St. John the Baptist doesn’t care about words! And yet he was listened and had great authority, because he confirmed his words with the testimony of his own life.
Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit also confirms his words, by giving them a power of conviction that no human words had a power by itself. People were aware that they were standing before the prophet, that John was fulfilling a mission commissioned by God Himself. Very important was what he preached and the power with which he did it. Therefore, crowds flocked to him from afar, even though his words were certainly not flattery. But the truth, even when it is hard, is more attractive than empty flattery.
The Jews did not understand the essence of their faith or the heritage of Abraham. They considered the mere fact of belonging to the Jewish nation, and thus to the descendants of Abraham, to be a sufficient guarantee of salvation, and even a reason to be proud and a title to various privileges.
Meanwhile, the descent from Abraham not only does not determine anything, but also obliges. Abraham was justified on the basis of his radical and unconditional faith. Abraham’s inheritance is above all a commitment to faith, to total trust and obedience to God. Many understood and fulfilled this, but there were also those who considered this noble vocation and the dignity of the child of Abraham as circumstances exempting them from personal efforts of faith for the sake of external appearances of religious life.
This is why John the Baptist placed so much emphasis on the authenticity of conversion. It was the only chance to return to God. If even this act were to be reduced to formalities and appearances, then there would be no salvation left for a man. And the conversion will be authentic if it bears fruit in the form of a change of life attitude. Baptism with water was only a sign of repentance: it expressed the desire of man to lead his life differently. The baptism of Christ announced by John was supposed to have and has a real power of purification: if a man with humility and faith humbles himself before Jesus, then the action of the Holy Spirit, like fire, will cleanse us of human weaknesses and faults, and make us perfect before God.