I came across an interesting moment in the book of Luke today that I had never noticed before. Luke is telling the account of John the Baptist starting his ministry in the wilderness. John has been baptising all sorts of people and has just reacted to the Pharisees who have come to join the crowds, calling them a brood of vipers!

I’m not sure John would have been a guy you would have wanted to be on the wrong side of. Verse 12 says this;

Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

After reading his response to the Pharisees I was expecting John to give both barrels to the tax men – Jews who were working for and effectively supporting the Romans. However he responds like this;

“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

Oh! That was pretty restrained. He didn’t even tell them to leave their jobs, only to be fair in what is required of them. In the next verse we read the following.

Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

Surely he won’t excuse these guys, they are Roman soldiers after all. But…..

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely —be content with your pay.” Luke 3:12-14

Wow. He doesn’t try to convert them or cause an uprising!

It seems like John was serious when he was focusing on repentance and forgiveness. Regardless of what you had done or what you were currently doing repentance was the key with John. That’s why the Pharisees weren’t welcomed, because they felt no need to repent but the tax collectors and soldiers were welcomed with open arms.

John truly was preparing the road for the Messiah as we watched as Jesus did the same thing with people He met. I wonder if we would react the same way to those people groups?