NOTES for Mat 3:9-10
It is interesting to ask whether one can repent and be cleansed from sin just like that, just in case. Like the Pharisees mentioned in today's Gospel reading? What is this - hypocrisy? Hardly. The Pharisees were deeply religious people who would scarcely have allowed themselves an outright deception. But what, then, arouses John's anger? Pride? The confidence of those who came that they, descendants of Abraham, simply could not by definition be unworthy of the Kingdom? Yes, no doubt. Pride has never brought anyone spiritual benefit. And still, the matter is evidently not only this. Why would someone who was sure of his own sinlessness need a cleansing washing? And the "baptisms" performed by John were precisely cleansing washings. After all, the Judaism of that period had no concept such as "original sin." For a Jew of the Gospel period, sin was something very concrete, and only someone who had committed such a sin was considered a sinner, not every person by definition, as we think today. Why should those who had not sinned be cleansed?
As we can see, precisely just in case. What if this strange preacher, so much like the ancient prophets, is right? What if one more cleansing is needed to be worthy of the coming Messiah? What if... In short, one extra washing will not hurt in any case.
Only spiritual life is not a religious rite. Here nothing is done "just like that" or "just in case." Just as there is no "faith just in case." It either exists or it does not. There is no third option.