In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation.’ ”

Repentance starts with a recognition of our great need for a relationship with a holy God who loves us. We will not repent if we do not see our need. Sin corrupts, and a life controlled by sin corrupts completely. We cannot save ourselves. Others cannot save us. Sin is too powerful for that, for its master, the Devil, was a fallen angel. Only God and his Son Jesus Christ can save us.

I think this is where many people get hung up on repentance, they think if they just try harder or have more time and do enough good deeds, then somehow they can earn salvation. But we don’t get to make the universal rules under which we are rescued, my friends. God does. And he set the bar high at perfection. And for the Jews, he made a temporary way for them to receive forgiveness, through repentance and the sacrifice of animals. This was a foreshadowing of things to come. A foreshadowing of the salvation that would come through his Son, Jesus Christ. God realizes that sin is like a poison and it will eventually take over and poison all of us, unless it is rooted out of our hearts and destroyed. So, he sent John the Baptist to declare with power and the authority of his Spirit that we must repent of our sins and be baptized. And John, living in the desert, a wasteland of testing, was faithful under previous testing and trial and faithful to God’s call now! He was one who walked with God and helped him straighten out the lives of sinners and set people on a path to salvation. How will I choose to live my life? Will I try harder to rescue myself from the grasp of sin? Or will I choose repentance and full surrender to God?

Will I choose to hear your call, Lord? Will I be faithful to you? Open up my ears to your message of repentance and my heart to receive your healing touch, I pray!