The Rev. Mark Pendleton

December 12, 2021 3 Advent The Rev. Mark Pendleton Luke 3:7-18 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin 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." And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation and be satisfied with your wages." As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. ++++ This morning there a more than a few gems from our readings to lift us up, inspire, and for us to sit with for a bit. From Zephaniah: you shall fear disaster no more. Do not fear. God will renew you in his love. I will bring you home. From Philippians: Rejoice in the Lord always. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything. The peace of God will guard your hearts. We need these words now more than ever. This week we learned that New Hampshire has the highest rate of Covid per capita than any state in the country. Exeter Hospital and its staff are straining under the weight of cases. We could all use a good dose of rejoicing. Leave it to John the Baptist to crash the joy party on this Third Sunday of Advent. Back in the day when Advent was a mini-Lent with a lot of fasting and penitence, this Sunday was a welcome break. It is a day set apart for being grateful and to go all in with joy. Here comes John with his odd words of welcome to those who had come out to the desert to be baptized. No rejoice. No love. No peace. Instead, he calls them: "You brood of vipers!" John -- this son of a priest - (in my home he would be referred to as a P.K. - or preacher's kid -- is never shy in using colorful language to communicate his mission of getting those with ears to hear that the only way to set things right with God is to turn. Each Advent we must move through John to get to Jesus. To call the crowd a "brood of vipers" was another way of saying that they were sons and daughters of snakes. It can sound odd to our ears and not much of a putdown but imagine hearing those words in a culture where family lineage was everything - saying that they come from a family of snakes would be like calling out someone's mother or father on the playground or basketball court today. At the very least John has our attention. As we journey further into Advent and soon move into the Christmas season, we are reminded how family and lineage fill the stories we hear. The gospel writers go to great lengths to tell us how everyone is connected. Luke tells us that the mother of John the Baptist was Elizabeth, who was a descendent of Aaron the brother of Moses. John's father was Zechariah. Mary, the mother of Jesus, would spend time in her pregnancy with that same Elizabeth, perhaps her aunt or cousin. The gospels tell us why Joseph travels to Bethlehem: because he is descended from the house of the family of David. Matthew's gospels get in the act by counting Jesus' lineage back 14 generations to the Exile in Babylon, then fourteen more generations back to Kind David, and fourteen more back to Abraham. All of this without the help of Ancestry.com. In the Bible, heritage and family matter. To a point. Because then, like today, at some point we explore the mystery that is God and Jesus as an individual. Family and tradition can open the door, but each one of us decides if we will take the first steps. At the burial office for someone who has died, we always include these longing words from Job 19, spoken in the first person: As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and that at the last he will stand upon the earth. After my awaking, he will raise me up; and in my body I shall see God. I myself shall see, and my eyes behold him who is my friend and not a stranger. We are Job - one day we hope to see God. As the crowds approached John, he says: Do not begin 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. Just like that John throws cold water over the limits of power of family and heritage alone to save one's soul and make one's life whole. Do not come out to the wilderness thinking that you have any advantage or privilege based on something totally out of your control - namely the family, tradition, race, tribe - to which you were born. But come if you want to examine your life and change. From the Iona Community Eucharist, we use often during the summer months: So, come, you who hunger and thirst for a deeper faith, for a better life, for a fairer world. This is John's invitation: decide for yourself - without family expectation or pressure - who you want to become and what kind of world you want to live in and what it is you want to hand down to those who come after. And how and where does God fit in? "For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." Family matters...and it doesn't. A tree is only good if it bears fruit, so too for a life of faith. A life - the greatest gift of all given to us by God -- is meant to be productive, but not in terms of efficiency the way we use it in business. But by the way our living reflects - even in small ways - what the gospels are all about: to lift up and encourage, to bring light, to heal what is broken, protect the innocent, and to open to change. And if John's words about stones and children of Abraham were hard for the crowd to understand, he also gave them practical ways to live and relate to one another. The crowds asked him what we ourselves often ask: "What then should we do?" Pretty basic stuff here: "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." To the tax collectors - a much despised job that was open to corruption: "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." To the soldiers among them, similar advice: "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation." As the director Spike Lee put it in his 1989 classic movie of the same name: Do the Right Thing. God's sense of family will always been larger than our own. A family where there are no outsiders, orphans, estranged relatives, feuding siblings, distant cousins, and where no one leaves the table in a huff with threats to never return. If John the Baptist still fails to inspire us this day, let me end where I began. Sit with these words from Scripture a bit during these short days and long nights: Do not fear. God will renew you in his love. I will bring you home. Rejoice in the Lord always. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything. The peace of God will guard your hearts. 2