December 4, 2022 Sermon
Sermon title: "John the Baptist"
Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12
(Other lectionary choices include Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72:1-7 and 18-19, and Romans 15:4-13.)
Matthew 3:1-12
The Proclamation of John the Baptist
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."
It has always seemed strange to me that before we can celebrate the birth of Jesus, the lectionary makes us hear about John the Baptist first. You and I would prefer to sing Christmas carols and coo over the baby Jesus, but the authors of the lectionary - whoever they were, and they lived a long time ago - rather insist that we hear about John the Baptist first. While I'd rather sing Christmas carols and enjoy peace and love and harmony, I also see the reason for making us face the stern countenance of Jesus's cousin John the Baptist.
The reason is that God's message is a two-edged sword. Yes, God so loved the world, as we all know from John 3:16 - but something is required of us, too, and that is that we repent and pledge to live a new life. Wait! Don't we do that at Lent, right before Easter? Yes, we do. But perhaps we need to be reminded of that need to repent more than once a year, so how about now, during Advent? If you think about it, the ecclesiastical color (PURPLE) is the same for Advent and for Lent, and the ecclesiastical color for Christmas is WHITE, the same as for Easter. So, there are some similarities in both seasons. And in both seasons there is a call for soul-searching and honest appraisals of ourselves.
The coming of John the Baptist may have reminded the Gospel writers of Elijah. He lived in the wilderness, too, and he may have worn similar clothing, such as camel's hair and a leather belt. I'm not sure that Elijah ate locusts and wild honey, but he DID live in the wilderness. Also, before the Messiah would come, it was thought that Elijah would come first. So, for the Gospel writers, John fit the bill. If there was a wilderness character such as John the Baptist on the scene, could the Messiah be far behind? The Gospel writers thought NO.
There is so much symbolism in today's Scripture reading. John's contemporaries knew their ancestors had gone through the Red Sea in escaping Egypt when Moses led them out. Now John was urging them to go through the Red Sea of baptism, representing a new cleansing, a new preparation for something that was special: the coming of the Lord. But what did that look like? Even John wasn't certain. Remember later on when John sends his own disciples to Jesus, asking him, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" In a way, I feel sorry for John the Baptist, because he was beheaded before he ever saw Jesus fulfill his mission. John, in a way, represents that passage from Hebrews that says faith involves believing in things that are as yet unseen. John had faith that God was doing something, even if he wasn't sure WHAT! I have to admire that kind of faith, that kind of trust in God. John was faithful before he got to see any results of his faith. Do you ever feel like that? Sometimes the life of faith involves putting one foot in front of the other, trusting that God's will will be done, even if it's after I am no longer here! That's faith! That's the kind of faith the prophets had and also the kind of faith John the Baptist had. And - I believe - the kind of faith that Jesus had. His life wasn't so rosy, and even if he was God's Son, he still suffered frustration that his disciples didn't always "get it", and he must have wondered while he was in agony on the cross, Did I do the right thing? We all know he said, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Even Jesus must have wondered sometimes whether what he was doing was God's will.
Back to John the Baptist, the title of this sermon....
The Pharisees and Sadducees irritated John because they thought they could simply go through the motions without really changing their lives. And what REALLY irritated him was their pride. They thought that since they were descendants of Abraham, they might get a free pass from God. WRONG, said John. God the Creator could create children of Abraham from STONES, if he wanted to. If one is serious about repentance, one must DO something, or STOP doing what is wrong. That's what "bearing fruit" means. If you are truly sorry, you'll live a changed life. The "fruit" you will bear will be doing good things which you have never done before. And - in the Pharisees's case - you'll stop looking down on those you think are "beneath" you.
In Christianity, we talk a lot about being "Saved" by grace. That's fine, and I personally believe we ARE saved by God's grace. Nobody DESERVES anything. But there is another side to being saved by grace: the TRULY saved person will share the love that God has shown to him or her. The TRULY saved person will - in other words - "bear fruit". For example, if God has forgiven your sins, shouldn't you forgive others? The answer is YES! The book of James says that faith without works is dead. I think that's one of the things John the Baptist was saying. If you really are a changed person, act like it! I have always loved "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Ebeneezer Scrooge was sort of "scared" into being a compassionate person, but he changed, and that is sort of a minor miracle. I love Dickens' words about the changed Scrooge: "Scrooge was better than his word", he wrote. So, change is possible. Dickens thought so, and so did John the Baptist. And so too did Jesus. But John reminds us in fairly stark terms that there is a price to pay for NOT changing, and Jesus says the same thing, although maybe not as starkly as John. To quote N. T. Wright, who wrote the commentary "Matthew for Everyone", "Jesus' own mission was quite different from what people sometimes imagine; the comfort and healing of his kingdom-message was balanced by the stern and solemn warning that when God comes back he demands absolute allegiance. If God really is God, he isn't simply the kindly, indulgent, easy-going parent we sometimes imagine." In other words, he isn't "Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild", as some of us like to think. He's got a little bit of John the Baptist in him. And remember, they were related! Amen.
Pastor Skip
