Repent!

Second Sunday of Advent - December 9, 2007

“Can you imagine!

I'm a respected leader in the center of the universe, Jerusalem.

The prophets say that at God's right time, all of the nations will come to Jerusalem.

So here I am, the right person in the right time and place.

I've heard about this one called John and decided to go and check to see if he might be a part of God's in-breaking kingdom.

So now I have gone to all the trouble of getting together a group of people (there is safety in numbers, you know) and traveled 20 miles or so all the way down here from Jerusalem, carrying enough food and water for the trip, watching out for bandits, keeping this group organized, etc.,

and this John character has the nerve to yell at me.

I'm the religious one, I'm the faithful one,

I'm the one looking for the Messiah,

I'm the one who leads the city in despising the Roman occupation of this land....

“You brood of vipers” he called me!

What an insult.

Folks have sometimes thought that vipers hatched inside their mother and gnawed their way out, thus killing the mother.

So that means that this Jesus is calling me a parent-murderer; I can hardly think of a worse insult.

I thought that he was going to give a pep-talk for our resistance against the Romans.

I thought that this John would be helping us network with other folks who feel the same way I do about the national situation.

After all, this John is operating out here at the edge of things where there are not too many Romans.

Oh, the soldiers come through from time to time on their way to the border forts, but not nearly as much as around Jerusalem and other troubled places.

Out here one has to be very careful.

Fresh water is scarce, except for the Jordan River itself. Just step away from the river bank and everything else is dry, bone dry, and hot...heat like you've never felt before.

It is oppressive heat

And food...well, I'm glad we packed along enough supplies for this jaunt, since all that I can see around here are those disgusting overgrown grasshoppers that eat any bit of green that is still around here.

A plague, that's what they are, and this John feasts on them. Yuck! Someone said that he dips them in honey that he got out of a wild honeybee hive somewhere.

It is a risky diet: what if the locusts have nothing more to eat and move on somewhere else? What if the honeybee swarm attacks him?

One would think that he would try to arrange for something better with one of those persons who are following him around out here.

And speaking of organization: I don't see any.

If John is going to become a leader and spokesman in the resistance against Rome, he needs to have an organization,

people keeping him informed about happenings in Jerusalem,

others keeping tabs on the Roman troop movements,

financial connections through back channels,...all those things seem to be missing entirely.

All I heard was this Repent! message, and what a drag that was.

And insulting! It really got me annoyed.

Here's what I remember him saying:

'You bunch of snakes!

What do you think you're doing slithering down here to the river?

Do you think that a little water on your snake skins is going to make any difference?

It's your life that has got to change, not your skin!

If your life is changed, people will be able to tell.

You'll bear fruit.

And don't think that you can pull rank just because you are a descendant of Abraham.

Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen.

God can take these rocks and make descendants of Abraham.

What matters is your life.

Is your life green?

Is it bearing fruit?

Because if it is deadwood, it goes into the fire.

Repent! The kingdom of heaven is near.'

And this John was looking right at me when he said it! What an insult.”

Now let's move the scene 2,000 years ahead, to about 1:00 this afternoon, when one St. Mark's Council member has a conversation with another:

“Can you imagine!

Here I am, a leader in this congregation.

I've gone to all the trouble of getting myself and my family here, and the pastor says these 2,000 year-old words are aimed at me.

I'm the faithful one. I'm the religious one,

I'm the one who at least thinks about the kingdom of God.

John's words 'You brood of vipers' is aimed at me?

I don't like this snake-insult any more than did John's first audience.

I've been here, my family has been here, for years and years. Doesn't that count for something?

Isn't claiming the Lutheran title a good and significant thing?

The Pastor keeps saying how important Baptism is, so I was baptized, and I show up regularly on Sunday.

I could be doing lots of other things:

I could be out shopping this morning, or I could be sleeping in, resting for the hectic week ahead...that would be a good thing too.

The pastor quoted that old John: 'Bear fruit worthy of repentance,” he said.

Repentance! That's something for bad people, and I am not a bad person.

'Brood of vipers,” he called me.

I don't think that is fair or accurate.”

And I hope the second council member will reply to the first:

“The pastor isn't making this up; it is right there in scripture.

This Bible is not just a collection of old stuff; it is supposed to have authority in our lives.

It is not just a book like other books on the shelf; it carries the source of our reason for being here, for gathering as God's people in this time and place.

It exercises authority

by interpreting the past as mankind's willful behavior in the face of God's graciousness.

It exercises authority by pointing us toward God's future in the risen Lord Jesus.

It exercises authority by giving us eyes to see

that what we say and do is not bearing all good fruit; lots of it is rotten fruit or no fruit at all.

Be honest about it.

John is saying that we need to recognize that we are in a mess, and that half-way measures are not enough.

Every time we try to go it alone,

boast of our pedigree in the church,

think that our list of accomplishments will

impress God,

we run smack into John's words: 'bear fruits worthy of repentance,' and know that John has set a standard that is impossible for us to meet.

Repent? We don't want to repent.

We want God to accept us just the way we are, without any change at all.

Generally, we're comfortable, or at least comfortable in our particular misery...

and we don't know exactly what sort of transformation that Jesus has in mind when he fully gets hold of us.”

The first council-member might interrupt with a comment like this: “Why bother, then? If we're in as much of a mess as you say, and can't get ourselves out of it....let's just go home and forget the whole thing.

And the second Council member can answer:

“Because of the little prayer at the end of the book of Revelation, the prayer to which we are driven when all of our efforts end in despair: Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come.”

Come, Lord Jesus, not just as a tender baby in Bethlehem, easily sentimentalized and then just as easily ignored;

come, not just as judge upon us and all of our frailties and failings at the end,

but come also as forgiving and transforming word in our ear and the bread of heaven in our hand and mouth;

come, Lord Jesus, to make John's impossible standard our very way of life now and forever;

come, to use our faltering words and deeds to reach the ear and heart of someone else near to us, and someone we have not known at all.

Come, Lord Jesus, not only with well-deserved judgment and fiery result,

but also with transformation , pardon, and the gift of new life for us.

Let us not be insulted by John's stinging speech.

It is the truth about us.

May it drive us to Christ!

A true story: a person in North Carolina attended a funeral led by an independent Baptist preacher, who in the midst of his sermon thundered: “It's too late for Sam.

He might have wanted to do something different with his life, but it's too late now. It's all over. His chances are all past, and he has to wait for the mercy of God.

But it's not too late for you. People drop dead all the time. Why wait?

Today is the day. Repent!. Make your life count for something. Ask how Jesus would like to use your life.

You never know what tomorrow may hold. Repent!”

On the way home, the person turned to his wife and said, “What a terrible thing to do to a grieving family! That was the most inappropriate, tacky, manipulative funeral sermon I've ever heard.”

His wife replied, “You're right. Of course, the worst part is: It was true.”

As it turns out, that's good news at work!

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.