John the Pastor

Sermon for Dec. 12, 2021

Luke 3:7-18

You know, sometimes the Word of God is hazy and complex – poetry that needs explication or history that needs context to make any sense to us.  Other times, the Word is very near you, in the sense that it names what you already know, deep down.  And when that happens, I think it’s OK for the sermon to be shorter than usual.  Maybe a lot shorter than usual.  You’re welcome.

I have to say, the last line of today’s Gospel reading always makes me chuckle.  John the Baptist calls his audience a “brood of vipers” (3:7); and he warns them God is going to hack at the roots of their society and chop down the trees that don’t bear fruit.  Then, at harvest time, God will gather up the good wheat but burn off the chaff “with unquenchable fire” (3:17).  After 17 verses of this, Luke says, “So, with many other exhortations, [John] proclaimed the good news to the people” (3:18)  I wonder whether Luke meant it as a laugh line.  Probably not, but it certainly does show that, in good writing, audience matters.  It all depends who you are and what you’re doing as to whether the Word of God comes to you as good news or bad. 

Last week, Luke introduced John the Baptist as the voice of one crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord – the prophet who announces the coming of God to save.  And for John, it’s pretty clear how we’re supposed to prepare for the coming of God With Us:  He’s calling the people to “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (3:3). 

We call him John the Baptist or John the Baptizer, but a better name for him, oddly enough, might be “John the Pastor.”  Now, that may sound strange.  When we imagine someone being “pastoral,” we might think of warm-and-fuzzy Jesus, cuddling little children; or maybe we think of a kindly clergy person showing up at a bedside.  But my pastoral theology professor in seminary liked to say that “being pastoral means telling the truth.”  Well, what we get in today’s reading is God’s truth, the prophet in the wilderness speaking directly for the Lord, like Isaiah or Amos or Zephaniah.  But here’s the thing about John’s proclamation:  Probably nothing he says in today’s reading really comes as a surprise.  Right?  This is John’s “good news,” but there isn’t much “news” to it. 

So, what is this truth we already know that God is using John the Pastor to tell us?

First, there’s this:  Don’t assume that just because you’re on the right team, that means you’re in right relationship with God.  “I’ve been baptized; I’m a member of fill-in-the-blank church – so I must be good for eternal life, right?”  Not so fast, says John the Pastor.  Relationship is about action, not about affiliation or even intent.  “Bear fruits worthy of repentance,” John says.  Act in ways that flesh out what it means to turn in God’s direction and take a kingdom path.

OK, says the crowd out there in the wilderness.  But what does it look like to turn in God’s direction and take a kingdom path?  What should we do?  You already know the answer, John says.  Share with those who have less than you do.  Live and work in ways that don’t take advantage of people who have less power or privilege than you do.  This isn’t rocket science; it’s what we were supposed to have learned growing up.  Are there kids in Haiti who need the kind of opportunity that only an education can bring?  Well, then buy an Advent card and pay the teacher’s salary for one of them.  Are there people in Kansas City working more than one job but struggling to buy boots or coats for their kids?  Well, then give to the Free Store, or go serve there yourself and help people find what they need.  And these St. Andrew’s opportunities to pass the peace are just a couple among a million other ways those of us who have two coats can share with someone who has none.

So, what happens if we ignore John the Pastor?  Well, he says, the Lord is coming to baptize us with the Holy Spirit – yea! – and with fire – hmmm….  The Messiah, God’s anointed king, is coming to stir up within us those actions that put flesh and bones on turning and following God.  But to the extent we trust in our own goodness, or ignore people who have less than we do, or take advantage of others because our broken systems let us – that’s not fruit worthy of repentance.  In fact, that’s not fruit at all.  It’s just chaff, the scaly, dry husk around the grains of wheat that the reaper has to pound or grind off and burn away at harvest time.

I don’t hear these words from John the Pastor as a threat that we’re going to burn in hell if we aren’t good enough in this life.  I hear these words as a call to get better.  We don’t need the fires of hell for that because I think we experience plenty of fire in this life as it is.  Right now, in this first chapter of eternal life – this is our time to examine our hearts and our actions, and see what about us needs to be ground off and burned away. 

That’s why these words from John the Pastor are good news for us as individuals and good news for the world.  Because the world will look like God’s vision of justice and right relationship – among us and between us and God – when we let God burn away our chaff: the self-justifications, the excuses, the “me first” culture that benefits those who already benefit from it.  Finding right relationship with God and one another isn’t rocket science.  It’s listening for the voice in the wilderness, hearing what God’s trying to say, and acting on the truth we already know.