Göttinger Predigten
Göttinger Predigten im Internet hg. von U. Nembach
Second Sunday in Advent, 12/04/2016
Sermon on Matthew 3:1-12, by Luke Bouman
1In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”3This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” 4Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.5Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9Do not presume 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. 10Even 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. 11“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
The Prophetic Voice
John the Baptist is an enigmatic figure, to say the least. We hear from him in only a couple of chapters in the Gospels, and his voice is transmitted into churches only a couple of times a year, most often during this season of Advent that began just one week ago. People in John's day were unsure what to do about him. He was a populist voice of his day, to be sure. He attracted large crowds hungry to hear his announcement of the coming of the long-promised Messiah. Since people had been waiting 500+ years for the fulfillment of this promise, it is no surprise that his compelling message and unique preaching location at the Jordan river caught the attention of the crowds.
What is interesting in this lesson is how the crowds responded. They left the relative comfort and safety of Jerusalem for the heat of the Jordan Valley, accessed by a dangerous winding road, often fraught with bandits. John himself was a bit of a wild man, dressed and fed by the largess of the dessert, which is to say meagerly. Perhaps the crowds came just to see a good show, but their response to his preaching suggests otherwise. They were serious about John's message; serious enough to submit themselves to baptism, a ceremony normally reserved for Gentiles who were converting to the faith of Israel. Repentance, John preached. Sins, the people confessed. All in preparation for the coming Messiah and the promised cataclysmic battle to come. Everyone came, it says. But not everyone joined the movement.
The Pharisees and Scribes came, but as they signed up, as good religious leaders would, John singles them out for a tongue lashing. And such a beat down he gives them that I wonder if any of them stuck around for the baptisms that they attempted to procure. John as much as accuses them of resting on the laurels of their ancestors, of being trees that bear no fruit, and he flat out calls them a brood of vipers. John's words to the political leaders of his day were much the same. John's career as a prophet was predictably short. Powerful people will not be kind to those who draw large crowds and threaten the status quo.
I suppose that John's challenging message today will put off some preachers in my country. They will choose another text. They will choose to preach on some more comforting text to an entirely too comfortable and entitled people. (Note that I include myself among the "too comfortable and entitled!") After all, most people do not desire to be challenged, especially this time of year. Our lives have become "thought ghettos" where we mostly hear what we expect or want to hear. Social Media algorithms have seen to that. They send us messages that we are more predisposed to "like" or give a "thumbs up". We tend to "friend" or "follow" people who are likely some kind of reflection of ourselves. We post things that show us mostly in the best light. In such an environment, rarely do we encounter anything like the challenge of John.
I have heard preachers daring enough to tackle John the Baptizer's message. But generally their preaching falls into two categories (there are exceptions): Either they preach John's condemnation, but they reserve it for others. Others are the modern Pharisees and Scribes. Others are the "brood of vipers." On the flip side of this they preach that their group is the one that is oppressed. That John's message of a new age to come is good news to their flocks of mostly white, European descent, well to do Christians, who perhaps have petty complaints, but otherwise their lives are pretty good compared to the rest of the world. Apparently oppression means less than it used to. Comedian Louis C. K. puts it this way: He was flying in and airplane and the stewardess announced that the flight's internet was not functioning and would be down for the duration of the two hour flight. The person next to him threw a fairly major temper tantrum at this announcement. Louis' reaction to the tantrum was to note that not only did they have the money to pay for a flight, but they were actually in a plane up in the air, something that just a little more than a century ago was unthinkable. It was amazing, really when you think about it. Yet the person next to him was unhappy. The tagline of the story was, "Think about it; everything around us is amazing! And people are unhappy." This is entitlement, not oppression. Yet some preachers will find a way to style their people as oppressed and to make the comforting portion of John's message apply.
Now that is not to say that John's message isn't or can't be good news to the oppressed. I think John is totally serious in preaching that in the coming messiah (already 2000+ years ago) God was acting in a way that signaled the beginning of the end for the way of life that allows some people to be in power by placing other people in positions of disadvantage. While, in Christ, this process is begun, it is not yet completed. But the end has been declared. It will eventually happen. For most of the world this is good news. But not for me. Not for people like me. Not for people who have, either knowingly or unknowingly, benefitted from a system that lifts us up at the hands of those who are powerless and oppressed. I am one of the Pharisees. I am one of the Scribes. I, and the culture around me, are indeed the brood of vipers in this lesson. I cannot escape this conclusion at this point in my life. While there are many things I might do to change this reality, none of them is really effective. Nothing but God's intervention in Christ will turn this world upside down and end the cycles of oppression that have existed since the dawn of the human family.
What is a modern day preacher, someone who is called to speak for God like John or the prophets of old, to do in such a situation? What do we do when we discover that we are the oppressors, not the oppressed? I suppose that there are stages in our thought process, just as the classic stages of grief. Perhaps there is denial, followed by anger, shame, bargaining, and maybe, if we can get through all of that, acceptance. Perhaps there is acceptance that John's words of judgment are for us. Perhaps there is an understanding that we, more than anyone, must confess our parts in keeping the world broken where God would finally create healing. Perhaps we go down to the "Jordan River," far outside of our comfort zone, and when John calls us out, we turn away from our sinful pride and our comfortable lives and submit to the rebirth of Baptism. Perhaps we understand that God is preparing us for something new, something where we finally must turn loose of all the "things" that we cling to that are not God, and are then, finally, able to be caught up in God's mission to create the world anew, one person at a time. Perhaps we stumble and fall along the way, only to discover that God's cleansing waters renew us day after day. Perhaps John's harsh words for us are not in vain, but are the start of a process of tough love for people who are too used to hearing what we want to hear rather than what we need to hear.
Will everyone get the message? Probably not at first. But that is why it is all the more important, especially in the season of Advent, of preparation, of waiting, that we are relentless in receiving it and transmitting it. God, in Christ, comes to turn the world upside down. It is messy and uncomfortable, as it has been these twenty centuries of God's continuous coming. But the promised world is amazing in its breadth and depth. God's love gives us the opportunity to be truthful about ourselves and our world, and thus to begin to see the difference that love makes for all, not just a chosen few. Who warns us to flee from the wrath that is coming? John does. Pay heed! Death is coming. Winter is upon us. Yet, in the midst of all the things that we lose, comes the promise of life and healing for all the world. John's word of truth to power hits us square between the eyes. But it is not without an inkling of hope, if we only have ears to hear it.