Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
MATTHEW 3:1-2 | In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Location! Location! Location! That is the mantra of the real estate business. John the Baptist appeared “in the wilderness.” His location matched his message, for he asked Jews to “repent,” and he baptized them.
Baptism was never used by Israelites; it was instead a way of Gentiles becoming Jews. John put Jewish people into the position of non-Jews. This would never have been possible in Jerusalem, where religious authority was vested in the hands of legal experts and priests. They could not countenance such a move, for it challenged the necessity and importance of the established institutional rites and rituals as sufficient and adequate ways of following God. In the wilderness, there was no temple and no sacrifices. Institutional religion, of any type, was an implicit danger—it can become a matter of form without substance. Ritual can be ritualism. Outer conformity to rules and practices can exist alongside inner emptiness or hypocrisy.
Are you naturally comfortable with institutions or skeptical?
How did the religious establishment react to John?
