St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
Third Sunday in Advent/Year C: December 12, 2021
Gospel: Luke 3:7-18
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer—Amen.
In my previous career in public relations, event planning was one of the inescapable, and invaluable, skillsets drilled into the executives since our days as interns. For the successful launch of pharmaceutical drugs, for our clients, many months of strategic brand visibility; influencing product demand through education and media campaigns; and, of course, planning events of all sizes, was required. The coordination of these efforts was intended to nurture, within the consumers, a hopeful anticipation for the medical treatments to come—treatments to combat myriad diseases of the body.
Preparing for events requires intentionality, attention to details, movement with a sense of urgency and a healthy respect for deadlines leading up to the event expected to take place on a particular date at a particular location. The main thing that keeps event planners moving ahead to the finish line is the assurance that there is one. The team’s focus is the event on the designated date. Without a date, event preparation has no purpose.
In our gospel passage in the third chapter of Luke, John the Baptist warned of the coming cosmic event of God’s judgment—the wrath to come. Unlike seasoned event planners, John had no focal point date to which the newly baptized could and remain focused. His preparation of the people, however, even without a fixed date, did have purpose. John’s baptism of repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, was the initiation for individuals to prepare for the day of Judgement. His baptism was not one of convenience; it required an intentional turning to God and submission to God’s commands.
The first step for any individual was to show up. On this day, crowds showed up that offended John. He called them out with disgust, “You brood of vipers, who told you to flee from the wrath to come?” (v. 7). The image of vipers brings to mind those trying to slither their way around the hard work of repentance and living righteously. It is fair to say that John was disgusted with those in the crowd who appeared to be hurrying to obtain a shield of protection, before time ran out for the coming event—the day of judgement—for which there is no date.
Recall that in the book of Genesis, God promised to bless Abraham and all of his descendants (Gen 12: 1-3). John warned the crowds that their ethnic heritage as Abraham’s descendants would not be enough. Those who believed that their birthright alone would spare them from God’s wrath desperately needed to hear John’s message about the necessity for actively bearing fruit worthy of repentance.
“Even now,” John said, “The ax is lying at the root of the trees…” (v.9). In order to grasp the urgency that was driving John’s harsh warning, we must imagine the ax bearer positioning the ax at the root to measure precision, just before drawing back to deal the blow. Critical to John’s message was that the ax is lying at the root of every tree. Every tree (people who are descendants of Abraham, and those who are not) that does not bear good fruit is cut down and burned.
Within that crowd were people who were despised by the local population—corrupt tax collectors and local mercenaries—for the exploitative ways they made, and shamelessly enhanced, their own livelihoods, made possible by the systemic power given to them through unjust societal structures. When asked by the attentive crowd, “What can we do?” John gave them practical actions for social and ethical reform: give to those who are in need out of your abundance; feed others in that same way—these are practical ways to address the urgent needs (not wants) of human beings. The tax collectors and the soldiers were also given specific actions relative to their actions: don’t collect more than you are supposed to; don’t stoop to extortion, lying or threats in order to bolster your wages—be satisfied with what you have.
As John prescribed tangible actions, he was also prescribing how to live with repentant hearts—hearts that could bear nothing other than good works. For John, the authentic mark of repentance, as a state of being, was the perpetual preparation of the soul for the Judgment event to come. The act of repeatedly doing good, shaped souls that were good. The people asked, “What can we do?” John answered them, and he gave them a blueprint for how they must be.
It is important for us, to remember that as disgusted as John was with the opportunistic seekers of his baptism, John was not the gatekeeper or distributor of God’s mercy and neither are we as the Church. John’s purpose was to be God’s instrument of mercy—proclaiming the good news to all people. And, those with truly repentant hearts would be nurtured in the hopeful anticipation of the One who was greater than John; the One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire; the One whom in whom all flesh shall see the salvation of God (v. 6).
What must we do, and how must we be, to remain in a state of repentance (hearts to turned toward God) and bear fruit worthy of that repentance?
Evangelism fruit;
And, the challenge that John had as he baptized throughout the region around the Jordan, remains our challenge as Christians in the 21st Century. Our challenge is how to be present for all who seek God, and to meet them where they are, just as they are, as we serve as God’s instrument of mercy. Our challenge is to help our fellow brothers and sisters to look beyond that which can be seen, and direct their attention to those invisible things of the eternal. Eternal things for which there is no earthly date.
Sisters and brothers, by virtue of our baptism, we are the worker bees, expected to cultivate the life-giving human condition of repentance by actively proclaiming the good news of God in Christ to all people. The day of Judgement is coming. For now, we live in God’s mercy and in God’s divine patience. During this holy season of Advent, we are reminded that our time is not unlimited, and we must prepare our souls with urgency.
Let us actively anticipate Christ’s coming anew in our hearts and actively keep awake for his assured second Advent—the coming event of Christ’s return, for which there is no date, and for whom we live on purpose. Amen.
