Matthew 3:1-12
Imagine this: An envelope arrives in your mailbox.
- It appears like any other holiday card.
- It is a plain white envelope…not green or red.
- When opened…the card does not portray the holy family…a starlit night or shepherds or wisemen.
- Instead…there is a burly figure with a grim look on his face.
- And the inside of the card reads:
- Happy Advent…You Brood of Vipers! signed…John the Baptist.
John arrives every year on schedule…doesn’t he?
- On the second Sunday of Advent…this strange figure steps right out of the desert and right into to our festive preparations.
- John dresses like an ancient prophet in camel’s hair.
- He works in the wilderness…not in a civilized city.
- He preaches with sternness…
- And he calls everyone who can hear him to repent.
- The Lord be with you.
Repent is a verb that makes us uncomfortable.
- And that is because we conclude that Christian faith is primarily about behavior…
- Defined by what we should or should not do.
- As the old adage puts it: Don’t drink…dance or chew…or date the girls that do.
- So…preaching becomes a harangue against bad behavior…however described or imagined.
In times of moral confusion…some have found it helpful to make a list of do’s and don’ts.
- Wrongdoings go in the don’t
- Right-doings go in the do
- The instruction is clear: move from the bad column to the good column.
- Straighten up and fly right…change your ways.
- Behave better than before.
- In that kind of religious system…we really do not need a living God…we just need a list.
A funny thing happens when we live only by a list of behaviors.
- We start grading the items on our list.
- Some sins are perceived as worse than others.
- For some reason…smugness and self-righteousness never make the list.
- Neither do greed or abuse of power.
- So…there is no real possibility of repentance…and so…we just return to the list.
John the Baptist did not maintain a list of sins.
- Instead…he invited people into the presence of God.
- John never barked at people to change.
- Instead…he announced God was knocking at the door.
- The kingdom of heaven has come near…he said.
- And this is the proper context for forgiveness.
- John the Baptist does not wag his finger at bad behavior…
- Instead…he points to God!
His singular sermon is that God is coming toward us.
- And his message brings everybody to the desert.
- His invitation is to have all sins and mistakes washed away.
- God is closing in on us.
- And perceiving it…we will clear the air…straighten our paths and get in closer fellowship.
I knew a Lutheran minister who spent every Friday night in a dingy bar.
- He did not go there to drink…but to spend time with people.
- It was unnerving…especially for those who had been his confirmation students.
- They had gone out for a night on the town.
- And when the pastor walked in…the patrons always grew quiet.
- A few slipped out.
- Others laughed and turned away.
- But many found him easy to talk with.
He told me: I discovered that if I go to them…they admit on Friday night what they would never confess on Sunday morning.
- If they trust me…if they sense that I come in the name of a God who accepts them as they are…
- Some of them take amazing steps in response to God’s love.
- Now…this is the very definition of repentance.
But what about that brood of vipers?
- This is John the Baptist’s critique of the religious leaders who joined the crowds for his baptism.
- These were the Pharisees and Sadducees…easily identified by their elaborate clothing.
- Curious…isn’t it…that they were attracted to John’s message?
- Was it the spectacle?
- Did they come out of curiosity?
- Were they hungry for an encounter with the Holy?
- We really don’t know.
What we do know is that John did not grant them special privileges.
- The Pharisees were the Bible Keepers…guardians of morality… purists in every regard.
- And they came to hear the preacher who dined on locusts.
- The Sadducees were the high brows…the liturgical elite…the religious nobility…
- And the families from which all the high priests were named.
- Well…John would not give them an inch of preference.
- He accused them of seeking baptism to slither out of hell.
- Their privilege and celebrity were not enough to put them on the right side of God.
- To paraphrase John: It does not matter who your ancestors were…you are all a brood of vipers.
- His verbal ax struck at the root of their presumption.
So…here’s the thing: John was saying that nobody can fake the spiritual life.
- Either we are living it…or we are not.
- Either we are responding to God’s approach through a generous and holy life…or we are not.
- Are we showing up only for the benefit of an appearance?
- Or are we preparing a way for the Lord to reach our hearts…our souls…our minds…our strength?
Advent announces that God is drawing near.
- Tugging at us to make a way for God to come closer…
- Removing the roadblocks…straightening the highway…lifting the valleys and leveling the mountains.
- No more faking it or putting on appearances…just being real.
- This is our spiritual work for the season.
- Replacing the artificial with the truth.
Advent invites us to surrender to God…which is always a surrender to grace.
- We do not let down our guard because we fear that God will hurt us.
- We let it down because God is moving toward us…
- And God can heal us.
- And God can make us new.