John the Baptist

IN THE NAME OF GOD – CREATOR, PAINBEARER AND SPIRIT OF LIFE AND LOVE.

3rd Sunday of Advent 2009

John the Baptist (or Baptiser) – what a character!

His ministry pre-dates the work and ministry of Jesus.

Here John is portrayed as an Old Testament prophet in the style of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

In fact he is the last of the Old Testament prophets – when Jesus came upon the scene there was to be no going back – no returning to the old ways of the law and the prophets for the people of Israel.

They were offered another way – an alternative to the rigours of the Torah.

If we look back into last week’s reading we see in verse 3 that John was in the vicinity of the Jordan river ‘proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’. The text of the ancient prophet Isaiah in chapter 40 is quoted - “all flesh shall see the salvation of God”.

The salvation of God was not to be limited to a select few – not the religious elite – not the king and the aristocracy – but ‘all flesh’ – everyone – of high estate or of no estate – rich or poor – the whole gamut of humanity.

The ‘salvation of God’ that John was talking about offered a chance to start life anew – to clear the decks of the mind and conscience from the accumulated detritus of wrong-doing and careless living. To put aside the things that were troubling the conscience and dragging the person down into the depths of remorse and possibly depression.

Here was a chance to be helped up – to be able to stand again on one’s own two feet and renew relationships in a re-invigorated life.

John was dealing here with the lower end of society – the poor (whose poverty would make our poor of the 21st Century look rich) – the bent tax collectors who had the reputation of extracting more than was required and pocketing the difference – and the Jewish mercenary soldiers working within the Roman army who often ‘stood over’ people and bullied them into giving protection money (and we think Al Capone of the 1920’s had invented something new!).

Let’s make no mistake – these were generally an unsavoury lot – people about whom you would think very hard before inviting them into your home.

They did have their traditions and hopes though.

It’s all very contemporary. “Surely God will accept us as we are Jews – the chosen people of God!’ it doesn’t matter about our lifestyles – it doesn’t matter that we are a bit crooked – it doesn’t matter that we hardly have enough to get by and feed our families – we are all descended from Abraham – the Abraham who received the promises from God that his descendants would be favoured for ever”.

John’s instruction to these people is all too clear.

John is scathing – ‘God is able to from these stones to raise up children to Abraham”.

Don’t think you are anything special – God will judge you not on your ancestry or place in human society but on who you really are underneath all that.

I am reminded that the author of this gospel of Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles – remember the scene in acts where peter addressed a derisive crowd on the morning of Pentacost?

He preached a sermon that would be the envy of any aspiring preacher and evangelist – the result – Acts 2: 37 – “they (the people) were cut to the heart and said to peter and the other Apostles, “brothers, what should we do?”

This phrase – ‘what should we do?’ is repeated here by the people listening to John.

But what strikes me most powerfully about this piece of the gospel is the virulent attack by John on these people as they came to seek him out.

He abuses them in the most violent language possible. There is nothing genteel here! How often we Anglicans want to close our eyes at this sort of language?

It doesn’t belong in church! It is offensive in the extreme – we don’t use language like that – one doesn’t swear in church!

During the course of the last 2000 years the church has carefully wrapped the Gospel stories and Jesus in particular in many layers of cotton wool. The base reality of these stories and situations has long been forgotten – it was dirty and people smelt!!

John’s attack comes because he knew these people were not genuine in their approach to him. They came because they had seen others come and thought that ‘we might as well join in’. They came because it seemed like a bit of fun at the time - they came because they were curious about this amazing spectacle of a ludicrous eccentric who seemed to be ranting about some new way that was to come.

People still attempt to come to God today – they think that maybe God is to be found in the church so they timidly come into church and more often than not sit quietly at the back so as not to become too involved in something they either do not understand or only have vague memories of from a distant childhood. They often come at major festival times which are widely known in what is now the post-Christian community of Adelaide.

The festivals of Easter and more so Christmas are so widely celebrated and commercialised that people cannot fail to become aware of them.

Christmas particularly appeals. The lovely gentle story of a woman giving birth in a stable surrounded by animals – shepherds in the fields – wise kings from the east – angels singing in the heavens – guiding stars – what more could we want for the ingredients of a beautiful story - very appealing!

So some people will be intrigued and want to find out a bit more – they gather their courage and come into church.

What is the response from us who own this story that people want to know more of?

In our genteel age of political correctness and fear of litigation it would be most rare to see the reaction that John dished out to the crowd in the story this morning – we don’t turn on these seekers with violent words of abuse – we don’t tell them to – ‘get out and go away as you are not worthy to be here in this church – you are not one of us’!

No - we have a much more subtle approach – we can simply ignore them – treat them with coolness – they are different after all – not one of us.

Or there is another approach – we take them aside and quietly tell them all the problems that our church community is currently struggling with – basically saying in effect – “you won’t want to become involved with all this –the priest is a ratbag – the church council is trying to rebuild the old hall and we don’t have the money – Mrs so and so is nothing but a hypocrite – etc etc.

The crowd berated by John were not to be intimidated however – they were not to be put off. They hung around and in genuine repentance asked what they should be doing. John told them in no uncertain terms.

His answer did not require them to renounce anything in their lives nor to enter into some sort of ascetic lifestyle. They were not asked to undertake a pilgrimage to some shrine nor go to the temple and make expensive sacrifices. No, God’s kingdom was to be available to them there and then – all they needed was to have faith and to understand what was really sacred in life – their relationship with others and with God could be mended.

The answer was all too easy – “share –even if you have little – be fair and honest in all your dealings – don’t use the power given to you to intimidate others for your own advantage – don’t bully!

It did not mean that they had to become heroes – it was something they could do. It was something, when you think about it, that anyone can do. That means it is something that we can do, too.

Does it not concern you that our churches are at best stable in numbers but more likely set on a gentle downward slope? Can we dare ask ourselves the hard questions that are so discomforting?

That is, why have the strangers who have dared to come into our midst not remained to become one of our communities – why is our church not growing? Why have we seen families come and then disappear without word or further comment?

Is it because they could not find God here? We are comfortable in the knowledge that our God is here but is that the God of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth – the all welcoming and all-embracing and loving God we wish we knew better? It’s a good question isn’t it?

I ask you to pray with me that this Christmas season will see our hearts opened to welcome the stranger who comes into our midst.

If you should think about this selfishly – our rewards will be great and our community can only be richly blessed.

The Lord be with you!