Luke 3:7-18 Isaiah 12:2-6
We are all familiar with Luke’s introduction of John the Baptist as the prophet come to fulfill Isaiah’s vision and announce the coming of the Messiah.
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
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;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
It finally seems like we have a scripture that match the
spirit of the day. What could be more joyful
than the coming of salvation for all?
Those would have been the thoughts of some who heard the
news of John’s proclamation. They had
waited a long time for the Messiah to come and finally their faith was being
vindicated. Israel would rise again and
salvation would come for all. It must
have made them want to sing with prophets: “I will fear disaster no more, for
God is my strength! I shall rejoice and
exult with all my heart for the Lord has taken away the judgments against me,
and I shall draw water from the wells of salvation with joy!”
It kind of makes me want to sing too … at least until I get
to the verses that actually tell us John’s message, and then I feel out of
place again as I hear his harsh
words of judgment and repentance. “You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? . . . Even now the axe 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.” It’s not exactly
a message that we find reflected in the holiday movies and cards that flood
into our homes at this time of the year, and it doesn’t really get us into the
Christmas Spirit. What we really want to
hear is Tiny Tim’s “God bless us everyone” so that we can sail on toward the
birth of the salvation with the carefree wind of grace filling our sails, but
John has some important things to say about salvation.
So what do with do with the John’s call to “bear fruits worthy of repentance?” He wasn’t holding an emotional altar call as
he stood there thigh-high in the waters of the river Jordan. He wasn’t satisfied with an internal
change. He was calling for a fundamental
change of the heart, soul, mind, and … way of life. True repentance, for John, bore fruit in the
lives of the faithful as they patterned their living after the God who sought
to “save the lame, gather the outcast, and transform shame into praise.” And the stakes are high, for every tree that
does not bear this kind of fruit will be “cut down and thrown into the fire.”
The stakes are
high because the hope that John was proclaiming is more than just an individual
salvation. It embraces all flesh not
just by being available to all, but by bringing about a transformation in the
world. With the advent of the Messiah,
the Kingdom of God had drawn near, and that is a realm where everyone lives out
of such love and compassion that justice and mercy are the norm rather than the
exception.
John’s vision
challenged the faith of those that gathered to listen to his preaching just as
it challenges us. And when we stop to
consider what he is asking of us, our response is the same today as it was for
those in the crowd 2,000 years ago: “What then shall we do?”
Elizabeth Myer
Boulton suggests that we start with where we are….
“’Tis the season of mobbed malls, credit card debt, to-do lists,
dysfunctional relatives and pants that used to fit. How can we slow down? How
can we simplify? How can we start “turning around” when we Americans [spent upward
of $560 billion on Christmas last year]?[1]
John’s answer is simple: “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Yet it’s not so simple. I don’t know about you, but I have more than one coat. I have more than two, actually, and something deep down inside of me doesn’t buy it when, in an impressive gesture of Christian generosity, I drop off a coat or two (one that no longer fits and one that I no longer like) at the Salvation Army.
John’s preaching cuts like an ax to the bone. Jesus is no picnic either. Can you see him, standing among baskets of leftover bread and fish? “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Can you hear him, counseling not only that rich young ruler but you and me? “Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”[2]
John’s answer is simple: “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Yet it’s not so simple. I don’t know about you, but I have more than one coat. I have more than two, actually, and something deep down inside of me doesn’t buy it when, in an impressive gesture of Christian generosity, I drop off a coat or two (one that no longer fits and one that I no longer like) at the Salvation Army.
John’s preaching cuts like an ax to the bone. Jesus is no picnic either. Can you see him, standing among baskets of leftover bread and fish? “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Can you hear him, counseling not only that rich young ruler but you and me? “Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”[2]
We struggle to
find the time and energy to reach out to others. At the best of times, our lives are hectic …
filled with all the things that we have to do:
things that just have to be done … and really good things that we do because
our faith calls us to them. In the midst
of the holiday season, it’s even more of a strain to even think about anything
but getting through all of our preparations.
And that’s where
the axe really cuts (as Boulton put it) … because the salvation that we are
offered is not a once in a while thing.
We are called to be part of it every day … every day. Every day we should be sharing our food and
handing out clothing. Every day we
should be visiting with the lonely and despairing among us. Every day we should seeking out those who
have wronged us, offering forgiveness, and working at reconciliation. Every day we should be striving toward the
Kingdom of love and peace.
It’s exhausting …
physically, mentally, and spiritually … even thinking about it. And it’s even more challenging when we know
that all of our best intentions … our best efforts will not be enough to
transform the world.
But … you know …
that’s not really ours to worry about.
We are not called to change the whole world. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. We are only called to be a part of the transformation
… to reach out as often as we can and bring a small part of the promised
salvation into one other life. And as
tired as we are … as despairing as we can become, the beauty of the Advent
season is that we get another chance to start anew. We get to lay down the burden for just a
moment and celebrate the promise and the hope that empowers and encourages
us. We get to charge up on joy and
excitement as we look forward to another year of preparing the way for the One
whose coming is changing things.
You know, I remember, … when I met
[Abraham Heschel] in Washington, D.C., and saw a tired, bedraggled [man], who
had spent his day lobbying against the war in Vietnam, I felt that somehow it
wasn't worth his dignity to knock on the doors of those congressmen. He should
be in his study thinking great thoughts, writing great books. It was a total
contradiction of what I had felt a few months earlier, but it was a sign of
Heschel's greatness that he knew he should be in the study and he should be on
the streets and life was too short to do all of them all the time, but he would
do the best he could. And that taught me something I'll never forget.[3]
The best we can to give food to the hungry.
The best we can to give shelter and clothing to the cold and homeless.
The best we can to welcome the stranger at our door.
The best we can to live faithful lives filled with the joy of salvation found in the promise of the Christ child and shared with others.
When we do that … when we give our best, our
worries often seem to fall away, and we are freed to enter more truly into the
salvation we crave … into the Kingdom of peace and joy.
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