One Pissed Off Dude
The text for this third Sunday in Advent is Luke 3:7-18. This picks up right were last week’s text finished. Here we see John the Baptist living up to his name and baptizing believers. Yet, John is harshly criticizing those who came out to be baptized. He calls them a brood of vipers. He cautions against arrogance by claiming that they are all that because they have Abraham as an ancestor. He seems to be saying what got you here won’t get you there. God can create a new people if He chooses, and it is by faith that this will be done.
What Now?
The crowds then ask John, as so many often do “What then should we do”. This is a valid question to ask after one accepts God’s grace through faith. To not do anything is to engage in what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace”; a grace that does not change anything about you. This is not the way for us, and it is certainly not the way for one so radical as John.
John lays out a radical response to our belief. Share your coats, share your food, treat people fairly and do not extort or take advantage of anyone. We are to be satisfied with what we have in this world. In short, to act completely contrary to the values of this world, then and now.
No, It’s Not Me
People then ask whether John is the Messiah. He quickly demurs and points to an even greater persona yet to arrive. This will entail not a baptism of water that John is offering, but one of fire that Jesus offers via the Holy Spirit. The one who is to separate the wheat from the chaff and to gather His people via faith and show us the path of redemption that is on the way. John’s role is simply to announce this imminent arrival. Our role is to take John to heart, especially as we know how the story ends. We are to reject “cheap grace” and believe, then obey.
Praise Be to God
