Preparing for next week
Luke 3:10-18 Someone is coming who will baptise you
with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered,
‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none,
and the one with something to eat must do the same.’
There were tax collectors too who came for baptism,
and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’
He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’
Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’
He said to them, ‘No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!’
A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people,
who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ,
so John declared before them all,
‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming,
someone who is more powerful than I am,
and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals;
he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing-fan is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor
and to gather the wheat into his barn;
but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.’
As well as this, there were many other things he said
to exhort the people and to announce the Good News to them.
This the gospel of the Lord
Copyright © 1996-2021 Universalis Publishing Limited: see www.universalis.com. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved.
John may have lived in the desert but he was wise to the wiles of the world.
He tailored his answers to those who asked, "What must we do?"
- What would be John's tailored answer to you, your family, your faith community if he were alive today? (Share)
- What might John the Baptist challenge you to do differently in your life?