Luke 3:7-18 * December 17, 2006 * Advent III * Pastor Pagels
In the name of the One who was and who is and who is to come, dear friends:
Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? When it comes to my favorite Christmas candy (peanut brittle), maybe. When it comes to some Christmas songs playing on the radio twenty four hours a day, seven days a week for the past month or so, definitely. But what about Advent? What about the key figures in Advent? Is it possible to spend too much time talking about John the Baptist?
I ask the question because this past week has been “John the
Baptist week” at
So has enough been said about him? Would another John the Baptist sermon be overkill? Is it time to move on to something else? If you want my answer to those questions, all you have to do is look at the theme for this sermon.
Many of us know that John’s ministry had a laser-like focus. The Lord called him to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. Most of us are familiar with John’s message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2). Because John preached to large crowds of people, his message was understandably general in nature.
What makes the gospel lesson for today unique, what makes this text worthy of our consideration (even if the last two sermons preached from this pulpit had to do with John the Baptist), is the fact that that John gets personal. He speaks about his personal relationship with Jesus. He speaks to sinners about their personal relationship with God. And with the Holy Spirit’s guidance this morning, John the Baptist will help us see that the ultimate Advent figure is also…
JOHN: THE ULTIMATE ADVENT EXAMPLE
I. Listen to what he said
II. Look at what he did
Today there is no gospel in the gospel. The last verse of the gospel lesson reports that John “exhorted the people and preached the good news to them” (18), but that’s it. There is no mention of Jesus’ sacrificial death. There is no mention of God’s love. You can look long and hard and not find a single word about mercy or forgiveness or salvation.
Instead the gospel lesson for today is dominated by the
law. When the people came to out into
the wilderness to be baptized by John, listen to how he greeted them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance”
(7,8a).
And John didn’t stop there.
If we use boxing terms, we could say that John followed this left jab
with a roundhouse right. He continues: “And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We
have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell
you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham’” (8b).
Either John could read their sinful minds or (more likely) he had heard this flawed reasoning before: “We can’t be that bad. After all we are Abraham’s children, and that makes us God’s children. If you aren’t convinced, we have the DNA to prove it.”
But God wasn’t impressed, and neither was John. He wanted the people to understand that their genetic connection to Abraham wasn’t the same as their spiritual relationship with God. He wanted them to see the connection between what they believed and the way they lived: “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (9).
With John’s stinging indictment ringing in their ears, the people had to make a decision. Would they listen to John or would they reject him? Would they take his words to heart or would they dismiss him as a crazy man who had gotten too much sun in the desert?
The crowd collectively asked John: “What should we do then” ((10)? This was the response John had hoped for. This response demonstrates how powerful God’s Word is. This question shows that John’s message struck a nerve. The people (at least some of them) recognized that they had done wrong, and they wanted to make things right.
And John didn’t hesitate to give them some simple
instructions: “‘The man with two tunics
should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the
same.’ Tax collectors also came to be
baptized. ‘Teacher,’ they asked, ‘what
should we do?’ ‘Don’t collect any more
than you are required to,’ he told them.
Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’ He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t
accuse people falsely—be content with your pay’” (11-14).
John mentions two specific groups of people who wanted to come clean. He told the tax collectors to be honest. He told a group of soldiers to be content. Luke’s gospel doesn’t mention anyone else, but Matthew reports that there was another group that had gone out to see John.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were there, but they remained silent. They didn’t ask John what they needed to do because they believed that they had done enough. Why go to confession if you don’t have anything to confess? Why get washed (i.e. be baptized) if you are already clean? And with this self-righteous reasoning, they assured themselves that John’s words of warning did not apply.
I want you to imagine that you are one of the people in that crowd. You have never heard anyone speak like John before. You have never been called a snake before. It doesn’t take long for John’s words to make you feel uncomfortable. And soon it becomes clear that you will have to make a decision. Will you beat your breast in sorrow or will you clench your fists in anger? Will you make confession or will you make excuses? Will you ask for forgiveness or will you demand an apology?
