According to Luke 3:18 John the Baptist proclaimed good news. Yet, John’s words, recorded earlier in the chapter, are all about impending judgment and the danger that judgment represented to his hearers. What’s so good about that?
Ultimately, John’s message was about the coming of God to judge the earth, which is indeed good news. After all, the moment of judgment is the moment when God will set everything right. At the same time, you want to be on the right side of things when judgment comes. Otherwise, you’ll find God moving against you rather than for you. That’s the other side of John’s good news - God is giving the people a chance to repent before judgment comes. That means they can leave behind the parts of their lives that are displeasing to God and embrace new ways of life that are acceptable to God. Baptism is the symbol of this movement in a person’s life. That’s what the text means when it says that John “came preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
So, what constitutes a life lived well before God in John’s preaching? His message can be summed up in two commands: (1) share your excess with those in need and (2) be fair in your dealings in everyday life. Note how both of these directives are social in nature, one having to do with tangible care for the needy and the other having to do with integrity in social interactions. Of course, practices of individual holiness are also important, and they’ll have their place as Luke’s gospel progresses. At the same time, John’s preaching in preparation for Jesus reminds us that holiness has a distinctly social dimension. God cares deeply how we treat our neighbors when it comes to offering help and dealing with integrity.
Along the way, as crowds and crowds of people were baptized in response to John’s preaching, Jesus took his turn as well. At first glance, this seems strange because Christian theology tells us that Jesus was sinless and didn’t have anything to repent for. Why engage in a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, then? Here it is helpful and encouraging to think in terms of identification. Rather than holding himself aloof from sinful people, which he had every right to do, Jesus instead identifies with them. Ultimately he will become the means of the people’s forgiveness by taking their (and our) sin upon himself on the cross. Here, at the baptism, that movement of identification and self-giving is affirmed and foreshadowed.
After Jesus identified with the people in baptism, he experienced something magnificent. The heavens were opened, the Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove, and the very voice of God claimed him (You are my Son) and affirmed him (whom I love; with you I am well pleased). These events mark a turning point in Jesus’ life. Having been anointed by the Spirit and affirmed by the Father, Jesus will now begin his ministry.
O God, help us to embrace repentance that our lives may be pleasing to you. Thank you for Christ, who identified with us in baptism and carried our sin to the cross.