Fish to Fry

I think of a seminary prof often when I come to the  word "but" in Scripture.  He always said it was a stop sign.  And if not a stop sign, it was at least one that said to slow down.   Over the years I have learned the value of what he taught us.  In that third chapter of Matthew, the gospel writer tells the story of John the Baptist when suddenly the word "but" appears in the text.  "Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him...and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins..."  (Matthew 3:5-6) 

 

The next verse throws out the stop sign.  "But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers!' "  What the Baptizer saw were people of power and pretense who were coming to the Jordan River for all the wrong reasons.  They were not coming to the place made holy by the work of God as seekers, but as power brokers who were concerned about someone else gaining the ear and heart of the people.  These pillars of Judaism were out there for the wrong reasons.  There was no spirit of repentance and confession in them.  They were there to insure they did not lose control. 

It was not the first time folks showed up in a place made holy by the work of God for the wrong reasons.  It still happens today.  But, instead of hunting them out and exposing them which might be the work of the self-righteous, our call is to sit alongside without a fault finding and judgmental spirit.  As soon as we start looking around, we cease looking at ourselves and the sins of our own heart.  At that point we become like those Pharisees and Sadducees.  Leave it to John the Baptist to call them, "brood of vipers."  We have our own fish to fry!