John the Baptist Speaks to Us

December 8, 2019, The Second Sunday in Advent


advent two Gospel Lesson: Matthew 3:1–12 [A voice of one calling in the desert.]
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

In today’s Gospel reading the Holy Spirit is speaking to us through the words of John the Baptist. Today he speaks the same words to us as he did there in the wilderness. He says to us, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He calls for us to come out of the cities and towns of sin and into the wilderness where it is clean and where there is nothing to distract us from hearing the voice of God. I do not want to say that the church is a wilderness, but it should be a place of refuge from sin and temptations and worries and depressions and failures. People were baptized by John and every time we come to church, it is a time to refresh our baptism vows and to remember the vow that God made when he made us his children through this sacrament of baptism. We may have been baptized many years ago, but when ever we confess our sins and receive the forgiveness of God, it is proof that the water of baptism is still wet in our hearts and minds and lives.

When John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he challenged their seriousness. And he challenges us, too. John and the Holy Spirit speak to us, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.” Vipers are snakes, therefore children of the devil. And yet they too were warned of the wrath to come. They knew they needed the forgiveness of God. John told them not to take salvation for granted. Just to be an Israelite, to be a child of Abraham, does not guarantee salvation. God can raise up believers from rocks and stones. He can break the hardest hearts and bring them to faith. Likewise, we must not say, “We are the religious heirs of Martin Luther.” Visible proof of our faith is not our church membership. Proof of our faith is the fruit of our faith. Therefore we are told, “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

There is a pile of metaphors here: the water of baptism, the fire of the Holy Spirit, ax, winnowing fork, wheat in the barn, and chaff in the unquenchable fire. In this passage, the fire of the Holy Spirit is not the flames over the heads of the Apostles on Pentecost. Rather, it is a burning, purifying fire. It burns away our sin. We city folks may not know what chaff and a winnowing fork are. In the old days before modern farming equipment, they were used to separate the outside chaff from the wheat kernels. Like peeling a banana or cracking open a peanut shell, we want the good fruit or nut inside and throw away the outside skin or shell. In the same way, sin must be separated from us so that we can be pure.

John says this is necessary because Christ is coming. “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” He is telling us to prepare for the coming of the Lord. Christ comes to our hearts and into our lives. To be honest, it is hard to prepare for Christ to come into our hearts. That is because we truly are sinful vipers. And that is why I think Christmas is a blessed gift from God. The love and joy and peace and hope of Christmas can break into the hardest heart of stone. Because:

  • Christ comes meek and mild as a tender child.
  • The manger bed is where he lays his head.
  • The smile on his face is full of grace.
  • Here we see God’s love which is sent from above.
  • The angel’s song tells where we belong:
  • It is at the manger side and at the cross where he died.
  • On Easter he rose to defeat our foes and to end our woes.
  • And now we shall live in the eternal life he does give.

    Amen.

    Michael Nearhood, Pastor
    Okinawa Lutheran Church


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