Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him. The response to John's preaching is remarkable: Jerusalem and all Judea stream out to the wilderness to hear him. The religious center comes to the margins; the city empties toward the desert. This reversal anticipates the whole of Matthew's gospel: the insiders come to the margins where the action is, while many of those who should have been most ready resist. Luke 7:29–30 records that all the people and even the tax collectors justified God by being baptized with John's baptism, but the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves. The wilderness draw is the draw of genuine authority — the crowds recognize what the institutions do not.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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