Advent
3 – 13 December 2015 - Year C
Grace
to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The
text for our meditation is our Gospel reading for today Luke 3: Verses 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.
Let
us pray: Father, guide the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts,
that your word of truth may speak clearly to us and show us the way to eternal
salvation through Jesus the true Messiah. Amen
John
the Baptiser, witness, forerunner, way-preparer. He came in the wilderness to
prepare people for the coming of Christ. John was a prophet, different from
preceding prophets though, he had one foot in the old covenant, and one foot in
the new. John was the plough, cutting through the hard pack of opinion, turning
over the soil of people’s hearts to make them ready for the Messiah. John was
just the beginning - the dawn before the daylight, the appetiser to the main
course. John was the prelude, Jesus was the theme. “He must increase,” John
said. “And I must decrease.” That’s true for each of us too.
John was a preacher who didn’t pull punches. John had nothing to lose. He wasn’t on anyone’s pay roll. He didn’t aspire to high synodical office. He didn’t have a wife and kids to feed. He didn’t own a house or have to pay a mortgage. He lived on honey-coated grasshoppers; his suit of camel’s hide lasted a lifetime. John was, for all intents and purposes, utterly dead to the world, and therefore, utterly free. He was free to tell the cutting truth.
Large crowds came out to John to be baptised. A good religious show always draws people in. People are always drawn to the new, the odd, the weird. People who otherwise wouldn’t set foot in an established church, will check out a new, non-traditional church, especially if the preacher puts on a good show. People flocked to John to be baptised by him. John’s baptism was something new; but John wasn’t exactly a welcoming evangelist extending the friendly hand to the masses. He calls them a “bunch of snakes,” a brood of vipers trying to slither out of bad situation.
What John saw was a bunch of religious hypocrites looking for cheap words of affirmation, and he exposed them. “Bear fruit fitting repentance.” Don’t start prattling about how you’re a relative of Abraham or how you grew up in a nice Jewish family and how religion has always had a “really special place in your life.” John couldn’t care less. If God wants children of Abraham, He can raise children of Abraham out of a pile of rocks; but as for the crowds, time was running out. The axe was already striking a blow at the root - chopping - ready to cut down every tree that doesn’t produce. To hell with it, cut it down and use it for firewood.
Amazingly, the people actually put up with this stuff. Does that surprise you? It surprises me. I always figure that people hear enough bad news as it is. Why on earth would anyone go out to a grasshopper eating wild man who calls you a bunch of snakes and tells you to clean up your act before it’s too late? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised; some of the most popular forms of religion today are the strictest and most demanding. The tougher they are, the more popular they are in the mind of some: The more legalistic, the more popular.
The people even pleaded for guidance. “What should we do?” they asked John; and he told them what to do. If you have two tunics, give the extra one to someone who doesn’t have one. If you have extra food, give it to someone who is hungry. When tax collectors asked John what they were supposed to do, they probably expected him to say, “Stop collecting taxes for Rome”; but instead, John told them to collect only the tax they were supposed to collect and no more. When soldiers came, they too probably expected John to tell them, “Put down your spears, turn your swords into ploughshares, give up soldiering”; but instead, John speaks basic ‘Ten Commandments’ type ethics. “Don’t extort money, don’t accuse people falsely, be content with your pay check.”
John was a preacher who didn’t pull punches. John had nothing to lose. He wasn’t on anyone’s pay roll. He didn’t aspire to high synodical office. He didn’t have a wife and kids to feed. He didn’t own a house or have to pay a mortgage. He lived on honey-coated grasshoppers; his suit of camel’s hide lasted a lifetime. John was, for all intents and purposes, utterly dead to the world, and therefore, utterly free. He was free to tell the cutting truth.
Large crowds came out to John to be baptised. A good religious show always draws people in. People are always drawn to the new, the odd, the weird. People who otherwise wouldn’t set foot in an established church, will check out a new, non-traditional church, especially if the preacher puts on a good show. People flocked to John to be baptised by him. John’s baptism was something new; but John wasn’t exactly a welcoming evangelist extending the friendly hand to the masses. He calls them a “bunch of snakes,” a brood of vipers trying to slither out of bad situation.
