Live into the Questions

 

I am a big fan of John the Baptizer. And so I am always happy to have him show up in Advent to kick our butts.

But as I was thinking about things at St. Barnabas, where we have had to say good bye to multiple people who are moving away, and the general malaise that seems to be hanging over the nation as we grapple with more and more outrageous news every day, I found myself thinking about John's ranting at the Jordan River as not just a dressing down of those who talk a good game about their faith, but don't show much for it, but also as an invitation to figure out why we don't live up to our ideals, and then what do we need to do to change that. 

The end result was this sermon. See what you think.

Texts: Isaiah 11:1-11; Matt 3: 1-13

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If you’ve ever gone shopping for Christmas cards…you know that you have basically two choices.

You can go either the route that emphasizes secular images of Santa Claus and reindeer….snowflakes.

Or you have the Christian images of the Holy Family and usually a very white Jesus in the manger.

Perhaps you might find some with a bright star of Bethlehem…but that’s pretty much the gamut of the Christmas card rack.

What we never see are Advent cards.

Probably because no one wants to open up a card with John the Baptizer in his camel’s hair shirt and leather belt greeting them with a hearty “Blessed Advent You Brood of Vipers!”

Not the friendliest of holiday greetings.

And for John…he’s not interested in being warm and fuzzy.

Let’s remember who he is.

He’s the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah…a pastor’s kid.

If we recall…his mother was an older woman.

The angel Gabriel told Zechariah while he was in the Temple that his wife was pregnant.

She was going to have a son…and they were to name him John.

 Zechariah was like…

“Hmmmm….I dunno about this. I’m old and she’s old…so…hmmm”

That’s when Gabriel mutes Zechariah…until the time that John is born and at his circumcision…the people wanted to know the child’s name.

Elizabeth told everyone, “His name is John.”

But nobody else in their family line had that name…so the crowd turns to Zechariah.

And Zechariah gets a tablet and writes down that the child’s name is John…and…miracle of miracles…he gets his speech back.

Finally able to speak again…he launches into a proclamation…which we have in our Book of Common Prayer…. the Song of Zechariah….which y’all can find on page 92 if you want to look it up.

It’s one of the many canticles we use weekly in Morning Prayer services.

It’s a loving tribute of father to son…as he makes this prediction about John’s future:

“You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give the people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.”

Now…I don’t know if Zechariah knew that his son…having grown up with a priest for a dad…was going to become a rebel.

John saw the ways in which the religious institution and those wishing to preserve the institution under a hostile power like the Roman Empire…had been…in his opinion…letting things get corrupted.  

John saw the way that those embedded and invested in the system had not lived up to expectations and he wanted a more pure religion.

This would lead him to start another branch of Judaism…the Essenes.

John went out into the wilderness…to the outskirts of Jerusalem…west of the Dead Sea.

He called upon people to come out to the Jordan River to be baptized…or immersed…in the waters and confess that they’d turned away from keeping God front and center in their lives.

And I don’t know if Zechariah or Elizabeth knew their son would be yelling at other Jewish leaders and calling them a “brood of vipers”….which is a pretty ugly slam on the Sadducees and Pharisees.

A brood is a group of newborn vipers…and newborn vipers were known to eat their way out through the stomachs of their mothers…killing off their mamas in the process.

When these leaders…make an appearance before John for a baptism… John rails against them…accusing them of having eaten away at Judaism in favor of their own comfort and power.

They’ve come to the Jordan for baptism…but he says they haven’t done anything to show they’re ready to turn themselves in a Godward direction…and drop their ego-driven ways and their need for power and self-satisfaction.

John isn’t playing.

Because he knows there’s yet another one coming…one with a baptism that is greater than his own.

A baptism not of water but of fire.

Not a wildfire…burning out of control and scorching the earth.

But more like the fire of blacksmith…melting and warming and refining the people’s souls and refashioning them in the image of God.

Just as Zechariah had a vision of his son’s future…John has a vision of a future that will come with this One whose so great that John doesn’t feel worthy to carry his sandals.

This is the coming of Jesus…the second person of the Trinity…coming to be in the world…living as one of us…and putting into motion a work of teaching us to live into Love.

This is what’s at play during this season of Advent.

While the world around us is encouraging us to buy more stuff…go to more parties…and listen to holiday music as we move around the grocery store…John is yelling at us to prepare our inner house…our hearts…for a greater gift…the gift of God coming to us through Jesus and realigning our lives to God’s will.

To take care of one another.

To pay attention to those around us.

To show kindness…mercy…and compassion to ourselves and those who are on this journey with us.

That’s what “repentance” really means.

Like it’s sister season of Lent…Advent is the invitation for all of us to step back and do a self-assessment and take stock of how we’re doing during this time…what are the things that are feeding us and leading us in the direction of that peaceable kingdom we heard in the Isaiah reading.

What are those prejudices…jealousies…and desires to control others that are interfering with us living into a life where we model the love of God as known to us through the life of Jesus?

John’s voice in the wilderness is an echo to us here in the 21^st century to slow down and pay attention and not treat this inbreaking of God into the world as a one-off or a fad.

But to see this as a chance to do some reflecting on where we might not be living up to our promises made at baptism…those ideals of “seeking and serving Christ in all people” and…”striving for justice and peace among all people.” This is our chance to do a course correction.

Now that might feel like…”Sheesh! Yet another thing during this hyper busy time of the year!

But it’s really not meant to be taken that way.

Advent is about a beginning.

This is the season to ask those questions of ourselves…and to ponder them…and NOT to answer them right away…but rather to live into those questions as we progress along toward Christmas.

During this season…we can receive this message from John the Baptizer…and hear it as an invitation.

Consider it as an opportunity to do some weeding and pruning of those things that keep us from experiencing that Love which comes to us each year.

Use this as a time to sit with questions…and pray for the guidance we need to bear that good fruit of our lives and to be the best versions of our beloved selves.

Ponder and prepare…as we draw nearer to this Love of God in Christ.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.