Contemplative Bible Reading

Matthew 3:1–2 (New Living Translation)

1 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

John the Baptist is preaching. (Trivia note—this is the first time that the word “preach” appears in the Bible…depending of course on what translation you read.)

John the Baptist is one of the more famous preachers of all time. There is something to his name and title that seems to ring in English.

What’s the sermon? About eight words that encourage us to turn away from the world and towards God.

What can we add? Hmmm, I’m struggling to find an answer to that question. There isn’t much to add. Of course this brings us to question all those sermons we’ve heard that were longer than eight words and didn’t deliver much of anything, but again, they weren’t from John the Baptist.