#2nd advent

Ich wünsche euch allen einen schönen 2. Advent

Not everyone who came to the river was seeking renewal and Elijah. 7 When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Historically, in the Judaism of Jesus’ time, the Pharisees and Sadducees were opposing religious parties, unlikely to work together. Matthew is not reporting the facts of an…

The Greek for “repent” (metanoeo) means, “to change one’s mind.” However, given Matthew’s emphasis on “bearing fruit,” his idea of “repentance” probably goes back to the Hebrew shuv — “to change one’s ways.” It involves more than just thinking in a different way. The word “Repent” is really a command, and is in the present tense, which denotes continual or repeated actions, i.e., “Keep on…

Luke introduces the ministry of John the Baptist with a careful historical introduction listing the year, the emperor, the rulers of the surrounding territories, and the high priest who was in office. Matthew introduces John’s ministry with a very general, “in those days.” The point is not that Matthew was unaware of the interval of about thirty years that he is passing over. Rather, his purpose…

Did John seem to understand that the end-time was at hand? Or were his actions done in anticipation of the arrival of the Messiah and the inauguration of a new era?  Or was he fulfilling the role of the prophet to call people to the covenant now in anticipation of the unknown coming of the promised Messiah? These are questions about how John saw himself and his role in God’s plans.  If there is…

1 In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea 2 (and) saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:  “A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’”  4 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food…

A new section of Matthew begins at Mt 3:1. From Jesus’ infancy we jump several decades in time.  Without warning or preparation, John the Baptist appears in the wilderness preaching not (as in Mark 1:4) a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” but rather repentance, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 3:2). This is also different from Luke’s gospel in which we follow the…