December 7, 2025
Matthew 3: 1-12
Jesus and John were cousins on Mary’s side of the family. I suspect they saw each other often while growing up, exchanging what they were learning about life. They were also trying to figure out what the God of Israel had in mind for them as young adults and males in their society.
They had parents who loved and cared for them and wanted only their fidelity to the God they had come to believe in. Neither parent had a clue what lay in store for their children.
Today’s Gospel paints a colorful picture of John. His wardrobe consisted of a camel hair tunic held in place with a leather belt. His diet was locusts and wild honey. His reputation was known through the whole region around the Jordan and his baptisms made him popular even among the Sadducees and Pharisees.
John was a man who did not mince words calling some who came for Baptism “a brood of vipers”, assuring them that whatever “fruit they think they have produced will be cut down and throw into the fire.” These words did not win him a popularity contest and instead he was beheaded by the elite who were trapped by the insidious seduction of power.
In today account, John references his cousin, not by name, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. History shows the price Jesus paid for this Baptism at the hands of the same ones trapped by that insidious seduction of power.
How much deep listening do we do with the power that we do have, as individuals and as a community? Power, honor and privileges can be highly addictive and dangerously corrosive. What originates from love may be hardened into vanity, conceit, elitism, and self-preservation.
May deep listening lead us to discover that the fire in these 2 young cousins is the very same fire that lives within us…and may we have their courage to live it.
Matthew 3: 1-12
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:
A voice of one crying out in the desert,
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Meet Sister Anne Louise Nadeau, SNDdeN
