Year A Advent 2 "You've Been Warned"

Year A Advent 2, 4 Dec 2016

“You’ve Been Warned”

St. David’s Episcopal, Aylett, VA

Collect for Advent 2: Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Matthew 3:1-12
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This 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.’”
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But 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? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do 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. 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.

“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. His 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.”

Maybe it is saying something about us as a people, on my alarm on my phone I have 30 different tunes, melodies, or nature noises to pick to wake up to, most of them relaxing and pleasant. At the very bottom of the list, in its own category is a single item Regular Alarm Sound. Maybe we have become a little thin-skinned, but an alarm is supposed to get us out of bed. It is called an ALARM, right? [Play alarm on phone]

There are many things you could say about John the Baptizer, but being a welcoming host is not one of them. But that is not his role. Far from it. Last week, Advent 1, we were told to Wake Up! If last week we were to wake up, this week we get the Alarm Clock. John has a very specific function and role. Alarms used to be loud, obnoxious, and jarring. Intentionally jarring. John does that!

[Shouting] Good morning, you brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

And that is how John begins. He obviously did not attend the Church Growth Seminar.  He was not the relaxed and groovy kind of guy. He was a Wild Man in all the senses of that word.

His description though tells us something more. Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. John was a Nazarite. And Nazarites were dedicated to God, that is where the name comes from. Nazar, Hebrew for ‘dedicated,’ one who is dedicated to God. That could be for a season, from a certain point, or since birth. Luke tells us that John was dedicated to God from birth, and we can assume he was a Nazarite from birth. Two other famous Nazarites were Samson and Samuel from Israel’s history.

Nazarites took certain vows. They could not cut their hair, they could not drink alcohol of any sort or consume vinegar made from alcohol, and they could not defile themselves by touching a dead body. In his clothing, John could not wear anything spun or braided. So his camel skin poncho, and his leather strap made from a single piece of leather were appropriate. It was proper for a Nazarite, and also for a kook, a Wild Man, as I said. He lived out in the boonies, declaring the departure from the way of the Lord that his society had taken, and he calls them to repentance.

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.’

He was there to get ready. He was there to make sure all was set for the one who was to come.

If you have ever heard of the famous Potemkin, the chief advisor to Catherine the Great, the Tsarina of Russia, a story is told of how the empress wanted to see her country in all its splendor. She lived under the delusion that her country was wealthy and important, but Potemkin knew of the poverty and hardship of the peasants living in Ukraine and the Crimea, what they called New Russia which had been devastated by war, and he knew that the truth was too  much for Catherine to handle. This is in the 1780s when we were busy recovering from the Revolution and establishing our own country.

As the story is told, Potemkin had a barge full of cardboard and fake fronts for houses, enough to have it appear to be a full and thriving village. Potemkin had his crew land the barge along the Dnieper River, unpack and set up the entire village, and then the crew would “populate” it for a royal visit by Catherine. Once her Highness left, the crew would dismantle the village, load up the barge, ship it down the river, and do it all over again. Supposedly this deception worked.

Potemkin prepared the way, but it was all a lie. And this type of deception is the very thing that John wanted to avoid. He did not facades covering stone-cold hearts, he wanted tilled soil, fertile ground able to receive the new life that would come with the promised Messiah.

“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.”

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruit worthy of repentance,

for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

This is what he sad to the Church-y people, the ones who saw themselves as righteous. Being baptized by John was the religiously popular thing to do right then, just like the religious fads we still go through. Remember the WWJD bracelets from a few years ago, or the ridiculous Prayer of Jabez book? The Pharisees and Sadducees were coming and joining in the throngs who were coming to John, because it was the religiously popular thing to do.

John did not want a change in his numbers, he wanted a change in lives.

Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

John is making it very clear, live your life to show your life change. Do not go through the motions here in the Jordan River, and not go through the motions by living your life in such a way when you get back home!

Do 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.

God wants real followers and he will raise them up! He does not need people who give lip service, or come from the right families. Where you came from means nothing. Where you are going means EVERYTHING!

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.

The proof is in the pudding.

Don’t tell me what you believe. Show me!

You may be the only Bible some people may ever read.

However you want to say it, you have to be producing good from how you live your life. It could not be more simple than that.

“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. His 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.”

Now is the time to make changes. There is a time when it is too late. Your choice will be made for you. Change while you can.

I was a teacher for over ten years, and when I was new to that, I thought that people would do what I say. How naive. But after a while I learned a few things. People want choices. Especially young  people. And often I would see a young person about to make a horrible decision. I used to yell. I used to command. All that did was make more noise. And the fire that it lit, was all heat and no light. And then I found a better way.

After a seeing better teachers at work I saw another way. I would pull the young person aside, and say, “You have these options. You can do what you were about to do, and then I will have to do this as a response.” I would then describe the response to their choices. I would continue, “You can do this other thing, what you are supposed to be doing, and you will be fine. Or, you can take a time-out, step out into the hall, and cool down, clear your head, and get back in here and be on track. What would you like to do? What is your choice?”

And you know what, they often, like 90% of the time, chose to cool off or get back on track. It totally changed my classroom. Far more quiet. Far more productive. I was seen as a much better teacher, and a coach for other teachers, but what it actually was was that I was a better person. I learned that the only person I had to control was myself. In fact, the only person I can control is myself. And John is doing that here. He is telling the religious powers that be, to get there act together, and not worry about trying to control anybody else. His language is loud and abrasive, because it is an alarm. You do not whisper, “Fire!” You do not hint at , “Danger!”

When Jesus was to come, the one he was and we are preparing to welcome, he does not want us to be crooked, he wants a straight path into our hearts and minds, and we are the only ones who can make our paths straight. With God’s help, of course. Because, you see, a time is coming when our options will no longer be on the table, and our decisions will have been made. Staying Silent is a choice. Not Acting is a choice. Both have their consequences. As the prophet cries, Choose you this day whom you will serve.

We hear the alarm. How will we respond? Hit the snooze? Turn it off and roll over. We were told to wake up. We have heard the cry of Alarm. Where is the road you are on taking you? Now is the time, today is the day. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight.”

In our Collect today we prayed. “Give us grace to heed [the prophets’] warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.” The cry of the Alarm is not to frighten us or to worry us, but to save us. When Jesus comes, we want to greet him with JOY, not regret, not fear and trembling. May it be so. Amen.