Reflections on Matthew 3:1-12, Second Sunday of Advent, Year C

by John C. Holbert on Friday, October 10, 2025

         ‘In those days” suggests to Matthew the beginning of a new period of his tale. He has borrowed this expression from his reading of the Septuagint (LXX) of the Hebrew Bible where it is used as an imprecise marker of a change of place and time. Matthew moves quickly from Jesus’ infancy to his adulthood, and John appears suddenly and without literary introduction. His use of the LXX is made clear by his quotation from the LXX of Is.40:3: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.” Further, John’s role is rather like Elijah’s, seen in later rabbinic thought as the Messiah’s forerunner. This is the reason that in modern Passover meals Jews leave an empty place for Elijah, hoping that this year he will come, announcing the arrival of Messiah at last. Matthew makes the Elijah connection explicit by describing John as “wearing clothing of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his loins” (Mt.3:4). This is close to the description of Elijah found at 2 Kings 1:8. 

         But the central claim of John’s preaching is what Matthew emphasizes: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near” (Mt.3:2). In Greek, metanoia, carries exactly the same complex meaning as is found in the Hebrew nicham. Both mean quite literally to “turn around,” and carry the extended meaning of “change one’s mind” or “feel remorse,” hence “repent.” For Matthew, the word means here a willingness to turn one’s life around in a complete reorientation. And the reason why repentance is needed is because “the kingdom of heaven is near.” The kingdom of God (heaven) implies the rule of God in all creation in presence and power. Matthew may prefer his locution “of heaven” in order to avoid mentioning the name of God with a typical Jewish concern, but there is considerable debate over the reason for his choice. 

         Repentance in the face of the imminent arrival of God’s rule is made even more clear in Mt.11:20-24. There Matthew warns the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, Tyre, and Sidon that their refusal to repent before the “day of judgment” will lead to their utter destruction: “it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you” (Mt.11:24), a terrible statement suggesting that even monstrous Sodom may be better than the cities where Jesus had performed deeds of power which refused to repent.

         The focus on repentance continues in the next scene. After “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him” (obvious Matthean hyperbole!), John then notes “many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism” (Mt.3:7). He whirls on them in fury and shouts, “Brood of vipers (hardly a nice way to speak to anyone!), who taught you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit appropriate to repentance” (Mt.3:8)! Matthew hardly means all Pharisees and Sadducees in his assault, since nearly all early followers of Jesus were among one or the other of these groups. Matthew means opponents of Jesus within Israel, and opposition within Matthew’s own community. He further warns them not to rely on the fact of their religious Jewishness, claiming to have “Abraham as father.” “God can raise up from these stones children to Abraham,” he proclaims. Only “fruit worthy of repentance will do.” “The ax already lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire” (Mt.3:10)! 

         Thus, it is crucial in the face of the coming reign of God, to discover just what “fruit worthy of repentance” may be. We could look to Paul for some answers. In Galatians 3 and Romans 4 Paul wrote extensively about the true children of Abraham who, he says, are particularly marked by fidelity to God in Christ, full trust in the love and commands of that God. Repentance then means a turning toward God, and a trust in the love of Christ, that Christ who has come as a babe in Bethlehem. The content of that life of repentance Matthew will summarize in his magisterial presentation of Jesus’ sermon on the mount in Mt.5-7. Full attention to that sermon demonstrates what full repentance and readiness for the rule of God actually is. 

         That is the content of repentance according to Matthew. That content is a very high bar, and all of us fall short of its demands daily. Yet, this Advent we need to pay careful attention to that wonderful sermon where the blessed (the happy) are not necessarily those we might consider so: the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourners, the merciful, those reviled for the sake of Jesus and the gospel. In our time, when power is exalted, when the poor are reviled and forgotten, when the meek are objects of scorn, when those who stand for the right are taken off the streets and jailed for the color of their skin, we desperately need the certainty of the power of repentance and the certainty of forgiveness in the power of God. Yes, Advent contains the need for repentance if we are to receive the child in full joy and hope.