Advent 2A- Change or…
December 4, 2022
by the Rev. Cortney Dale
Matthew 3:1-12
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This 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.’”
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But 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? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do 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. Even 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.
“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. His 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.”
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.”
I don’t know a lot of people who appreciate being told to repent. Chances are, if someone has implored you to repent, there might’ve been a bullhorn involved from a stranger on a street corner. And when they told you to repent, they might’ve really meant they want you to fit their own narrow and dubious definition of Christian. It’s usually the opposite of a pleasant experience and I have yet to hear about anyone’s spiritual journey beginning with a bullhorn.
So it’s hard to hear John the Baptist telling his audience to repent and for us to not recoil for a moment. But if you pay attention to our gospel reading, you’ll notice, no one recoiled, no one ignored. Whatever John was doing and saying, the crowd was compelled. They were waiting in line to be baptized by him and experience this repentance. John had something that made people listen to him and with all of his charisma and popularity, he uses that to the point to what or who is to come- someone who baptizes with fire.
I read this week about a study done and they were trying to look at what motivates people to change. They tracked people who had serious but changeable health conditions. These were people who essentially had their doctor sit them down and told them it was change or die. Eat more vegetables, take more walks, give up cigarettes… or die. They tracked these patients and after two years, do you know how many were keeping up the healthy life? How many out of 10? One. Turns out, not many of us are motivated by the change or die
I think this tells me when I read about this scene with John the Baptist is that they weren’t running away from something scary but they were running towards something that was good.
Tomorrow is December 5th and in the church calendar, that is the feast day of St. Nicholas of Myra- a very real and historic bishop of the early church. Saint Nicholas (when he wasn’t a part of the Council of Nicea and contributing parts of what we read as the Nicene Creed) was known for his generosity. His wealthy parents died when he was young and he gave much of his fortune away. There was one family he knew that had three daughters and was very poor. In those days, to marry off a daughter, families would need a dowry to offer. Without a dowry, these girls would have been destined for a life of slavery and/or prostitution. Saint Nicholas knew this and wanting to help this family, he walked by their house at night and secretly threw a sack of gold coins for each of their girls.
Saint Nicholas also has a modern counterpart in Santa Claus. You don’t have to listen very hard to hear parents in our community reminding their young kids that Santa is watching and keeping a list of who’s been naughty or nice and this list will determine the magic (or lack of magic) on Christmas morning. Rumor has it that Santa’s technology has advanced to the point where some families have actual elves living in their homes to keep an eye on day to day behavior. Panopticon much?
We will let Santa be Santa, but I’m here to tell you that as far as St. Nicholas worked and as far as God is concerned, that’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works. If you paid close attention, you’ll notice that St. Nicholas never stopped to consider whether the girls deserved his gifts, whether they were nice enough or too naughty, Likewise, God doesn’t operate like that: Repentance isn’t a carrot on a stick, it’s not a transaction where we can barter our good works for grace. True repentance is letting God lead our hearts somewhere new, and it’s changing both our minds and our actions towards a better way.
John the Baptist cried out as a voice in the wilderness “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.”
And John sees the religious authorities coming and he calls them a brood of vipers. And I love this because it’s more than just a punchy insult. In the first century, vipers were a real threat. As John Shea wrote, “Vipers lurk along footpaths and spring out at travelers from beneath rocks. If a path is going to be cleared, it must be freed of vipers. Their poison stops progress.” That’s a strong metaphor, because it suggests a certain attitude toward God. Far too many religious authorities, both in the first century and today, are eager to sit in judgment over everyone else: waiting for you to trip up and then springing out from behind a rock to say, “ha! Gotcha!”
And that bleeds into the way they talk about God, making God into a great cosmic Elf on a Shelf, just watching and waiting for any excuse — whether it’s an unwitting mistake in a religious ritual, or cutting someone off in traffic, or even doing the right thing with the wrong attitude — to give you a lump of coal. If you don’t do everything right, there’s going to be hell to pay — literally. And if you screw up, the only way to get right with God is to get right with the religious authorities who control access to God — which means more sacrifice from you, and more profit for them.
That’s the attitude of the “brood of vipers” John the Baptist sees… but he offers a better path. A repentance, a washing-away. This isn’t an easy way out, by any means; as Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, grace is free, but grace is not cheap. Repentance requires a real turning-away, a real intention to allow God to take control and a real commitment not to return our hearts to the well-worn path they were on. This repentance requires change and vulnerability.
But at the same time, as painful and as tough as repentance can be, it’s still good news — because the message John brought was that no one is so infected with sin that they are irredeemable. You, too, can be free of the sins and the pain and the heartache that come from the sinful nature that infects all of us… and the only one you have to get right with is God. You don’t have to pay off some external religious authority, you just have to re-align your heart from the path it’s on, to the path that leads to the Kingdom.
The Kingdom of Heaven is near, so prepare yourself by repenting and turning away from the darkness and towards the light. No wonder so many people saw John the Baptist, this weirdo in the desert who ate locusts and wild honey and preached repentance, as a sign of hope and renewal.
As of today, we’re now 20 days away from Christmas Eve. In three weeks, we’re going to welcome the embodiment of the Kingdom of Heaven into the world, taking the form of a vulnerable newborn baby who will grow up to be the very man John the Baptist is pointing to when he says that someone is coming who will baptize with fire.
The Kingdom of Heaven is coming, any minute now, like a thief in the night… so now is the time to ask ourselves the hard question. Now is the time to listen for the voice in the wilderness. Now is the time to run not just away from the bad, but to run towards the good Kingdom.
