LUKE 3:7-18
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? 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.
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."
And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" In
reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who
has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." Even tax collectors came
to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" He
said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you."
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."
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were
questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,
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. 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."
So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to
the people.
***
I’m with ya
this Sunday. I’d rather sing Christmas songs than this Advent waiting. I’d
rather preach about the birth of child, and forget about the death of so many
children. I’d rather hear the angels sing, “Gloria, Excelsis Deo,” than hear
John, calling us, “You brood of vipers.” Today, I’m not a fan of the
waiting. I’m ready for Christmas, and
not just the one that comes in a week and a day, not the one that comes every
year. I’m ready for Christ to come. I’m ready for him to come in his final
glory. Maybe the doomsday sayers are on to something. They at least are
preparing. Unfortunately they are preparing for the worst, and we need to be
preparing for the best. Isn’t this what John is telling us to do?
The crowds ask,
“What then should we do?” John said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share
with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” Now, I don’t want to tell you how many coats
I have. I come up with excuses, well that one is from my great Aunt, and I got
that one for free, and there are dress coats for dressy things, and active
coats for active things, and rain coats for rainy things. And yes, well, I
guess that grey one I don’t wear much because in a sense it is a duplicate of
the black one, but it has helped when friends from the South come to visit and
think tank tops will suffice at the top of Anthony Lakes in April. Yet, I know
there are enough people without coats, for each of my coats to be someone’s
only coat. That is just coats, and I think John is speaking a metaphor for more
than coats. He mentions food too, and luckily, as a single person who dislikes
cooking, my fridge is pretty barren. But all joking aside, John, seems pretty
serious, ‘brood of vipers,’ doesn’t seem friendly to me. It seems like a
challenge.
The tax
collectors ask John, “Teacher, what should we do?” John said to them, “Collect
no more than the amount prescribed for you.” The tax collectors in John’s time
would charge people more, so they could keep a greater amount for themselves.
It was primarily the poor who paid taxes. Those who had the least were filling
the pockets of those who had more. Now, I’m not going to get into a discussion
about the 99% or the 47%, but I am going to ask if there are places in our
lives where we take more than our fair share. Do we do this with money, with
land, with water, with travel, with time? I grew up in a place of drought, and
a place with water restrictions. The city, San Antonio, grows to the North, the
same place where the water for the aquifer, seeps into the ground. This
recharge zone was both prime real estate for developers, and also for San
Antonio’s drinking water, and also for a few endangered species that live only
in the Aquifer. The Texas Blind Salamander is a cool little creature almost see
through with fuzzy looking ears, and no eyes. The developers, because they were
powerful and connected with City Council often won in the fight over that land.
Malls and Six Flags, and golf courses covered up the recharge zone. The
developers one. I won too, I’d take long showers, and play in the sprinkler for
hours. It wasn’t my water. It’s God’s water, and I wasn’t sharing enough. John
was getting after me. How might John be getting after you for taking more than
your fair share?
The soldiers
asked John, “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.”
The soldiers too took advantage of those less powerful. They would threaten people,
and accuse them in order to get money or goods from them. John’s answer again
is for justice and for mercy. This type of answer is mind boggling to them.
Unlike us, they have not heard it over and over. But like us, they need to hear
it again. Because, as much as we want to be singing Christmas songs, we have a
lot more Advent preparing to do before Christ comes. Christmas will come and
go, and each year, we are given a time to get ready. We are given a time to
prepare. Will we be ready in a day and a week? Will we be ready when Christ
comes again? Are you ready? How many coats do you have? How many meals could
the stock in your pantry feed?
The crowds
surrounding John are like us. They want a Messiah. If there were Christmas
songs, I have no doubt they would be singing them already. They think they are
ready for the Messiah. They believe the Messiah to be John, and they believe
they are ready enough to stand before him. Thank goodness they found John first
and John prepares them to be ready for Jesus.
John tells them one more powerful than he is
coming. That John merely baptizes them with water, but that Jesus will baptize
them with the Spirit and with Fire. It is a blessing. It is a blessing that one
who will show us the way is coming, and has come so many Christmas’ ago. It is
a blessing that we know what that baby asks us is justice and mercy. It is
blessing that each time we do these things, Jesus comes, and is made real in
flesh. It is a blessing that in our work feeding others, and caring for others,
we are able to kneel at the feet of God. It is blessing to have the time to
prepare.
