He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire

 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.'"

Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

- Matthew 3:1-12

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him."  When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."

Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.  Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:  "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."  Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child's life are dead."  Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.  And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee.  And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.'"  The wilderness of Judea, says my study bible, is the barren region which descends from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea.  This preparation for the ministry of the Savior begins with the call of John the Baptist to repent.  In Greek, the word for repentance, μετανοια/metanoia, literally means "change of mind."   Faith is always accompanied by repentance, which is a total about face.  The word indicates a turn around.  My study bible says that repentance is a radical change of one's spirit, mind, thought, and heart, a complete reorientation of the whole of one's life.  It is the necessary first step in the way of the LORD.  John is asking for a whole new orientation, a turnaround to the point of view of what it means to await directly the advent of the Messiah.  This repentance is accompanied by the confession of sins and the act of baptism, and is to be followed by a life filled with the fruits worthy of such a change.  John quotes from Isaiah 40:3.

Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.  John dresses in accordance with his ascetic life.  His was one that conformed to the Jewish sects such as the Essenes, who lived in the wilderness and whose purpose was to prepare for the coming Kingdom of God.  He also dresses in ways that suggest a prophet, particularly Elijah (2 Kings 1:8).  The early Church's monastic movement was patterned after John's manner of life.  Confession of sins, my study bible tells us, is essential to baptism under both the Old Covenant and the New.  John's baptism, however, is a sign of repentance and the forgiveness of sins only.  It does not confer the power of total regeneration nor adoption as a child of God as does Christian baptism; baptism with the Spirit awaits Christ, as John indicates in later verses.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"  John addresses the leadership of the temple.  The Sadducees were members of the high-priestly and landowning class who controlled the temple and the internal political affairs of the Jews.  They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and had no messianic hope beyond the present life.  The Pharisees were a lay religious movement.  They focused on the study of Law and on strict observance of its regulations.  They did believe in the resurrection of the dead, and cherished a messianic hope.  But they taught that righteousness is attained on the strength of one's works according to the Law, and that the Messiah would be merely a glorious man, as my study bible puts it.  John's title for these rules, brood of vipers, will later be used by Jesus (12:34; 23:33).  It is indicative of their deception and malice, and is meant to openly suggest being under the influence of Satan.  John openly addresses a kind of spiritual blindness he is emphasizing in his remarks to them; this is another indication in the text that the leadership is unaware of what is coming, the great events unfolding of the Kingdom of God, even that they are unaware of the judgment of God.

"Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." My study bible suggests that repentance, confession, and baptism lead to fruits worthy of repentance, a way of life that is consistent with the Kingdom of God (see Galatians 5:22-25).  It notes that if a fruitful life does not follow, sacramental acts and spiritual disciplines are useless.  John's warning that from these stones (Hebrew 'ebanim) God can raise of up children (Hebrew banim) is a play on words.  God won't admit fruitless children into His house, but will adopt other children from the Gentiles. 

"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."  Christ baptizes in the fire of the Holy Spirit.  That is, the power and grace of God which is divinely poured out on all believers at baptism.  We note also the mention of fire in the verse above in this same context; the work or energies of the Holy Spirit, symbolized by fire, not only create and build fruit, but also purify.   In John's culture, a slave would be the one to carry the sandals of the king.  John here declares himself lower than a slave of Jesus.  His inability to carry the sandals of Christ also has another meaning.  Carrying another person's sandal once meant taking someone else's responsibility (Ruth 4:7).  Here John shows that he could not have carried the responsibility that Christ carries; and that the Law could not redeem the world as Christ has come to do.

John's powerful figure and "fiery" rhetoric make a huge impact in his world.  John is clearly widely regarded as a holy man; even the leadership come out from Jerusalem to be baptized by him.  He wears clothes suggestive of the prophet Elijah, who was prophesied to return before the Messiah (Jesus Himself will say that John was Elijah returned in spirit; see Matthew 11:13-14, Malachi 4:5-6).  Jesus' first disciples will come from among those of John the Baptist.  His figure will cut a lasting impact in Christianity.  Jesus will later say of him, "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (Matthew 11:11).  He still stands as the greatest among the prophets.   He fulfills a prophet's function as Forerunner, the one who foresees the coming of Christ and the Kingdom.  This was in a time when many in Israel awaited the coming Kingdom.  For centuries, wars and occupations and shifting alliances with the great powers surrounding Israel and fighting one another had dominated its history.  Now under Roman occupation, people awaited a Deliverer.  John is the one who foresees the Christ, and prepares the people for Him.  He is the one who sees things in proper perspective, and who knows of the great gift of the Holy Spirit.  He knows the difference that it will make, and the difference between the baptism he can perform and that which Christ will bring.  Do we appreciate the difference?  Do we value this gift?  Are we like the ruling religious classes here, complacent with our roles and satisfied with following the rules?  Do we know the true Spirit of our Church, that fire of love that is God's?   Do we pray for the gift of the fruits of the Spirit, are we aware of His work and fire in our lives, pruning, shaping, purifying, rebirthing, regenerating?  Let us be like John, and keep his vision in our minds and hearts.