As we discovered in the previous post, when John appeared along the Jordan River, calling people to be baptized, he wasn’t inventing something new. Ritual washing was already woven into Jewish life. From the Temple mikva’ot in Jerusalem to the purifying baths found in nearly every Galilean village, immersions were familiar acts of cleansing – acts that symbolized a person’s desire to approach God with purity.
But John’s baptism was different. He took a familiar ritual and reoriented it – not around the Temple, not under priestly oversight, but around a message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). What had long been an act of purification became a call to transformation.
A Baptism Outside the System
In the first century, ritual washings were part of the rhythm of faith. These washings – tevilah in Hebrew – were repeated again and again as needed. They prepared one externally for worship, but didn’t change the heart.
John’s setting was the first sign that something new was happening. He wasn’t at the Temple. He wasn’t officiating under the watchful eye of priests. He was out in the wilderness – at the Jordan, the river that once marked Israel’s entry into the Promised Land. There, at the symbolic border of new beginnings, he called people not to repeat a ritual, but to prepare for a divine encounter.
Repentance: More Than Regret
John’s call was simple yet seismic: “Repent.” The Greek word metanoia literally means “to change one’s mind,” but it carries far more than intellectual reconsideration. In Hebrew thought, repentance – teshuvah – means turning around.
There is an order to repentance. Before one can turn around and change direction, they must first come to a realization that they might, in fact, be going the wrong way – a change of mind.. What did the people have to change their minds about? About God? About His nature? About their role as God’s kingdom people? About justice and mercy?
Turns out, the first-century Jewish people had a lot to change their minds about. Likely that’s why John (and later, Jesus) called the religious leaders a brood of vipers (Matthew 3:7, Matthew 12:34). The religious leaders (priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, zealots, etc.) were actually leading people away from God by misrepresenting his character, relying on their own national ideologies.
John’s message of repentance wasn’t merely to feel sorry or guilty. It meant rethinking about God, His character, and especially the nature of His kingdom…
…because it was breaking in!
Preparing the Way
John’s ministry echoed the words of Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’” (Isaiah 40:3).
To “prepare the way” meant to ready the heart for God’s arrival. Just as ancient workers leveled roads for a coming king, John’s preaching cleared the inner landscape – removing obstacles of pride, hypocrisy, and indifference.
His baptism was a symbol of readiness. Those stepping into the Jordan weren’t simply washing away ritual impurity; they were acknowledging their need for renewal and pledging themselves to hear a new narrative.
This is why tax collectors and soldiers came, confessing their sins (Luke 3:10–14). It’s why Pharisees, used to controlling religious access, bristled at John’s independent authority (Matthew 3:7–9). John’s message cut through social boundaries and religious assumptions. He was leveling the ground for the coming King.
The Wilderness as God’s Classroom
I suspect the wilderness wasn’t accidental. Throughout Israel’s story, God met His people in desolate places – calling them out of comfort to confront their need. From Moses’ encounter at the burning bush to Israel’s forty years of wandering, the wilderness was where God stripped away illusion and invited trust. 1
By situating his baptism there, John was signaling a return to dependence on God. The wilderness was a place of renewal and recalibration – a spiritual reset for those willing to leave old thinking behind.
And the Jordan itself carried deep memory. This was the river Joshua crossed when Israel finally entered the land of promise (Joshua 3). To stand in those waters again was to reenact a moment of covenant renewal – to step forward in faith toward God’s future.
A Radical Message in Familiar Waters
So when John called Israel to the Jordan, he wasn’t rejecting tradition – he was fulfilling it. He transformed an external practice into an internal awakening, a ceremonial act into an ethical summons, and a repeated ritual into a watershed moment.
John’s baptism didn’t cleanse in order to make one fit for Temple sacrifice; it cleansed to make one ready to meet the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
And that was radical.
The Heart of the Matter
Repentance, then, was not a demand to do better but an invitation to be changed. It was not a self-improvement program but a surrender to God’s transformative work.
The act of entering the water symbolized death to the old self and emergence into new life. It prefigured the deeper baptism Jesus would later offer – baptism with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8), an inner renewal only God could accomplish.
John’s message pressed toward that truth. “I baptize you with water for repentance,” he said, “but after me comes one who is more powerful than I… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).
The familiar act pointed beyond itself – to a greater cleansing, a truer renewal, a living relationship with the King Himself.
A Call That Still Echoes
John’s voice still echoes across the centuries. In a world that often substitutes religious performance for heart change, his message calls us back to the Jordan – to the place of turning, of release, of preparation.
Repentance remains the doorway to encounter. It is the act of aligning our hearts with God’s kingdom and making room for His reign.
- I think of a statement credited to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: “It took one day to take the Israelites out of Egypt, but forty years to take Egypt out of the Israelites.” ↩︎
Practical Theology Today 