Advent is the time for repentance

I’m quite conscious of the fact that Barry preached on this reading and this topic this morning, and even more conscious that Barry is here now. Normally I wouldn’t have done this. If I was preaching in the evening I’d have found other readings, but in fact in some ways John the Baptist is Advent, because Advent is as much about preparing to meet Jesus in glory at the second coming as it is about welcoming the Christ-child at Christmas.

The heart of the account of John the Baptist is his call to repentance; “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. This is why we hear this passage at this time of year. It’s Advent; we are preparing to meet Jesus and there is no way to Jesus that doesn’t involve saying sorry, that doesn’t involve facing up to the things that we have got wrong, and doesn’t involve reorienting ourselves from whatever we have been doing towards God.

And that’s what this sermon is about; repentance.

I want to make two points about repentance.

The first is that we have to repent from things. Things we have got wrong. It’s a bit obvious really, but it’s worth stating again. Repentence is about turning, and it’s about turning from something that is bad.

What’s interesting about this passage is that there are two kinds of people here, apart from John, and they represent two different attitudes.

Firstly, there are the people who are being baptized, “Confessing their sins, they were baptized by John in the Jordan River” We know there were lots of people, and we know that they came from a large area. Matthew tells us “People went out to John from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.” That’s a pretty big area and so doesn’t sound like a few people, and they were baptized in the Jordan; immersed in the Jordan, which implies that the sins that they we being cleaned of were great; symbolically you don’t wash of a small amount of sin by immersing someone.

But what interests me is that there are no details about what the sins were, and I think there is a reason why scripture doesn’t tell us, it’s so we can imagine that the sins they were concerned about were the same sins that concern us. That what worked for them works for us, that the God who accepts them after they have repented is the same God who accepts us. There is no one who wants to confess and be baptized being turned away.

So that is the first group, what was the second? Well it was the Sadducees and Pharisees, who had come to where John was baptizing. They hadn’t come to be baptized. If they had the bible would have told us, and if they were genuinely confessing their sins and being baptized John wouldn’t have taken offence at them, I think.

What does John say to them? John says “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” In other words, they aren’t relying on God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness to a repentant sinner; they are relying on their religion and the fact that they are descended from Abraham to save them.

We tend to see sin as things we do that arise from pride and hard heartedness. Our pride, our wanting to be first, makes us behave in ways that hurt other people. To tackle our sin, we have to face up to our pride. It’s a view of sin which is reinforced by those proud Sadducees and Pharisees in this story, proudly standing aloof from all the confessing and baptising.

But that isn’t the only form of sin say the Feminist theologians. Because lots of people, mostly women, but not only women, spend their lives thinking of other people, putting other people first; their children, or their husbands, or their parents; sometimes all at the same time. Not looking after themselves, putting themselves last and doing themselves down. Being less than they ought to be, because they think less of themselves. That too is a sin, to accept ourselves as less than God sees us through a sense of belittling ourselves is something we need to repent of, to turn from, too.

And that’s important at Christmas, and as we prepare for Christmas, because there is great pressure to be joyful and have things just so at Christmas time. It’s important to give yourself space to feel, to feel what ever you feel, maybe joy, but maybe grief, maybe fear..that this is going to be another rotten Christmas. Christmas can be hard when everyone else seems to be having fun and you feel lousy. Repentance begins with recognising where we are, what we are, how we are, and bringing it before God.

Because that’s the second thing I want to say about repentance; its not just about turning from something, our sin, whatever that is; it’s about turning towards something; it’s about turning towards God. Without God it’s not repentance.

And most of all its about turning to the God who was willing to be born into a cold world where he would live in danger as a child and die on a cross as an adult. It’s about turning to a God who was willing to become a baby and be utterly dependant on a human mother, and to give up heaven to do so. A God who was willing to become human to teach us, to show us, what holy living really is like. A God who became human to lead us home to the father.

Would not such a God forgive anything that a truly repentant person asked. Has not God proved a thousand times over his absolute commitment to loving us, forgiving us and restoring us to a proper relationship with the father and to each other. What is it about us, about me, that we forget so easily and so quickly? “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?” Peter asked Jesus once, “Up to seven times?” “Not seven times, seventy times seven times.” Jesus replies. It’s what he commands us, but it’s also how he treats us

Repentance isn't about trying to pacify an angry God. We don't beg God for mercy. God isn't far away, and he waits for us to turn to him, longs for us to turn to him. And repentance isn't about dwelling on our sins. Telling ourselves that we are worse than we are, telling ourselves we’re worthless.

It's a miracle, it's a mystery but god loves us. He longs for us to turn to him. He longs for us to repent and ask for forgiveness. He longs for our relationship with him to be restored.

How much does he love us? Enough to be born as a baby. To become human. That's what we celebrate in a few weeks; Jesus among us; Emmanuel; God with us. This is the sign that god loves us, that he vwants to forgive us; that he wants us to follow him.

We aren't quite there yet, in a couple of weeks we will celebrate, but we are still in advent and advent involves waiting; in expectation. So let's be expectant, let's wait on God, let's reflect on what he has done for us and what he means to us; let's wait expectantly and reverently for our God to come.

Explain how I’m going to