Read Matthew 3:1-12 with your family.

On the second and third Sundays of Advent we spend time with John the Baptist. In the Gospel of Luke, we are told Jesus and John are cousins, but there is no story telling us that in the Gospel of Matthew. If we go by what Matthew says, they two men did not know each other in person, just by reputation.

In this story John comes into Jerusalem ready to tell people about the Messiah – which means the “anointed” one, or chosen one who will rescue them from their sad situation under Roman occupation. The people who had power in the Hebrew community of Jerusalem, namely Pharisees and Sadducees, did not want John to deliver his message, so they tried to shut him down. John got really mad at them and called them a “brood of vipers”, which means a group of poisonous snakes.

John was trying to tell them that no matter how rich they were or what kind of power they had in the temple or with the Roman government, they would be judged by their behaviour and how much they follow the teachings of love and sharing that John was teaching.

John knew Jesus would be coming to teach everyone about the way God wanted them to live, and giving excuses that they worked for the temple did not matter at all.