What John saw was a bunch of religious hypocrites looking for cheap words of affirmation, and he exposed them. “Bear fruit fitting repentance.” Don’t start prattling about how you’re a relative of Abraham or how you grew up in a nice Jewish family and how religion has always had a “really special place in your life.” John couldn’t care less. If God wants children of Abraham, He can raise children of Abraham out of a pile of rocks; but as for the crowds, time was running out. The axe was already striking a blow at the root - chopping - ready to cut down every tree that doesn’t produce. To hell with it, cut it down and use it for firewood.
Amazingly, the people actually put up with this stuff. Does that surprise you? It surprises me. I always figure that people hear enough bad news as it is. Why on earth would anyone go out to a grasshopper eating wild man who calls you a bunch of snakes and tells you to clean up your act before it’s too late? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised; some of the most popular forms of religion today are the strictest and most demanding. The tougher they are, the more popular they are in the mind of some: The more legalistic, the more popular.
The people even pleaded for guidance. “What should we do?” they asked John; and he told them what to do. If you have two tunics, give the extra one to someone who doesn’t have one. If you have extra food, give it to someone who is hungry. When tax collectors asked John what they were supposed to do, they probably expected him to say, “Stop collecting taxes for Rome”; but instead, John told them to collect only the tax they were supposed to collect and no more. When soldiers came, they too probably expected John to tell them, “Put down your spears, turn your swords into ploughshares, give up soldiering”; but instead, John speaks basic ‘Ten Commandments’ type ethics. “Don’t extort money, don’t accuse people falsely, be content with your pay check.”
We don’t need a wilderness prophet to tell us those things. We learn these things from our mother or in Kindergarten, or Sunday School; share your stuff; be honest; don’t bully others; do a good job and be happy you have one.
My initial thought was that I expected a bit more ‘hellfire and brimstone’ from John along the lines of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. John’s law sounds like a yappy toy poodle next to Jesus’ Doberman. Things like, don’t defame your brother or harbour hatred in your heart: don’t even think of looking at a pretty woman who isn’t your wife. If someone takes your tunic give him the shirt off your back. If your enemy strikes you on one cheek, present the other one to him for good measure, and then bless him and pray for him and love him and do good for him. What should you do? Be perfect, as your Father in heaven, is perfect. Now that’s real ‘hellfire and brimstone’ law!
Friends in Christ, as I said at the beginning, John was the warm up act; Jesus was the main event. John was preparing the way for the coming of Jesus. In his own not-so-subtle way; John was reprogramming their expectations. People were waiting anxiously, expectantly, for the coming of the messiah. Some even thought that John himself might be the messiah. The expectation of the day was that the messiah would come as a great military, political, and religious figure who would purify the priesthood, restore the glory to the temple, kick out the Roman army and their tax agents, and put Israel back on the map. In many ways the attitude of the basic Israelite toward Rome is much like many Afghans and Iraqis toward the allied troops. Thanks for the ‘protection’, the plumbing and the roads, now go home and leave us alone.
John’s father Zechariah seemed to have this idea of the messiah. When John was born, Zechariah sang this psalm: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for He has come to redeem His people. He has raised up for us a horn of salvation…salvation from our enemies and from the hand of those who hate us.”
Even gentle Mary in her Magnificat betrays more than a hint of military force: “He has shown the strength of His arm, He has scattered the proud in their conceit; He has brought down the mighty from the thrones, and has lifted up the humble.”
You see, this idea about the messiah was deeply rooted in the Jewish people (and still is among many messianic Jews today). A superman, a saviour who flexes divine muscle and makes the streets safe for the holy. You know, in many ways, that’s also our expectation of Jesus. We expect Him to exert a little of that divine supremacy in our favour occasionally. We expect God to put down our enemies, to punish the wicked and to reward the good, and it annoys us when we discover that He causes His rain and sunshine to fall on the good and the wicked alike.
