wrong.

In Catholic circles, adults who are receiving baptism, Holy Communion or are close to death are not asked to confess their sins publicly but they are asked to confess them to a priest. Today this is called the sacrament of reconciliation.

It reminds us that our relationship with God is not based upon appearances, receiving baptism, being a member of the church, or anything we might do to impress others. We are reconciled to God through his loving forgiveness.

Baptism is an important public declaration that we want to be cleansed from our sin and live as Christians but it won’t save or change us.

Christian parents are important. They love and pray for us. However, we are not made Christians through their promises any more than the people who came to John would be saved because of their claim to be descendents of Abraham.

John reminds those them that God was able to raise up children to Abraham from the stones.

Jews believed their salvation came through God’s covenants given to Abraham and Moses. They hadn’t kept their part of the covenant. God’s people have to act like God’s people. The quality of their lives mattered because God was going to do something new and they needed to prepare themselves.

John used another terrifying image to warn them judgement was imminent.

“Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

The keeper of the trees had only to draw back and take one good swing, and there would be no further reprieve for the unfruitful tree, which would be burned.

Since baptism and being a Jew was not going to save them, the people understandably asked what they should do. How could they bear good fruit?

John’s advice was personal, particular and practical. It concerned justice and love of one’s neighbour, not belief and trust.

‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none and whoever has food must do likewise.’

Jewish outer robes were not a fashion statement. As well as keeping them warm, they doubled as a sleeping blanket. The poor did not have large wardrobes or places to store what they had. It was only the rich who had more than enough clothes and food.

Since there was no welfare state, there were many on the streets begging. Food and outer robes were necessary for survival

We too have a society where there are huge disparities of wealth and an increasing number of homeless people are sleeping on our streets. The huge rise in fuel prices mean many are likely to join them.

We are asked not to give directly to the homeless but to charities that provide help.

Churches and other religious places of worship often provide food and a safe place for some of the homeless to sleep on a rota basis. Food banks also help our poorest.

John asks us to be generous with what we have and then goes on to tackle the dishonesty which keeps people in poverty.

He speaks to the tax-collectors who were notorious for taking more than they were entitled to. They were hated because so many were dishonest. Taking extra was seen as a perk. They were to collect no more than the amount prescribed.

John then speaks out against bullying. Soldiers weren’t to extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and were to be satisfied with their wages.’ They were to use their power for good.

Loving our neighbours as ourselves means we give away our excess. No hoarding, stealing or extortion!

It sounds simple, but is difficult to put into practice in a structurally unfair, complex global society.

While John’s preaching makes sense creating a safer, more loving community it was guilt inducing. He was not the Messiah who was going to bring about the new society Jews hoped for. He could not fulfil their expectations so he pointed to one who would. The one coming would be more powerful. John said he was unworthy to be his servant and untie the thong of his sandals. When John judged the crowds, he also judged himself.

The one coming would not baptise with water but with the Holy Spirit and fire. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and judgement to come. He sorts out the wheat from the chaff in each of our lives. Holy Spirit fire cleanses and enables us to live lives worthy of our calling.

When Holy Spirit fire came at Pentecost people asked the same question they asked John, “What shall we do?”

Peter answered “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

Some say failure to tackle an individual’s sins and warn of judgement to come is being soft on sin and unloving since the evils we commit against God and one another causes famines, violence, prejudice, natural disasters the breakdown of society, suffering and death. Sin is dangerous. We need to repent.

God’s love, shown through Jesus who died on the cross so we might be forgiven, is a picture of love and judgement. Because Jesus, the sinless Son of God received the judgement we deserved we do not have to suffer throughout eternity.

Jesus is good news. When we come to him in repentance, he forgives and fills us with his love. God is not soft on sin. The Holy Spirit gives us the desire and power to live holy lives. Let’s make this world a better place through our practical care for others and through pointing to the forgiveness and salvation Jesus came to bring.