It may seem unreligious to talk about bodies, but God makes them, sustains them, and resurrects them. For him bodies are something holy, whether the body of Jesus, or yours, or mine--and it's beginning to look as though God can't quite tell the difference.
"A pile of rocks ceases to be a pile a rocks when someone has a cathedral in mind" (Antoine de Saint-Exupery). When Jesus first laid eyes on his would-be disciples he didn't see a pile of rocks, he saw the beginnings of a cathedral, a church.
“What shall we do?” That’s what the people asked John so long ago. Ultimately, it’s a question only you can answer.
John the Baptist tells these tax collectors, soldiers, and private citizens that the glorious fruits of repentance include much that is ordinary. They are to cease from extortion, bullying, and grumbling about money. They are to share with the destitute their surplus clothing and food.
Now, had Jesus stopped there and accepted the praise of his elders, the story would have a happy ending. But Jesus brought up two examples of how God pours out his love in ways we don't appreciate.
The story of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus offers us guidance in staying focused on the important things, together in community. We need to hear Jesus ask everyday: "What things?" "What things are the important things?"
What John the Baptist should have done is to tell a joke. “Jesus is coming soon… And is he ever ticked!”
Whenever you see the Paschal Lamb portrayed, it's anything but a young lamb frolicking in the meadow; it's a mature lamb with horns, standing erect with head held high, looking you in the eye, holding a staff by its right leg with a victory banner waving in the breeze.
John calls them a “brood of vipers”. Not the ideal way to warm up a crowd. But John is a prophet and he knows things that others don’t know - that these people who say they want baptism live like snakes living under rocks.
We are one with those whom Jesus came to save, with the poor and captive, the blind and oppressed. We need to hear over and over again the good news of the Lord's favor upon us. We are not saved by who we are or what we have done, but by the blood of Jesus Christ shed for us on the cross.