It's a little embarrassing to tell this, but every time I left that hotel during my two night stay there I got confused, lost my sense of direction, and had to turn around and go back to the rotary to get my bearings straight,?. and sometimes, ... and this is the really uncomfortable part for me to tell you about, .. I had to go back more than once on the same trip to get re-re-oriented.

I suspect that John the Baptist may have had folks like me in mind when he went out preaching and baptizing people, because I think at various times and points in our lives, we do lose our sense of direction. Sometimes we get really lost, but then other times we just find ourselves on paths, crooked paths that may be leading us to someplace we really don't want to go.
 
John is reminding us that our relationship with God is a lot like me needing to turn around and go back to where I started ? and then begin all over again. I call this turning around, going back and getting re-oriented; .. but John would call this repentance. In Matthew's gospel, John is provoking us, calling our attention to how important it is that when we do lose our direction, do lose our focus in life, that we need to repent, we need to find or locate a new compass in our life, we need to have a change of heart.

John was a Prophet, a messenger, warning the Israelite people that they had lost their sense of direction, and they needed to make changes in their lives; they needed to make paths straight to the Lord.

You know, when you think about it, it a wonder that anybody paid much attention to John. Here is this really bizarre man from the desert, walking around in clothing made of camel hair and eating really weird food - locusts and wild honey. Can you imagine what that camel hair outfit must have smelled like after wading into the Jordan River and baptizing a few thousand people?.... This man, even in his day, was definitely an eccentric character.
So, I wonder what is was about John the man, the person, that attracted so many people to him? ??

Let me tell you what I found out. Because John was a prophet, people expected him to be a little different. So this lets us know that it was not so much that people gathered to see John's scruffy and unkempt appearance. No, people flocked to see him because of the message that he was conveying, it was the message John shouted out and proclaimed that drew people to him. People either sensed or knew for certain that John was speaking for God. John was bringing a new and radical message to the world - he was preparing the way for the "one whose sandals he was not worthy to carry.

John was the first prophet that Israel had had in four hundred years ? and like prior prophets he was urging the Israelites to repent - that is - to return to a right relationship with God.

However, John's warning was different from previous prophets because he was telling people to get ready because the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God has come near that is, God is here!! ... And it was because John was a prophet that people really heard what he had to say; they listened ... they heeded his admonition ...  they repented ... and were baptized by him in the river Jordan. Through their baptism, the followers and believers of John made a visible and public sign of death to their old way of life and the rebirth to a new way of life, to a change of heart, and to a new relationship with God.

Likewise, for Christians today, repentance is about turning away from a life of selfishness, greed, materialism, and rebellion against God,  and turning to God in Christ with faith?. Repentance is never just a single act, but it is an ongoing response to what God wills for us. When we take the steps that require actual changes in the way we live our lives, in our actions, in our thoughts and in our feelings, then we are truly turned around, making paths straight that will bring and drawn us even closer to God.

I think we are really fortunate because whenever we baptize someone here at Good Shepherd, we are presented with a new opportunity to repent, to turn ourselves around, to re-orient ourselves in a new direction, and to start all over again with God.

The Pharisees and Sadducees who came to John for Baptism were not so fortunate as we are today. Because John was a different kind of prophet, he was not out to win friends and influence people. He had the audacity to criticize and he even refused the request for baptism by these important people in the Jewish community. He recognized their arrogant self-righteous attitude and John knew that they weren't interested in making changes in their lives because they were so confident that they were fine just the way they were. But John knew otherwise

You know, John choosing who he would baptize makes me wonder,? makes me wonder ... would John baptize me if I went to him today? 

Do you wonder if John would baptize you today?