Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 3rd Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 1 – 12:
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9 Do not presume 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. 10 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.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Let us pray: lord God heavenly father, as we meditate on your word this morning, grant us the wisdom to understand and the courage to act in faith, for we know that your word is true; we ask this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ . Amen
Just about everything we buy today comes with a warning. Some of them are necessary – like the warning to never mix bleach and vinegar, or you will end up with poisonous chlorine gas. Some would seem to a reasonable person to be unnecessary and ridiculous. Clothes irons warn us not to use while we are wearing the shirt or pants – even though I guess it would save time. My old chainsaw carried the warning: do not attempt to stop chain with hand – a mistake I suppose you only make once. Maybe the most common warning label we see is the one on coffee cups: caution, contents are hot – I hope so, that’s what I paid for. Why do so many products carry these seemingly unnecessary warning labels? Because someone, somewhere has actually harmed themselves by using the product in a manner it was not designed for – and paid the price for it. When we’re using irons and chainsaws and drinking coffee, we are free to ignore the warnings – but the only person we’re hurting is ourselves. This morning John the Baptist has an Advent Warning for us, and it too is one that we ignore at our own risk.
For the people living in Israel in those days (the days when Jesus was growing up in Nazareth) John’s arrival and appearance were unusual and shocking. Not so much for what he did, but for what he didn’t do. He didn’t set up shop in Jerusalem, eat gourmet food, or wear fancy clothes that set him apart as one of the religious elite in Israel. He worked in the desert, wore camel’s skins and ate locusts and honey. Why? What message was he sending? Well, part of it was intended to remind the people that Isaiah wrote about this man coming 700 years earlier. But the other part was for nothing more than to point people’s attention away from himself and focus it on the more important thing: his message.
John’s message, that’s the really shocking part: “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”. Repent! What does that mean? What is repentance? Repentance is a change of mind. It is a 180-degree change of direction. It means to look at things differently: rather than seeing things from our sinful, broken human point of view, we are to see things (especially ourselves) from God’s point of view. A synonym for repentance is conversion: from unbelief to faith, from a mind that hates God to a mind that loves God, from one dead in sin to one alive in Christ. The penitent person sees the error of their ways compared to God’s will; confesses that they deserve eternal death for their sins, and surrenders themselves to God’s mercy through Christ’s sacrificial death. Repentance is different from worldly regret and guilt because repentance is God’s work. This is not something we can do to ourselves. Repentance is the process God began when he drowned us in the water of Baptism and continues to work in us through his message of Law and Gospel. For Christians, this process continues every day of life until God finally lifts us from our sinful body; until that day we can be reunited with it in all perfection with Him.
Theoretically, it doesn’t sound so bad, does it? It almost sounds like one of those unnecessary warnings. Who wouldn’t want to get back on good terms with God? We all have an inborn awareness of our sin. That desire to be right with God is why so many people went out to [John] from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River.
But not all of those in attendance were sincere: “when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance”. What’s the difference? Why did John baptise the rag-tag multitudes and then react so fiercely when the Jewish leaders showed up?
John could see from their teaching and living that their hearts were not right. They were not ready to confess their sins, acknowledge their guilt, and receive John’s baptism for forgiveness. Don’t get the wrong idea, these were very devout men. Humanly speaking, they were the very best church members. They were willing to do anything it took to be right with God – fasting and washing and sacrificing – just as long as they didn’t have to admit their need, confess their sins, open their hearts to the piercing blade of the law and their ears to the saving message of the Gospel. Theirs was a totally superficial, self-centred religion. They imagined that God was pleased because of who they were and what they did, they didn’t think they were in any danger. They were Abraham’s descendants, and, therefore, immune from God’s wrath over sin. They didn’t see their deep need for a Saviour. To these men, who placed their faith in themselves, John was blunt: “the axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire”.
The question for us is: do we need this kind direct, pointed preaching today? Note: the question is not do we want it but do we need it? Our gut reaction might be: no, we’re here after all, aren’t we? Just moments ago we confessed our sins and received forgiveness. We are fine with a calm, measured, non-accusing sermon that doesn’t ruffle too many feathers. We’re ok with fire and brimstone as long as it’s directed at the evils of the world, the sickness and depravity of our society, the dark and ugly sins of politicians and celebrities. We feel pretty good inside when we are led to think: well, compared to most people, I look pretty good, I don’t lead an outwardly, obviously sinful life, I’m Anglican – which means that our doctrine and practice are faithful to Scripture, I’m baptised and confirmed and active in the church – if anyone is safe from God’s wrath, it’s me.
