Sermon for Advent 2

Second Sunday in Advent
Dec. 5, 2010
Matthew 3:1-12
In whose days?

In the name of our adventing Lord Jesus, amen. The great, and greatly odd, narrative of John the Baptist will be our text this morning.

I’ll cover the ‘odd’ first- wearing camel’s skin doesn’t seem so strange. People have been wearing animal skins for a long time. But when other kinds of fabric are available, when you might be the only person in a crowd not wearing something made of cotton, you might stand out. Eating locusts is certainly odd, maybe something frat boys do on a bet, but not a mainstream diet by any regards. Eating honey is normal. A peanut butter and honey sandwich is a very tasty treat. The dress and diet of John the Baptist is unusual, and it might be what people remember the most.

So we got that out of the way. John may have dressed and ate like a freak show, but he didn’t rely on a gimmick. He wasn’t seeking his fifteen minutes of fame. He wasn’t auditioning for a reality show. John the Baptizer, John the Baptist, John the miracle child of ancient Zechariah and barren Elizabeth, this John was the forerunner of Christ. This John was the last of the Old Testament prophets- prophets like Amos, Joel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel. This John was given the Word of God to proclaim and he proclaimed it. He used the Word of God like a road grader, to make the rough places smooth, to build up the valleys, to bring the hills down.

No gimmicks, no fads, no bait-n-switch…just the Word of God.

In those days John appeared in the Judean wilderness, doing what his ancient colleague Isaiah had said would happen. A voice would cry out in the wilderness, “Prepare! Make ready! The Lord is on the way.” And in those days, Jesus was just behind John. They were separated by about 6 months as best we can figure, and we can figure pretty well from Biblical and historical sources.

John appeared in the wilderness and the people went out to find him- from Jerusalem, all Judea, and from all the region around the Jordan River. They went to hear a very harsh message. They did not get their itch scratched. They flocked to John and he told them to repent. John told them to be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. John exposed their sins, revealed their flaws and their warts. John looked at the emperor and declared, “Hey, you’re buck naked.”

The people went out to see and hear John. And John gave them the what-for. That’s not so strange. From time to time it is refreshing to hear someone tell us that we are not as good as we believe we are, to look at our perception and then match it up with reality. So the people that went out to hear John had been hearing the Word of the Lord in their local synagogues. Rabbis had been teaching them the Law of the Lord, and the people confessed how they messed things up. They confessed to John their spiritual rebellion, their spiritual adultery, their spiritual waywardness. The people also confessed their physical rebellion, how they had rebelled against mom and dad, ignored their teaching, how they had been warring against their siblings, had been plotting the downfall of the neighbor who has more than them. The people confessed their physical adultery too, how they had not kept the marriage bed pure, how they had left their first love in search of something better, something different, something unholy, not good, sinful. The people also were given the opportunity to admit their physical waywardness, how they no longer went up to the temple to offer their prayers and praises. They kept themselves from the public worship services, no longer regarding the Sabbath Day as a glorious gift from God.

All of that was very good, people taking their medicine. It might not have tasted good, but it was necessary. You don’t take medicine because of the taste. You take medicine because you’re sick- stuffy head, a fever, a cough, achy, miserable. People went to John because they were sin-sick.

But they weren’t the only ones. Along came the Pharisees and Sadducees. These people were healthy, hale and hearty. They had no sins to repent of. These folks were the ones who diagnosed the spiritual malady in everybody else. They came and John did not receive them kindly, calling them snakes, vipers.

Or maybe he did receive them kindly, because John liberally gave them what they needed.

“Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father!” Big, fat, hairy deal. God can make children of Abraham out of these stones.
Lineage doesn’t count. Intelligence doesn’t matter. Wealth and health don’t matter either. Being good doesn’t go very far. These self-righteous Pharisees were told the Biblical truth that their sinful identity was known and that they were as rotten as everybody else.

The axe is at the root of the tree. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And not just any fire, but the unquenchable kind.

Right on John! Preach it brother! This is the true Advent message of repentance. Let them know how bad they are. Just don’t preach it to me. Ignore and overlook my self-righteousness, my sins.

In those days the people went out to see and hear John. In these days, John the Baptist still hits a bulls-eye as he wields the Word of God with truth and power. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

We hear the voice of John cry out and it is our name that we hear. John holds up a mirror and the horrific reflection is ours. One of our confessional pieces states the truth this way: ‘we poor sinners confess unto You that we are by nature sinful and unclean and that we have sinned against You by thought, word, and deed. Wherefore we flee for refuge to Your infinite mercy, seeking and imploring Your grace for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ We sin…a lot…often…throughout the course of our day.

We are spiritually rebellious, chasing after the god du jour. We are physically rebellious, warring with our families over petty things, silly jealousies, and our perverse pleasures. We are spiritually wayward, trading in a healthy piety for the illusion of making our own justification, of earning our own salvation by what we do and how much we do. We are physically wayward as well, again by chasing after the desires of our sinful hearts and traveling down paths that only lead into darkness, danger, and death. Spiritually adulterous and physically adulterous describe who we are too. There is no flash, no heat, no spark to our religion. Let’s look for the exciting, for the trendy, for the fad. We leave the substantive behind for the shallow. We leave God behind because sometimes I leave the Sunday service feeling bad. The hymns didn’t make me feel good. Let us remind ourselves…that’s okay. Christianity is real, because Christ is real. Our life, our faith life, they have their ups and downs. There is triumph and tragedy, very often in the course of the same day! And we leave our spouses behind, as we chase after what is exciting, new, fresh. We leave the substance of our marriage vows in the dust as we chase after the shallow relationships that are all about what makes me feel good.

We repent, not because it is fun, but because we need to. We repent because of what follows. “I announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” All of our sins are forgiven…removed…taken from us because of Christ’s work on the cross, begun in the manger, prophesied by John.

John the Baptist gets us ready for Jesus the Messiah. We anticipate the marvel of the manger and know that standing in the background is the cross of Calvary.

In these days, our days, the days of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Advent call of repentance is given to us. We welcome that call for it helps us make ready our hearts, our lives for the blessed reality of our redeemer Jesus. Repent and know that all your sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus. SDG