What Should We Do?
I had a good friend where I worked a number of years ago, named
Ela. She would always tell me exactly what she thought about anything--no holds
barred. At times, this could be painful. But I always knew where I stood and I
came to value not only her friendship, but her advice.
Have you ever had a friend like Ela, one who does not mince their
words and always tells it like it is? It isn't always easy to have such a
friend because there are times when the truth they tell you is painful. But you
always know where you stand and you can trust that person to tell you exactly
what they think whether you ask them or not.
John the Baptist is a friend who is telling us exactly what he
thinks and how he feels. He called a spade a spade, a viper a viper, and a hypocrite
a hypocrite and did not care who was offended. John called his audience to a
moment of truth--abandoning all that was used to keep the illusion of
innocence.
How would you like to be greeted with these words, "You
brood of vipers! Who warned you?" That's very disturbing imagery. It
conjures up an image of the crowds scurrying to be baptized so they can escape
judgment. They are likened to snakes slithering in flight, to escape the fire.
John did not mince his words when it came to God's judgment on
how people were living their lives. John's call to repentance didn't mean
merely being sorry, but it meant a reorientation of the way one thinks about
the world and life. It means a revolution in our thinking that causes a change
of direction in our lives.
It is one's life and deeds, not one's ancestry that count before
God. Just as being physical descendants of Abraham did not let the people of
Israel off the hook, so being long time church members does not give us a get
out of jail free card. We can be in the pews week after week and somehow avoid
encountering the living God. The sin of omission that is, of not doing anything
is just as bad as the sin of doing something wrong. We need a relationship with
God through his Messiah, Jesus. Everything else flows from that. Being comes
before doing. Bearing good fruit is not just doing good things, but doing them
for the right reasons.
John's message was a call to repentance with actions that
demonstrated new life.In spite of the harsh words of John, people were eager
for his teaching and responded by asking, "What then should we do?"
They keep asking questions even when the answers call them to higher
expectations of moral and selfless living. John tells each group: the crowd,
tax collectors, and the soldiers something different. In essence, John told
them that their faith would be demonstrated by their actions.
To the crowd, John said they are to be kind and share with those
in need.
To tax collectors, John said that taxes shouldn't be collected on
the basis of greed or power.
To the soldiers, John said that they should work hard, not
victimizing the public by threat or intimidation. Their interaction with the
public was not an opportunity to supplement their income.
Sometimes God calls us to share out of our own needs. Rather than
hold on for dear life to our possessions and food, God calls us to believe in
his abundant supply, having a theology of abundance rather than one of
scarcity.
God wants us to be honest in the way we perform our jobs. The way
some of our politicians on the local, state and federal levels who cheat,
extort and lie, are not living the Christian life and are not extolling
Christian virtues.
Did you notice that John did not ask the tax collectors or
soldiers (both of whom are employed by the Roman government) to abandon their
jobs or to overthrow a corrupt system? Instead, they were to continue doing
their jobs, but now to do them with justice and compassion.
John's responses to the crowd's questions boil down to addressing
the inequities and injustices of the society in Israel. This was what people
expected from the Messiah--good news that business as usual is on the way out
and something new is coming. The power of the status quo of greed, selfishness
and complacency is broken. The new day of sharing and mercy and justice has
nearly arrived. The ax at the root of the tree means a clearing out of the old
habits and fears to make way for something new. John not only called the people
to turn away from their old life, but to turn toward new life in God.
When it seems too hard to live the way God is calling us to live,
remember, we are not expected to do this on our own. It is too hard and that's
good because the more powerful One has come and lives his life through us. In
our own day of hateful speech, labeling of entire groups of people and
rejecting all because of only a few, we have our work cut out for us. We have
to remember that all lives matter. Jesus reached out to the outcasts of
society, to the marginalized who no one cared about and made them his own.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote something that speaks profoundly to our day,
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us
guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
This is the message of Advent as we get closer to Christmas.
There is a star in the East that is looming on the horizon that symbolizes
change is coming and the change will be like a whirlwind. That whirlwind is
going to be the beating of a million angel wings, proclaiming the birth of the
Messiah. All we have to do is watch, wait and listen.
Amen!
Resources
M. Eugene Boring &
Fred B. Craddock, The People's New Testament Commentary.
https://members.sundaysandseasons.com/Home/TextsAndResources#resources
Image from Agnus Day.
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