John the Baptist was the one preparing the coming of the king. Why do people come to him was because the king was on the way according to his message. "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near v.2"
How shall people prepare also reveal what kind of King was He. John's message was about, "repent"v.2, "prepare" "make his paths straight" v.3, confess v.6, wrath (of God) v.7, and produce fruit to prove your repentance v.8.
There are some different interpretation of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire v.11 (see NET notes), but if you read v.11 read 12 you will see clearly that the fire is for burning up the chaff. (Remember the threshing floor from Ruth?). A winnowing fork was a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blew away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.
Summary : the kingdom of heaven is coming, it requires spiritual changes to prepare oneself for the coming, and there will be a cleansing, purging process when the King comes in. Just going through the ritual is not good enough, which was the misconceptions of the Pharisee and Sadducess, NET notes,
Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus...Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.
The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues.
People need to produce fruit to proves their repentance v.8, and good tree (descendant of Abraham) has needs to bear good fruit (follow the faith of Abraham) v.10.
We know the One that can really please God in v.13-17, “This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight.” In chapter 3, we dont see a lot of discussion about the Kingship of Jesus until now. What makes Him the hope-for-king (Messiah) is not just because He had a pioneer, John the Baptist, but it is because He was the One that God pleases/chooses.
Reflection: Do I just pay lip service to God like the Pharisees and Sadducess? Those will have no use in front of the King who will purging and shifting through His grains. True repentance shows in our lives.
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