In my life before becoming ordained, I was a teacher. In one of my classes was a little lad called “Good news”. It has, I’m sorry to say somewhat altered my reaction to the phrase good news, because he was one of the most ironically named children I’ve ever met. Good news, was certainly in no way good news in my classroom.
In my head Good News isn’t always good.
And when we read in the gospel that John the Baptist was preaching good news to the crowd, but then read some of the things he says to them, the crowds may have agreed with me!
I’ve heard some snappy sermon starters, but calling your congregation a brood of vipers, is definitely not what they teach you at vicar school. That said, this wilderness proclamation does seem to have three teaching points, so he wouldn’t have failed entirely. First John gives out an abrupt warning. Second, when the Israelites ask what they can do, he gives them instruction on how to live. And finally, John does what God tasked him with doing, preparing the way for the coming Messiah.
So, why such harsh words for the gathered crowds who had come to be baptized by him? This proclamation sets John up as the latest and, if we believe later New Testament writers, the last in a long line of Israel’s prophets. However, John has an important message to the Israelites that the coming Messiah is for everyone, Gentiles as well as those who can claim Abraham as their forefather. He warns them that judgment is near, and that judgment will not be determined on the basis of religious, cultural, or ethnic identity but rather on the conduct of one’s life and belief in Jesus.
I can only remember being smacked as a child twice, once because I was making too much noise during the Antiques Roadshow (which is frankly ridiculous!) and once because I was about to walk out in to the road with out having looked. In that instance I needed to be snapped to attention and realise the danger I was in. It is this effect that John the Baptist intends with his verbal smack to the Israelites. To wake them from the lethargy of the status quo, assuming their eternal safety through their birth right. I wonder what it would be for us, individually, collectively that we could do with being shaken out of, what do we assume as our modern birth rights that have created a new status quo for us?
Far from being offended at his harsh words, the crowd respond with a very pragmatic question; “What then shall we do?” v10. The question seems fair, in his first warning John says that fruitless trees will be cut down and thrown into the fire, and so the Israelites are asking, “well what does it look like to bear fruit?” In the following verses, John gives concrete ethical instruction to those gathered. Whoever has two cloaks should share one. The same with food. For tax collectors: collecting too much is an occupational temptation; don’t do it. Soldiers: do not falsely accuse anyone; don’t shake down people for money, be satisfied with your salary.
After announcing impending judgement more than a little vim and vigour, this advice seems fairly ordinary, even a little mundane. To the (presumably poor) crowds: “Share.” To the tax collectors, “Be fair.” To soldiers, “Don’t bully.”
You can almost feel the crowds muttering to one another, “is that it? That’s a bit simple.” And the is point that yes it is simple, because they, we haven’t got that simple bit right yet. I think that often the assumption is that salvation is a simple one off thing that we master. But just as we don’t simply go from being unwell to well, we similarly don’t click our fingers and achieve perfection. It is a process, a daily choice and a life’s work. It’s not linear. Holiness and spiritual health is about making good choices every day. And so when asked what they need to do in response to his rebuke, John tells the gathered crowd quite simply what God has always and will always require of us, to love him and to love others.
And as we come to verse 15, we are told that the crowd were filled with expectation because of all that John has said to them. Verses 15-17 depicts him doing exactly what he has just advised. That is, he shows that he knows his role, and he refuses to push beyond the bounds of his authority. When the people wonder whether John himself is the promised Messiah, he responds by underlining his inferiority to the one who is coming, and the ultimate authority that one will have.
We are then told that he continues to preach the good news to the people.
In this proclamation John takes the crowd from rebuke, through explanation, to example. Expounding on his earlier message of this chapter that the time to repent is close at hand; the new reign of the kingdom of God is near; that the time of the long promised Messiah is here.
As we come to this the third Sunday of advent, the message is the same; the time for waiting is almost over. And so should we hear John’s words afresh for ourselves this morning. John brought the good news to the crowds, that participating in God’s new kingdom is available to them where they are. It is entirely within their reach: “Share. Be fair. Don’t bully.”
It may not be heroic, but it is something they can do. It is something, when you think about it, that anyone can do. Which means that it is something we can do, too.
To heed John’s word of warning, to live a life worthy of repentance, and respond with joyful hearts to the good news.
Amen.
Service: Reverend Lex Bradley-Stow. 16th December 2024. (St John The Baptist Church Peterborough UK)
Readings: Luke 3: 7-18