We
expect the first to come in first, not second or third. We secretly expect
prayers to be answered fairly quickly, and we get quite frustrated when they
aren’t. We expect exemption from the common failings of humanity. We are, after
all, God’s people, are we not? And if God is the respectable divine being He
claims to be, we expect Him to take care of His people.
John’s picture of Jesus the Messiah was pretty much hellfire and brimstone. He said, “I’m nothing but a flea compared to the One who’s coming. He’s so powerful, I’m not worthy to be His slave and untie his sandals. I baptise you with water, but you watch; when He comes, He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He’s coming to judge, to sort the wheat from the chaff, and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Wow! - That’s what John called preaching the good news! (I’d hate to hear bad news from John!)
Aren’t you glad the Gospel begins with John, but it doesn’t end with him? Aren’t you glad there’s more? I am. When Jesus finally appears in the wilderness, He isn’t anything like John described. There’s no winnowing fork in His hand. No baptism with Spirit and fire. No axe laid to the root. Instead, Jesus voluntarily submits to John’s baptism of repentance. The One who John said was so great and mighty he wasn’t worthy to untie His sandals, stoops down before John to be baptised by him. You know, John immediately sensed that everything was upside down. He should be baptised by Jesus, but instead he’s baptising Jesus. What kind of messiah is this?
Later on from Herod’s prison, John would ask the six million dollar messianic question: “Are you really the One we were expecting, or do we look for another?” Jesus was simply not the kind of messiah anyone was expecting. Who expected the messiah of God to be rejected by His own people, by their religious leaders? Who expected the messiah to hang out with tax collectors and all sorts of sinners and criticise the religious for their hypocrisy? Who expected the messiah to be handed over first to the religious court and then to the political court, be tried and convicted and crucified between two criminals? I can assure you, there wasn’t an Israelite alive and breathing at the time of Jesus - not John, not the disciples, not even Mary - who expected the kind of messiah Jesus turned out to be.
Thank God for that! Thank the Lord that He rearranges our expectations and turns them on their head and spins them around. We’d be putting a band aid on this problem, and a patch on that problem. We’d be inventing religions to try to reach up to God, to get closer to Him, to bribe Him and win His favour; but Jesus takes all our religious expectations, all the things we lay on God, all the ways we have for remaking God in our own image and likeness, and He crucifies them. Jesus actually achieved all the coming messiah expectations of Israel - of power and might and glory - but He did it all in a way that no one would possibly expect. He became a messiah, who was despised, rejected, crucified - there in His dark death, there in the broken man of the cross is God’s messiah, His Christ, the strength of His arm to save you, me, and world from enemies - sin, death, devil, the Law.
John didn’t know (how could he?) that the way to salvation, freedom, peace, and life is not through power, not through military might, not politics, but through the death and resurrection of one Man, the Son of God in human flesh.
John didn’t know (how could he?) that the axe of God’s judgment against our sin would be laid at the root of Jesse, at the root of the Son of David, the promised successor to David’s throne. John didn’t know (how could he?) that the winnowing fork of the Law would judge the Son of God guilty in our place and treat Him as chaff to be burned.
John didn’t know (what we know) that Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, was made to be our sin, though He was sinless, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. John’s first insight of the true messiah came in Jesus’ baptism, that the purpose of Jesus’ coming was not to judge but to be judged, not to condemn, but to be condemned, to be God’s Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
That doesn’t’ mean John was wrong. He was simply farsighted. He saw the long view of the Messiah, but the close-in view was out of focus. Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. We confess that every Sunday, as the church has for centuries. He will sort the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats, faith from unbelief, on the day of His appearing in glory. He has already baptised the church in the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and He will one day blow His fiery breath over all the world and destroy it.
