(When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
In Jesus’ discussion of who John the Baptist was, Luke included a bit of commentary, often shown within parenthesis. In his commentary, Luke described two groups of people. One group included those who followed Jesus, including even despised tax collectors. The other group was composed of the Pharisees and lawyers (scribes or experts in the law).
Luke distinguishes these two groups in two other ways. One concerned the baptism of John. The crowd had been baptized by John, but the Pharisees and lawyers had not. The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance (Luke 3:3), which divided the two groups between those who had repented and those who had not.
The other way that Luke described these two groups was between those who declared God just and those who rejected the purpose of God for themselves. Those who had repented had declared that God’s way was right, that God was just. But those who refused to repent had rejected God’s purpose for them.
What was God’s purpose for them? Jesus said that his purpose in coming was to preach the good news of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43). God’s purpose is that we repent and be a part of his kingdom.
The same two divisions exist between people today. Some, like the crowd following Jesus, will accept God’s purpose for themselves, repent, and come into the kingdom of God. Others, like the Pharisees, will choose to reject God’s purpose for themselves, refuse to repent, and will remain in darkness. Which group are you in?
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