The word “repentance” has become familiar to us. We repent simply because we are supposed to. We repent of many sins, but does our life change as a result? If we bear no fruits of repentance, we may safely apply to ourselves the Baptist’s words about a “brood of vipers” and the “axe laid to the root of the trees.” It is clear what fruits tax collectors and soldiers should bear. But what if we belong to neither group? What are we to do?

To understand this, we need to work seriously on ourselves, pay attention to our lives, and resolve to live differently. Then the possibility opens before us of being baptized with the Spirit and fire and of following the beloved Son, and we may hope to hear the cherished words: “In you I am well pleased!”

Today's reading brings us back once again to the figure of John the Baptist. Here again we encounter the different visions of the evangelists Matthew and Luke, this time regarding John's ministry. Unlike Matthew, Luke, in addition to the general content of the prophet's preaching (vv. 3-9), also mentions the advice John gave to people of different professions and social groups (vv. 10-14). This advice differed in different cases, but it also had something in common: all of it, in one way or another, was connected with the question of keeping the commandments given by God. Clearly, when John recalls Isaiah's words about the need to "prepare the way of the Lord" (v. 4), he has in mind first of all the importance of following the Torah. It would seem that there was nothing fundamentally new in such an appeal: all the Old Testament prophets spoke about this. Yet there was also something unusual in John's activity.

It is no accident that the evangelist's account mentions tax collectors ("publicans") and soldiers (vv. 12, 14). Both groups were outcasts in Jewish society in Gospel times. Publicans were seen as collaborators, working with the occupiers and robbing their own people. As for the soldiers, the reference here is probably to Roman soldiers who were either pagans, which is improbable, or proselytes, former pagans who had converted to Judaism. The social position of such proselytes was rather ambiguous: they were not considered full members of the Jewish community, only their children became such, while to their fellow tribesmen they were outsiders, and often traitors.

John, however, evidently accepts everyone regardless of social or religious status. He obviously did not think that the coming messianic Kingdom would be given only to orthodox Jews. The way was open even to those whom the people of God considered lost, and lost forever: the publicans. For they had committed their sin consciously and freely, and from the consequences of such a sin, it was believed, one could not be cleansed, even if later the sinner sincerely repented of what he had done. God could accept his repentance, but the defilement left by the sin would rest forever on him and on his descendants.

Meanwhile John did not push away even the publicans, requiring only that after the cleansing washing ("baptism") they should no longer violate the norms of the Torah (v. 13). For him, evidently, cooperation with the Roman authorities was not as terrible a sin as it was for most of his contemporaries. But of course that was not the only point. For John, as no one else, understood that the Messiah whom he awaited and whose coming he testified to would bring into the world the Kingdom where everyone would be given the chance to begin life with a clean slate. And his own task was to prepare the people of God for this new life. A life in which, after repenting, even the most terrible sinner can share, if only he is able to accept the chief gift of the Kingdom: the gift of God's love.

Those who came to John were not asking by chance what they should do next. John was speaking of the Messiah's imminent coming. In Judea at that time many, if not all, were awaiting the Messiah. And many were sure they were ready to meet Him. There were even more who were not sure they were ready, but were sure they knew how to prepare. And most were sure that the Messiah's coming would be a feast for them, a feast of meeting God's Servant and a feast of the triumph of the Kingdom whose inhabitants they hoped to become.

And then a prophet appears who says that it is not all so simple. That the meeting may turn out to be not so joyful at all. That in essence there are practically no people ready for this meeting. And that very many, if not all, who await the meeting with the Messiah will have to prepare. In such a situation the question of what to do, how to prepare, was entirely urgent. John spoke of conversion and purification. He spoke of them even to those who, in general, had no special reason to consider themselves unclean. He spoke to those who already believed in the God of Israel. What more is needed?

Conversion implied some changes in life. What changes? Those who came to John and believed him were asking him precisely this. The prophet spoke of fiery purification, and his listeners understood what he meant. Theophany can become a consuming fire for a person if that person is not ready for the meeting. It was necessary to prepare. And John would tell the people who came to him how to prepare. He does not propose anything especially complicated. No lengthy prayers, no special complex purifying rituals.

The main thing is love for one's neighbor and openness to him. And the point is not only that without such openness one's neighbors will inevitably suffer. The point is also that without learning openness in communication with people, it is practically impossible to learn it in communication with God. The skill of openness is much easier to acquire in dealing with a person like yourself than in dealing with God, who is not like you at all. And John recommends this as the best preparation for meeting the coming Messiah. And as an anticipation of the experience of life in the Kingdom, where openness is one of the chief principles.