Who here has been in a Christmas Pageant? Or helped your children with their costume for their
role as a lowly shepherd, or made angel wings for the little cherub in your life, or tried to figure
out what myrrh looks like for your daughter the Magi? Christmas Pageants have been a
traditional way of preparing for Christmas. It involves the whole family, reenacts the story of
Jesus’ birth and is a way to sing lots of Christmas carols setting the festive mood. You see the
purpose of the Christmas pageant is to tell the story, embody God’s promise, prepare the way to
open our hearts to receive baby Jesus. Costumes are important. Shepherds have their crook, or
shepherds staff, the wisemen bring gifts, and Mary is almost always draped in blue. In my
church in Westhampton Beach, they went so far as to have live goats and even a llama paraded
into the fellowship hall, all setting the stage for the arrival of Jesus. When we are part of the
story, the story becomes part of us. That is the power of a Christmas Pageant.
We just heard Isaiah’s words about the stump of Jesse, who was David’s father. When we hear
this prophetic message, we instantly think of Jesus who is from the stump of Jesse, whose
ancestral roots trace back to David. But at the time, the person Isaiah was writing about who had
the Spirit of the Lord resting upon him, was not Jesus at all, but King Hezekiah of Judah. Much
of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians as judgement for their horrible treatment of the poor.
God-through-Isaiah wants the people to know why they will be judged. Because they deprive the
needy of justice, rob the poor, plunder widows and orphans (Is.10:1-2) (Working Preacher, Cory
Driver). Under the Assyrians, “Bad governance supported the rich and powerful becoming more
rich and more powerful at the expense of the already poor and marginalized…(Sound familiar?)
(Yet in response, King) Hezekiah stood out because he judged the poor with righteousness and
decided with fairness for the humble of the earth (4). Indeed, righteousness seemed to be the belt
around his hips and faithfulness seemed to cling to him like a belt around his waist (5). (Working
Preacher, Cory Driver). So when Jesus arrives amid the Roman oppression, we can see why
these parallels are made. The people who witnessed Jesus would see him in the role of King
Hezekiah, possessing the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of council and might
ushering in peace between wolf and lamb, calf and lion. And by extension, peace to all the earth.
Now we will hear from Matthew about John the Baptist’s role in preparing the way for the Lord.
But I want us to listen to this familiar passage with different ears. Ears like the people of Jesus’
time who might experience this moment much like a Christmas pageant with familiar characters
assuming important roles in telling the story of salvation history. READ Matthew 3:1-12.
This year we will study Matthew’s gospel, the first in the New Testament and the one written to
a Jewish audience. Matthew quotes the Old Testament more than the other gospels, with 124
citations and allusions to the sacred texts of the Jewish community. Jesus is the fulfillment of
these texts and prophecies. So, when we listen to the account of John the Baptist it is sort of like
hearing the Christmas Pageant, but I think they would call it a Messiah Pageant. There are three
characters in this pageant, Isaiah, Elijah and Abraham, all key figures in the sacred texts.
Matthew is telling the story of John the Baptist within the story of these familiar characters. Oh,
John was real and played an important role in the coming of Christ, but way the story is told has
overtones to an ancient story the people already know. If you will, it is like watching Wicked,
while already having seen the Wizard of Oz a million times. We know the story backwards and
forwards but then are introduced to it in a new way.
Before we get into the characters, I need to set the stage. John is in the wilderness, recalling
Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness. It was “a place of danger and testing, but also the place where
Israel was formed, where God’s provision and care was demonstrated, and the people grew ready
for God’s promises” (Working Preacher, Stanley Saunders). So if the setting is the wilderness,
the lighting is all about repentance. John calls everyone to repent, to turn away from the old and
follow God into the new, for the kin-dom of heaven is near.
Quoting Isaiah gives John the credibility of the premier prophet and his words have weight.
John is the one crying out in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. It is almost like we
have a voice over from Isaiah, so that all his rich prophecies abide within John. Like the one we
read about the Spirit of the Lord resting upon him. The images of peace, and the promised sign
of a maiden bearing a son named Immanuel (Is. 7:14). Isaiah words provide that!
Now we are getting to John’s costume, oh sorry, clothing. He wore camel’s hair with a leather
belt. A bit odd, until we understand that that is the costume of Elijah. The food of locust and
wild honey also harkens to Elijah. So, John’s costume of camel’s hair and leather belt give him
the stature of Elijah. Elijah is the one who faced all the prophets of Baal and won, the one who
appears with Moses and the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. His message is clear, people
are forgetting God and there is a need for repentance. All of that would be communicated by
John’s clothing. This is shaping up to be a wonderful Messiah Pageant.
The religious leaders were hiding behind Abraham when John challenges them to repent.
Abraham was the father of the Jewish people. But the Pharisees and Sadducees want to play the
old trump card, WE are righteous, so WE do not need to repent. To that John calls them a
“brood of vipers!” Then we get the ax lying next to the tree that reminds me of Washington
chopping down the cherry tree. But for John those who do not bear good fruit, will be chopped
down. “Bear fruit worthy of repentance” he says. Fruit that deals with life honestly, that looks
out for the poor, that does the right thing and follows the way of Jesus. One commentator writes,
“Biblical repentance is not simply a matter of remorse for past sins and shortcomings; much
more, it is a turning around, the taking on of a new set of values, a new perspective towards life,
a new way of living. Even more, repentance is a matter of embracing a whole new identity as the
people of God, recognizing that something radically new is unfolding and that you and I have
significant roles to play as participants in the story” (Sermons.com Joel D. Kline).
Now that we have set the stage, understand the characters and costumes, we are ready for action.
John baptizes with water for repentance preparing us to follow the way of Christ. Preparing us
for the coming of the Messiah. Preparing us to receive a little baby. John introduces the main
character, the one more powerful than John. The one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and
fire. John introduces Jesus, but Jesus does not yet make an entrance into the story. But did you
notice the way Jesus is introduced is through baptism?
Through baptism we join the family of faith. Through baptism, we become part of the body of
Christ. Through baptism we join the cast of characters. Baptism is the WAY we become part of
the salvation story. So as we wait for the arrival of Jesus as Matthew tells the story or today in
the 21 st century awaiting Jesus’s birth, may we all lean into the part we have to play in this
Christmas narrative. Letting go of the things that keep us from God and be willing to repent by
turning away from selfish things and turning towards God. The fruit of repentance comes when
we surrender to God and see our need for grace. John offered that through baptism. We receive
that through Jesus Christ.
So when the curtain comes down on this Christmas Pageant, “will you move into this Advent
season in hope and in the sure confidence that fruit is yet to come, that God will yet do a new
thing among us? Promises are always a matter of hope. And to hear God’s promise again in this
“one who is coming” is to be called to repentance and so empowered to rethink, to re-imagine, and to reorder our lives by the power of God’s presence” (Working Preacher, James Boyce).
