John the Baptist looks at a crowd of religious people standing at the Jordan River — people who have made the journey, people who are seeking God, people with the most impressive spiritual pedigree imaginable — and calls them a brood of vipers.
And Luke tells us this is a fulfillment of Isaiah's call to speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
How is that tender? What does John actually mean when he demands fruit in keeping with repentance? And what does this passage say to people who assume their Christian background makes them safe?
This is one of the most searching passages in the New Testament — and it is addressed directly to the church.