John’s picture of Jesus the Messiah was pretty much hellfire and brimstone. He said, “I’m nothing but a flea compared to the One who’s coming. He’s so powerful, I’m not worthy to be His slave and untie his sandals. I baptise you with water, but you watch; when He comes, He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He’s coming to judge, to sort the wheat from the chaff, and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Wow! - That’s what John called preaching the good news! (I’d hate to hear bad news from John!)
Aren’t you glad the Gospel begins with John, but it doesn’t end with him? Aren’t you glad there’s more? I am. When Jesus finally appears in the wilderness, He isn’t anything like John described. There’s no winnowing fork in His hand. No baptism with Spirit and fire. No axe laid to the root. Instead, Jesus voluntarily submits to John’s baptism of repentance. The One who John said was so great and mighty he wasn’t worthy to untie His sandals, stoops down before John to be baptised by him. You know, John immediately sensed that everything was upside down. He should be baptised by Jesus, but instead he’s baptising Jesus. What kind of messiah is this?
Later on from Herod’s prison, John would ask the six million dollar messianic question: “Are you really the One we were expecting, or do we look for another?” Jesus was simply not the kind of messiah anyone was expecting. Who expected the messiah of God to be rejected by His own people, by their religious leaders? Who expected the messiah to hang out with tax collectors and all sorts of sinners and criticise the religious for their hypocrisy? Who expected the messiah to be handed over first to the religious court and then to the political court, be tried and convicted and crucified between two criminals? I can assure you, there wasn’t an Israelite alive and breathing at the time of Jesus - not John, not the disciples, not even Mary - who expected the kind of messiah Jesus turned out to be.
Thank God for that! Thank the Lord that He rearranges our expectations and turns them on their head and spins them around. We’d be putting a band aid on this problem, and a patch on that problem. We’d be inventing religions to try to reach up to God, to get closer to Him, to bribe Him and win His favour; but Jesus takes all our religious expectations, all the things we lay on God, all the ways we have for remaking God in our own image and likeness, and He crucifies them. Jesus actually achieved all the coming messiah expectations of Israel - of power and might and glory - but He did it all in a way that no one would possibly expect. He became a messiah, who was despised, rejected, crucified - there in His dark death, there in the broken man of the cross is God’s messiah, His Christ, the strength of His arm to save you, me, and world from enemies - sin, death, devil, the Law.
John didn’t know (how could he?) that the way to salvation, freedom, peace, and life is not through power, not through military might, not politics, but through the death and resurrection of one Man, the Son of God in human flesh.
John didn’t know (how could he?) that the axe of God’s judgment against our sin would be laid at the root of Jesse, at the root of the Son of David, the promised successor to David’s throne. John didn’t know (how could he?) that the winnowing fork of the Law would judge the Son of God guilty in our place and treat Him as chaff to be burned.
John didn’t know (what we know) that Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, was made to be our sin, though He was sinless, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. John’s first insight of the true messiah came in Jesus’ baptism, that the purpose of Jesus’ coming was not to judge but to be judged, not to condemn, but to be condemned, to be God’s Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
That doesn’t’ mean John was wrong. He was simply farsighted. He saw the long view of the Messiah, but the close-in view was out of focus. Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. We confess that every Sunday, as the church has for centuries. He will sort the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats, faith from unbelief, on the day of His appearing in glory. He has already baptised the church in the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and He will one day blow His fiery breath over all the world and destroy it.
Know
this, my dear friends in Christ, and cling to it in faith: The One who comes to
judge the living and the dead has been judged for us. The One who comes with baptismal
wind and fire has baptised us at the font of life. The One who will gather the
wheat into His barn has already gathered us into His death, and has promised
never to let us go. The One who will welcome His believers to His marriage
feast welcomes us to His Supper in the Sacrament of the Eucharistic Feast, a
foretaste, an appetiser, of the feast that is to come. The One who will judge our
works has died for our sins and spoken His forgiveness in our hearing.
That’s why the day of His appearing is something to look forward to with hope, with joy, with expectation. Amen
That’s why the day of His appearing is something to look forward to with hope, with joy, with expectation. Amen
The grace and peace of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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