Sermons for the Month
Even Vipers Receive Good News!
DATE: December 14th, 2003
SERVICE: Third Sunday In Advent
Theme: JOY
TEXT: Luke 3:7-18“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN I wonder what John the Baptist would have thought of the editorial comment that accompanied the description of his preaching? Did you notice it? The last verse of today's Gospel lesson is laughable if you were really paying attention to the rest of the passage.
The Gospel writer ends his account of John's ministry with these words, "So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people." Did the writer say good news? Was he paying attention? Oh, it was such good news that the section ends by noting that John's preaching contributed to his being sent to prison, and eventually losing his head - literally.
I'm fairly certain that John would not have described his message to the multitude as good news. Instead, he spoke a strong, perhaps even harsh word. One of the commentators I read this week described him in this way, "He (John the Baptist) stands between the old and the new ages, the last of the great Old Testament prophets: dressed in a cloak of camel hair, fasting and living in the wilderness, preaching words of threat and judgment."
People flock out to see him, and he calls them a brood of vipers. He chastises them for being comfortable, for finding security in their status as Jews. He says that even the chosen people, the Israelites, must repent. Can you imagine how that made those who felt they were already pure feel? They certainly had no need of repentance!
But John shouts that they do, and calls for a complete turning around. This is more than simply feeling sorry for sin, John says. Bearing good fruit is required, and the consequence of not doing so is a little too hot to handle. "Even now," he says, "the ax is laying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
Well, isn't that charming? And the writer of the Gospel of Luke says it is good news? How can that be true? How can our theme of JOY on this third week in Advent fit into this proclamation of judgment?
I think that's what the Gospel writer wants us to ponder; that's why he added that editorial comment about good news. You see, it seems to me that John the Baptist did what he was called to do when he prepared people for the coming of the Messiah with such strong words. However, he could not have seen the "big picture." He evidently thought that people could change on their own, with baptism being the sign that they intended to do so. He did not realize that it was the coming of Jesus that made the very things he challenged people to do possible.
However, when the account of John's ministry was recorded some 50 years after it occurred, Jesus had been raised from the dead, the Holy Spirit was empowering Christians and forgiveness through faith was being proclaimed far and wide.
The Gospel writer understood that there is good news in John's vehement proclamation. And it is this - Jesus is coming, nothing will get in his way. That's good news. Because of him it will be possible for people to take a new path. That's good news. Indeed, forgiven people who are filled with the Holy Spirit are empowered to share what they have with those who have less. That's good news. And, even despised sinners like tax collectors and soldiers who used their power against people could be changed, transformed so that they deal fairly and honestly with others. That's good news.
What do you know? John the Baptist, who spit out words about snakes and axes and unquenchable fire preached good news, a message in which there is actually JOY.
Many of the commentators I read as I prepared for this sermon stressed the need to call the congregation to repentance, as John did. One writer said that we should not gloss over the reality of sin and that we preachers should call for change while pounding the pulpit.
I suppose there is some value in that, but what is in my heart this Advent season is a desire that we would see our Lord coming to us, determined to reach us, desiring to transform us from the inside out. My prayer is for the Holy Spirit's help, so that we truly grasp that in Jesus Christ God's grace appeared, coming to us in tangible and touchable ways. And then my fondest desire is that we would be filled with hope, peace and joy, living transformed, thankful lives that inspire those around us.
This is the time of year when the newspapers and television are filled with stories of people giving of themselves for the sake of others. I happened across one such account this week that occurred in the summer, not December.
It seems that there were two church youth groups at neighboring congregations that were fiercely competitive. They got together for everything from sports competitions to Bible knowledge challenges. It was a "friendly" rivalry, but there often was an edge to it that could get out of hand.
One church was Shively Christian Church and the other was Shively Baptist Church, and the youth attended the same Bible camp. One week the Bible lesson was about Jesus washing his disciples' feet from John 13. To make the servanthood lesson stick, the youth were divided into groups, by congregation, and were told to find a practical way to be servants. They had to figure out how Jesus would help people.
Two hours later the youth reconvened. The groups reported various activities from buying ice cream for city children to singing in a nursing home and visiting hospital patients. The group from Shively Christian Church ended up at the home of an elderly woman. There, for two hours, they mowed, raked the yard and trimmed the hedges. It was hard, hot work.
When they were getting ready to leave the woman called the group together and thanked them for their hard work. "I don't know how I could get along without you," she told them, "You kids at Shively Baptist are always coming to my rescue."
She was a member of the arch rival Shively Baptist and had mistaken them for that church's youth group! They were from Shively Christian Church. As the report was made someone in the group proclaimed, "Well, I sure hope you set her straight and told her you were from Shively Christian Church."
"No", the youth replied, "We didn't think it mattered."
Now those were transformed young people. They had done what John the Baptist was advocating; there had been a major turn around. But I can tell you this, they didn't do it on their own. The Holy Spirit was hard at work, and the result was inspirational.
I would venture to say that it was not fire and brimstone preaching that brought that about; it happened because Jesus Christ arrived in their lives bringing a joy that is based in sacrifice rather than recognition. Whenever Jesus is welcomed, there is good news.
AMEN