Do you see how easy it is to become a Pharisee? To underestimate our sin and overestimate our goodness. To make our worship more a matter of going through the motions and good behaviour than the kind of worship God really desires: (Psalm 51:17) “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart”. We know enough not to say it out loud, but don’t we sometimes begin to think that we deserve God’s grace now and will get a ticket into paradise when we die because of who we are and what we do? Whether we want to admit it or not, we too need John’s warning, and it needs to go deeper than our ears, it needs to pierce our hearts, because there is a Pharisee in each one of us. The warning for us today is this: God still does not accept man-made religion. There is no back door to heaven for people who want to find their own way in. If we imagine that we can have saving faith in Jesus and yet disagree with his teachings: about marriage, about creation, about the use of the Sacraments or the roles of men and women – then the only thing we have to look forward to is hearing: (Matthew 7:22) “sorry, I don’t know you”.
If we think that God should be flattered that we’re here to listen to his Word, we need to understand that God doesn’t need us, he can make disciples out of stones if he so desires. If we think we can have a right relationship with God without ever being offended, without making the conscious effort to, with God’s help, amend our sinful lives, we need to hear that God’s axe is still ready to chop down dead, fruitless trees.
Not much has changed in 2000 years. We are still sinners who have a Pharisaic tendency to want to justify ourselves, to save ourselves from God’s wrath. So yes, we too need to hear the clear, harsh, pointed preaching of the Law aimed at our hearts. Mine is the heart that needs to be crushed. I need be shown the depth of my sin. I need have my case for self-justification in God’s courtroom blown up and admit that I don’t meet his requirements. I need to hear John preaching the Law in all of its severity to my heart. And so do we all. This is not one of those warnings we can ignore as unnecessary. If we do, the only people we’re hurting is ourselves.
But then the procrastinator in us comes out. One Bible commentator named him “professor Ja-But.” Yeah, but God wants to keep forgiving me and I want to keep sinning – so it’s a perfect arrangement. Yeah, but there will always be time to turn my life around when I’m older. Yeah, but God knows that I mean good even when I do evil. Yeah, but God wouldn’t really send anyone to hell, would he, after all (1 John 4:8) “God is love”. If professor Ja-But ever guides our thinking or influences our faith, then these words are for us: “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire”.
This is the urgency we face. This is why there is no time to waste, no excuses to be made. This is why it’s dangerous to think that we can always repent later or use God’s grace as a licence to sin. Jesus, whose way John was preparing, has come. He has accomplished his mission of salvation. He took our place under God’s law and lived a life of perfect obedience. He demonstrated perfect love for everyone, friends and foes alike, by not telling them what they wanted to hear, but what they needed to hear. He endured rejection from the very people he came to save. He did not complain when the rulers of Israel unjustly convicted and condemned him to death. He willingly took our place on a cursed cross and endured the hell our sins deserved.
He demonstrated his power by crushing Satan’s skull under his foot and ripped the heart out of death by stepping out of the tomb. Everything that Jesus came to do – he did. All that’s left now is to “clear the threshing floor” of this world; to separate penitent believers from stubborn, impenitent unbelievers. Wherever God’s Word – his Law and Gospel – are proclaimed, that separation is taking place. Right here, right now, Jesus is busy gathering his wheat and burning up the chaff.
The only question left is: how will we react? Will we confess our sins, will our repentance go deeper than our lips, will we openly and honestly admit that on our own we deserve nothing but God’s wrath? Will we drop all our (Isaiah 64:6) ‘salvation seeking good works and acknowledge them as filthy rags tainted by sin”? If so, then John has good news for us: “the kingdom of heaven is near”.
Pointing out sin was only the first half of John’s message, he did it so that he could follow up by pointing to Jesus: (John 1:29) “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. Jesus is as close to us as the words of absolution we heard earlier. He is as close to us as the body and blood he shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins which we receive in the Lord’s Supper. For when we admit that we are helpless to get to heaven on your own, our Saviour says: “Be calm, I’ve done it for you”. On the other hand, if we’re not yet ready to let the Law penetrate all the way to our heart. If we want to cling to the idea that we’re really not that bad. If we can’t bring ourselves to repent and change our life to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance”, if we ignore John the Baptist’s warning, well, we’re only hurting ourselves.
There are some warnings that we can afford to ignore, some we can even laugh at. This is not one of them. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”, John warns. Let us allow the Law to do its important, preparatory work on our hearts. Let it crush us by showing us who we truly are in God’s sight. Let it lead us to despair of our own works and drive us to trust Jesus’ perfect, substitutionary work. Then we will be well prepared to receive God’s Christmas Saviour and the real peace he brings. There’s no time to waste. Jesus came into this world to save sinners; Jesus came into this world to save us. We have his reassurance in the Gospel according to St John Chapter 3 Verse 16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life”. Amen.
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that us beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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