day.’ Like the description of John’s clothing, it was probably meant to highlight the fact that he appeared as a strange, wild man, living in a way that said, ‘It’s time for a change! Ordinary days are gone—a new age is just about to begin!’ That was the point, of course. We sometimes think of ‘repentance’ as being about going back: going back, wearily, to the place you went wrong, finally making a clean breast of it, and then hoping you can start again. Well, that may be how it feels sometimes,