December 12, 2021 Advent 3
First Lesson: Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
Second Lesson: Luke 3:7-18
7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”10 And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.
This Advent has been a bit different. Jim and I preached on the same passage two weeks in a row, with very divergent interpretations. Now we just read two weeks of gospel lessons; the continuing story of John the Baptist. Historically, I have struggled with writing two separate sermons on John, so this year I am taking a big picture view of who John is and what we are to learn from him. This might have grown out of our Bible study on John last week. I asked the group, “What do you know about John the Baptist?” I was expecting honey and locus, fire and brimstone, a wilderness prophet. Here is what I heard, John was a relative of Jesus, he baptized Jesus, and he was beheaded by Herod. There is a funny youth group story that goes along with that, but you will need to ask Jane Odell. We tried to sum him up in a bumper sticker “The Herald of Jesus.” As we just heard there is much more to John.
Certainly, this is a “Come to Jesus” text (pun intended) with John calling the crowd “a brood of vipers” reminding them their actions have consequences. So true. Yet I am a firm believer that carrots work better than sticks. Consider parenting, children can be kept inline with punishment and fear, but at some point, teaching right from wrong and the satisfaction of living by values is so much more affective. The carrot of a job well done, and a life well lived, motivates exponentially better than fear. I believe that is true when it comes to faith as well. I would much rather come to an inviting and loving God than to be terrified of God and follow out of fear. So as I looked at this longer narrative about John five blessings emerged. I call them the Baptist blessings: Fulfillment, Repentance, Forgiveness, Direction and Peace. Five blessings that will help us draw closer to our God as we await the birth of our Savior.
The Blessing of Fulfillment- John the Baptist came in a moment in history, noted by all the leaders, Tiberius, Pilate, Herod. The advent of John, around AD 27, marks the beginning of a prophesy fulfilled and quoted. Isaiah wrote, “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.’” John had been in the wilderness most of his life. Earlier we read, “The child [John] grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel” (Luke 1:80). Even John’s father Zechariah declared, “And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High. For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins (1:76-77). John is the fulfillment of prophesies from both the old and new covenants. He is the threshold figure, the prophet standing in the gap between the Hebrew prophets of old and the promised prophet to come, Jesus (Working Preacher Michal Beth Dinkler). But that is also why John goes to great lengths to tell us he is not the Messiah. Yes, he is favored by God, but he is unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals, because Jesus truly is the anointed one.
The Blessing of Repentance- John gets fired up about repentance! John enters the wilderness proclaiming, “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (3). Repentance requires action. Repentance, metanoia, literally means to change one’s mind; to turn. It is a significant theme in Luke, signaling a new or renewed relationship with God (Luke 13:3; 16:30) (Working Preacher, Audrey West). John spells out what repentance looks like: when peoples’ hearts and minds are changed, their actions change too. They and we bear fruit worthy of repentance (8). And if we don’t, John threatens fruitless trees will be chopped down and throne into the fire. We are back to fire and brimstone. The blessing here is God’s invitation for us to turn away from sin and re-turn to God. To do the things that re-orient our lives toward our God. One commentator writes, “Repentance actualizes the gift of forgiveness that is already offered by God. (WP Audrey West)
The Blessing of Forgiveness- Repentance is all about what we do. Forgiveness is all about what God does. What God does best, is love us! God sent Jesus into the world, born of his mother Mary so that we might know God’s love. So that our powerful and holy God becomes as real as a baby holding your finger, and as joyful as a toddler’s infectious laugh. So that even when we make a mistake, we know we are not a mistake, because we are showered with grace and forgiven by God. Forgiveness is a blessing because we cannot earn it. It is a gift, one given my Jesus over 2,000 years ago on the cross. A gift we celebrate and hold dear as we anticipate Christ’s birth and live in the blessing of forgiveness.
The Blessing of Direction- Once John tells the crowd what for about repenting, they rightly respond with the question, “What then should we do?” (10,12,14). John gives concrete ethical direction to those gathered. John speaks to temptations inherent to each group-particularly that of grasping after “more” at the expense of others. A temptation that is familiar enough today. To the presumably poor crowds: John says, “Share.” To the tax collectors, “Be fair.” To soldiers, “Don’t bully.” One commentator writes, “Do you own two shirts? You have more than you need. Do you have food? Give some away. He leaves no wiggle room for those who might be tempted to say, “But I’m not rich.” The command is absolute: some people in your community don’t have enough to survive, so if you have anything at all, share it” (Working Preacher, Judith Jones). John blesses us with direction in how to respond to forgiveness.
The Blessing of Peace We have heard the blessings of fulfillment, repentance, forgiveness, and direction. Finally, we arrive at the blessing of Peace. Baptismal Peace. John the Baptist, baptized with water. But Jesus, the one coming after John, will baptize with the Holy Spirit. You and I have been given peace through our baptism in Christ, our baptism in God’s love, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We, like the crowd, are expectant of a Messiah. But we already live in the peace of baptism, our spiritual connection to our Lord. We need not fear the consuming fire, of which John speaks, save for how it helps to refine us into God’s own image. “George MacDonald, whom C.S. Lewis credited with baptizing his imagination, meditated at length on the idea that God’s love is a consuming fire. He taught that God’s mercy and God’s justice are not opposites, but one and the same: “When we say that God is Love, do we teach (people) that their fear of Him is groundless? No. As much as they fear will come upon them, possibly far more … The wrath will consume what they call themselves; so that the selves God made shall appear … ” (George MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons) (Working Preacher, Judith Jones). As we await the arrival of Jesus, may we have confidence in our baptismal peace to overcome the fires, the trials, the hardships. May we hold fast to the love of God and peace we have in Christ. May we welcome the selves God has made as they appear.
The good news is that God sends One who is more powerful than John, with gifts greater than the crowd can imagine. This Messiah brings a baptism of spirit and of fire: the very breath and power of God to change everything, including us! That is very good news, indeed. (Working Preacher, Audrey West).