Sometimes our silence speaks volumes. Sometimes we can be just as pharisaical as the Pharisees. We may not be perfect, but we aren’t that bad. We go to church. We give to church. We cruise through the confession of sins at the beginning of the service, almost as if those words don’t apply to us anymore.
But they do. On a
daily basis we do what is evil and fail to do what is good. We deserve God’s punishment, both now and in
eternity. We need to kneel down next to
the tax collector in the temple and pray: “God,
have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke
Because we are sinful through and through, it is extremely important for us to listen to what John said. But that is not the only way John speaks to us this morning. We can learn more from him by looking at what he did.
When the people compared what John the Baptist was doing with the prophecies about the promised Messiah, they saw some amazing parallels, so many that some began to wonder out loud: “Is it possible? Could it be? Could John be the One? Could this man be the Christ?”
John knew what the people were thinking. John heard what the people were saying. He could have let those words go to his head. He could have forsaken his divine mission and built his own little kingdom in the desert, but he didn’t.
Instead John explained his relationship with Jesus in words
that could not be misunderstood: “I
baptize you with water. But one more
powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to
untie. He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and with fire” (16).
John didn’t say those things so that the people would be
impressed by how humble he was. He meant
what he said. He believed what he
said. Compared with the almighty Son of
God, John was nothing. He didn’t even
deserve to untie Jesus’ shoes. And when
John’s followers tried to convince him otherwise, he replied: “He (Jesus) must become greater; I must
become less” (John
The people wanted a Messiah.
John pointed them to the true Messiah, but as he did he also wanted them
to understand what they were asking for: “His
winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor and to gather the
wheat in his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (17).
Most people (even many non-Christians) would agree that Jesus was a wonderful man, a man who loved people. While that is very true, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Jesus loves sinners, but he also hates sin. In fact, he won’t tolerate it.
The one who said “Let
the little children come to me (Matthew
It’s easy to picture Jesus with his arms outstretched and a warm smile on his face. It’s not so easy to see him with a pitch fork in his hand pointing sinners to hell. Jesus condemns sin. Jesus forgives sin. This is the paradox of God’s justice and God’s mercy. This is a divine mystery. This is something that needs to be explained. And in his role as the forerunner of the Messiah that is what John the Baptist did.
To say that John was a bit eccentric would be an understatement. He wore a camel hair coat and a leather belt. He ate bugs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. While his clothes will never be considered stylish, while it is highly unlikely that his diet will ever hit the mainstream, the one who came before Jesus sets an excellent example for Jesus’ followers.
From John the Baptist we learn what it means to be faithful. It didn’t bring John any personal satisfaction to feed the crowds a steady diet of fire and brimstone. John didn’t have a smile on his face when he called the people a bunch of snakes. John’s work was hard, but he did it anyway.
He did it because he wanted to be faithful to his calling. He did it because he wanted to be faithful to the One who had called him. He did it because he understood this fundamental truth: Before sinners can fully grasp the good news that Jesus is their Savior, they need to come to grips with their own sinfulness.
From John the Baptist we also learn what it means to be humble. This is the time of year when many people decorate the outside of their homes with bright (and sometimes colorful) spotlights. Sometimes those lights get moved out of position by the wind or snow or squirrels. And they will stay that way until someone points them back in the right direction. That’s what John did. When the people were misguided, John pointed them in the right direction. When the people wanted to shine the spotlight on him, John redirected them to Jesus.
We don’t have to wear what John wore. We don’t have eat what John ate. But when it comes to Christian character, when it comes to Christian qualities like faithfulness and humility, we could read the Bible from cover to cover and not find a better example.
I believe that John would be flattered to hear those words, but I have a feeling that the very next words out of his mouth would be: “Don’t look at me. Look for the one who is coming after me. Look to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Amen.