Waiting ... for Christmas break; students get time away
from class and some have jobs that allow time off from December 25th to New
Year’s Day; .
Waiting ... for Christmas morning, gathering round the
lighted tree as presents are excitedly opened and a special meal is shared with
the family.
Waiting ... for the stroke of midnight when we get to
shout “Happy New Year.”
So much of this season
is built around waiting.
This is unlike any other time of the year.
We stretch out our celebration of Christmas. Some grumble that decorations go up too
early, or complain that the holiday has become too commercialized. In
truth though, a lot of people feel a unique kind of specialness. We hope that during the holiday season,
people will act a little bit nicer.
People in financial distress call churches and charities hoping the
generosity will be greater because it’s Christmas.
But, to me it feels
weird to say we are awaiting the arrival of Jesus because he came already -
2000 years ago. Thus our Advent scripture readings are infused with double
meaning. Our ancestors in faith awaited
the Messiah; we await the Second Coming of the Messiah.
As we do, we listen to
the sermon of John the Baptist preached on the bank of the Jordan River in 30
AD. What does the arrival of Jesus - his first coming - mean for us
now - in the living of our lives
today? Why is it important that Jesus
was born?
“The word of God came to
John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went into all the region
around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of the forgiveness of sins” (Luke
3:2b-3). John preached to everyone who came - the wealthy, the poor, the
sophisticated urbanites and rough-around-the-edges shepherds and fishermen; his
word was for Jews and gentiles. To all he said, “Bear fruit worthy of
repentance.”
The Bearing of fruit
metaphor was used both by John the Baptist and by Jesus as a way of describing
what is produced in the life of a believer. Jesus said in the Sermon on
the Mount, “Beware of false prophets. ...
You will know them by their fruits. ... Every good tree bears good fruit and
every bad tree bears bad fruit” (Matthew 7:15-18). Jesus later says, “God
removes every branch in me that bears no fruit” (John 15:1).
Fruit is a sign of
growth. When we lead others, those outside the faith, to meet Jesus, we
are bearing fruit. When we help new believers grow in their understanding
of God, we bear fruit. When we guide
believers into new opportunities for mission and good works, bear fruit. When
we meet people in great need and help them out of our own abundance, we bear
fruit. When, through study and prayer, we deepen our relationship with
God, we bear fruit. When we encourage
people who are hurting, and when we walk with them through their trials, we
bear fruit and grow as disciples.
Jesus’ very drastic
statement is that when we do not bear fruit, our connection with him is
severed. God removes every branch that bears no fruit.
There’s no such thing as casual faith. We grow as disciples or our
faith is dead. “Bear fruit worthy of repentance,” John preached.
Repentance, of course, is making that full turn away from the temptations
and cultural trappings of the world around us and turning fully to God.
Repentance is the most radical change one can experience. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit,”
John preaches, “is cut down and thrown into the fire” (3:9).
Anyone who takes the
word of God seriously would, at this point in the story, come to two
conclusions. First, being thrown into the fire is judgment. It is the state of being cut-off from
God. Failure to bear fruit, failure to
live an active faith, is equal to calling judgment down on ourselves, and we do
not want that. We do not want to face life without God, much less face
eternity after death without God. The
second conclusion is, we have to ask how do we avoid this judgment? That’s what the crowds hearing John wanted to
know.
In 3:4, Luke describes
who John is and what John is doing, Luke quotes the prophet Isaiah, “Prepare
the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John is the one preparing
the way and Jesus is the Lord. Because
Jesus has come, everything has changed.
That’s why John issues the call for repentance, and that call involves
changing is what our lives are about.
What must we do?
The crowds asked that question and John offered a ready, practical
response. “Whoever has two coats, share with any who has none. Whoever has food, share with anyone who is
hungry” (3:11). Judgment does not have to come for us. It’s coming, and will be harsher than we can
imagine and will be final. God’s
judgment is to be feared because God is holy and will not tolerate sin and
every one of sins. But, John offers a lifeline. Share with each other so that no one is
freezing or starving or crippled by poverty.
“What should we do?”
Tax collectors asked. They
collected taxes imposed by the Roman empire. Roman soldiers would force
peasants to pay whatever the tax collectors demanded. Most tax collectors
demanded higher amounts than Rome required, and got rich pocketing the difference.
They were thieves.
What should we do? John doesn’t tell them to quit the tax
collecting business. He says, “Collect no more than the amount
prescribed.” In other words, work ethically. What does that look like in
your job? Where you work, away from the
church, in the world - that’s where your discipleship is on display. It
doesn’t mean you’re always talking about Jesus.
Sometimes we do. At other times,
you do your secular work to the very best of your ability and you do it
honestly. When we live in integrity, we bear fruit. When we treat people around us with kindness,
we bear fruit worthy of repentance.
“What should we do?”
Soldiers asked John. The soldiers
were charged with maintaining order. They possessed unchecked power. They could bully the people and take what
they wanted, and they did. What should we do asked these soldiers
who felt convicted by John’s words.
“Do not extort money by
threats,” he answered. “Be satisfied by your wages.” He didn’t tell them to quit the military.
John did not impose pacifism as a rule for God-worshipers. In fact, his answer implies they would go
right on being soldiers, work that is by nature violent. But, if we take the
bullying, the threats, and the intimidation of common folk out of their work,
then soldiers are responsible protectors who can be respected and even admired.
When we use whatever power we possess for good, to help people, to
contribute to people’s flourishing, we bear fruit. Sharing, acting ethically and honestly, and
protecting and helping are all ways we can, in our lives, bear fruit worthy of
repentance. We choose to live this way
because Jesus has come.
His coming, His Advent,
is a sign that God’s judgment is coming. We take that seriously and know
that on Judgment Day, if we have to stand on our own merit, we’ll be found
lacking. So, we repent. We live to
worship God and help others. We
acknowledge God as Lord throughout our lives, not allowing any aspect of life
to be secular, apart from God’s rule. And then, we trust God.
John knew that Jesus,
and not he, was the Savior and Lord. “I am not worthy to untie his
sandals” he says (3:16). He baptizes
with the Holy Spirit. He will judge, collecting the good fruit and
bringing it into God’s house, and casting the bad out to be burned, cut off
from God. We can’t control that harvest.
We can’t determine if we will be saved or judged. God judges and we are at God’s mercy.
So John, offers
something we can all do in our lives, right now as we wait. Because Jesus
has come, we can share, be honest, be ethical, be kind, and be compassionate.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can live as people of the Kingdom of
God even while we live in the world, fallen as it is. And John promises
the help of the Holy Spirit because Jesus baptizes us in the Spirit and Jesus
has come.
As we wait for His
second coming, we live in the reality of His first coming. Our lives are
different than the lives of non-believers because the Spirit is in us.
The world needs us to be different just as the world needed things to be
different when Jesus was born.
So, find someone with
whom you can share. Find a hurting person in need of encouragement, or a
lonely friend in need of compassion. When your peers cut corners on the
job, express your repentance by working ethically. And the when the opportunity is there, tell
someone about why Jesus is your Lord. Invite someone to come to worship
with you. This is the Advent fruit we
have to share. And people are hungry for
it.
AMEN
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