Thoughts going in, Sunday Dec 8th

Matthew 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' " 4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

            So much of the very essence of what Advent is all about can be found in these verses and in the ministry and message of John the Baptist. John enters the Advent stage every year on both the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of Advent, and while his message is always the same, it's never passé. It's always timely, always relevant.

            This year's glimpse at John comes from the Gospel of Matthew. Two matters strike me as being of primary importance from this text, with a 3rd item being also worth mentioning. Beginning with the 3rd, almost as a sideroad, vs 1 seems to me to be more than just a travelogue:  In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness.  Why in the wilderness? It's interesting to me that when we put the whole Bible under a microscope and look at some of God's most profound revelations; some of God's most powerful miracles; and some of God's most important actions within human history, they frequently happen in the wilderness. Some have commented on the spirituality of the wilderness... stating that it is only when we strip away the glitter and glitz of worldly life that the soul is prepared to listen to God. This may very well be. I also think there's a metaphor going on here. Since the Fall, the image of God has become so lost to us, or so scarred within us, that when a message comes form him, when he speaks, when he reveals himself to us, it is so wholly different to us that it constitutes a wilderness experience--something far flung from our normal beaten paths. Regardless of whether we see the wilderness as a matter of spirituality or metaphor, given the past history of God's action(s) it sort of makes sense that as the clarion call to PREPARE is issued by God's prophet, it would happen in the wilderness.

            So much for the sideroad observation. The two key elements of the passage, then, in terms of my reading and in keeping with the Advent theme, are REPENTANCE and URGENCY. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near, John states in vs 2. Repent is one of those bible/church words that gets used all the time, but which is rarely fully understood. It is probably best understood in terms of a specific wrong. If I throw a rock through my neighbor's window and break it, REPENTING would be to feel sorrow for my action, make restitution to my neighbor, and resolve never to do it again. Repenting, in that sense, is basically the 'fixing' of an individual wrong. That understanding is not incorrect. But the problem becomes, how do you apply REPENTANCE to a whole life, or better yet, to the lives of a whole group of people? In this sense it's helpful to expand on the meaning of repentance. It can also mean the setting right of what is broken. A broken arm, for instance, is not functional in the way in which it was intended. It is, literally, mis-aligned. It cannot do what it was created/intended to do. It cannot embrace the vision it was created/intended to embrace. In a way, a broken arm is very selfish. It can only think of itself; it can only just hang there and do nothing. Repentance in this case would be to FIX that which is BROKEN; to properly align it; to re-form it so that it CAN do what it was created/intended to do; so that it CAN embrace the vision it was created/intended to embrace; so that it can be less selfish and more open. I think the healed broken arm metaphor more closely gets us to what repentance of life is all about, and for that matter, what group repentance is all about. Advent's rekindling of John the Baptist's message invites ALL to cease being a chaotic scattered group living chaotic scattered, broken, lives, and to become FIXED; walking together toward God and seeing the things that are part of God's vision (which, btw, always includes those in economic hardship physically speaking).

            The second great element from this passage, then, is URGENCY. John says in vs 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. That's urgency talk. Frequently the losing coach of a football team, when addressing the press afterwards, will lament that his team "had no sense of urgency." John's message about the ax being at the root of trees is "apocalyptic"... end-times-ish. But it's easy to get lost in 2000yrs of history. It's easy to say, "Bah, they've been spouting this stuff for 2 millennia and there's still no 'end times'." But that's missing a very important point. The bible tells us that life, all life, is a vapor. It's here today and gone tomorrow (James 4:14). The urgency of Advent, therefore, is not limited to merely thinking in terms of "end times." The urgency of Advent is that YOUR LIFE and MINE are finite. We are always precariously balanced between life and death; we were born with a terminal illness that could strike at any moment. The life of the WORLD lulls us into forgetfulness, but the clarion call of the Advent prophet John shakes us awake. We need to have lives characterized by repentance, and the time for that is NOW.

cheers,

TM