Advent 3: What then should we do?

December 17, 2006
The Ven. Richard I. Cluett
Zephaniah 3:14-20 + Philippians 4:4-7 + Luke 3:7-18

“You brood of vipers!

Boy, is John cranky?! Perhaps one too many days on locusts and wild honey, you think? Perhaps John had never heard that proverb, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

Did those opening lines make them eager to hear what he had to say that day? I doubt it, but I think he got their attention, and he got ours as well.

But when you do that homiletically, prophetically, or even conversationally, you run the risk of so disorienting or alienating your hearers that they may miss the word that you, and – one hopes, humbly – God, have in store for them.

That could also be said for the gospel from Luke this morning. The gospel isn’t about some cranky oddball down by some riverside on the edge of some wilderness who could so easily claim our attention and distract us from what is truly important. It is not about John. It is not about indictment. It is about what God is about to do, and indeed has started doing.

It is about God’s intention for humankind and all creation, and it’s about what God is doing through Jesus Christ. It is about Good News. It is about the opportunity for Repentance, Renewal and Restoration.

Repentance, Renewal and Restoration. In other words, it is about how to get in on what God is doing, not what or who will keep you out of it.

For Luke, the One John is pointing to, the one who is coming into the world, the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with Fire, that’s Jesus, that’s the Good in the News. Jesus is the point, or as we say these days, Jesus is the reason for the season.

And lest you be concerned about that baptism of the Holy Spirit and Fire, it has already happened. It is not what is to come for you and me. It’s already happened. We call it Pentecost. And the baptism by which we baptize is a hearkening back not only to the baptism of John with water in the River Jordan, but also to the baptism he prophesied and which came to pass on Pentecost when all the believers were baptized in the Holy Spirit signified by tongues of fire.

You see? It’s all connected. It’s all part of the plan. And it is all Good News because it is about how much God wants us to know how beloved we are of God and to know that there is a way to live more and more deeply in that love, in that kingdom, under that reign – the reign of God in our hearts and in our lives and in our world. That’s what it’s all about. That’s the Good News that John has come to point to. The new opportunity for repentance renewal, and restoration – of you, me, them, the whole megillah.

John is clear. We need to be clear.

Would that we all could be as self-aware and self-defined as John; knowing precisely what our place in the scheme of thing is; knowing precisely who we are created and called to be; knowing precisely what we are to do and what we are not to do. I think that most of us most of the time don’t live there; don’t have that much certitude about ourselves or much else.

And so the crowds ask John, “What then should we do?” And the sinful tax collectors ask him, “Teacher, what should we do?” And the soldiers ask him, “And we, what should we do?”

Repentance is more than being sorry, it is a call to action, to do something. And we ask, “What are we to do?”

What are we to do as a sign that we have turned our lives in a God-ward direction? What are we to do to find a renewed spirit, to find a renewed meaning in our lives? What are we to do to help in our own restoration, the restoration of others, and the restoration of the world? “What are we to do?

And how does John answer? "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

Know what you have. Be satisfied with what you have. Share what you have. The necessities of life are to be apportioned to all, to each and everyone, do your part in that distribution.

“Do not let your hands grow weak.” “Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name; Make his deeds known among the peoples; see that they remember that his Name is exalted.” “Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone… Do not worry about anything… in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Repentance, renewal, and restoration. The incarnational enterprise. The divine initiative.

And eventually in God’s time, each one, one-by-one, will be renewed and restored – one-by-one, until in God’s time the prophecies of Zephaniah and Isaiah and John the Baptizer shall come to pass for all people, for the whole of God’s creation.

All will be renewed in God’s love,
Disaster will be removed
There will be no reproach
No one will bear the weight of oppression
The lame will be saved,
The outcast will be gathered,
Shame will be turned into praise,
And we will all be brought safely home.

Thanks be to God.