This is a monologue / narrative sermon based on Matthew 3:1–12. It’s told from the point of view of an anonymous man.
James and I grew up in Nazareth. We were best friends; inseparable; always getting into scrapes together.
One Sabbath, at the synagogue, we crept up behind Rabbi Cohen and tied the tassels on his shawl together. We nearly got away with it too, but then he leaned forward in his prayers when we weren’t expecting it and he felt the tug from behind. He was furious. Of course we said we were sorry but, the truth be told, we were only sorry that we got caught!
Rabbi Cohen would say, [grandiose] “Repentance is like the sea: one can bathe in it at any time.” [wry] Except that in the case of our sorry sinful state, our repentance had to be there and then. It had to satisfy him. James and I hated him for that.
It seemed that Rabbi Cohen always wanted us turn away from something good, or else face something bad. It felt like a pretty miserable deal so you can guess how much repenting James and I have done since we grew up.
Continue reading Two Boys From Nazareth (a sketch about John the Baptist’s ministry) →