Find Joy

Scripture Luke 3:7-20 The Message (MSG) 

7-9 When crowds of people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do, John exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God’s judgment? It’s your life that must change, not your skin. And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as ‘father.’ Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.”

10 The crowd asked him, “Then what are we supposed to do?”

11 “If you have two coats, give one away,” he said. “Do the same with your food.”

12 Tax men also came to be baptized and said, “Teacher, what should we do?”

13 He told them, “No more extortion—collect only what is required by law.”

14 Soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He told them, “No shakedowns, no blackmail—and be content with your rations.”

15 The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, “Could this John be the Messiah?”

16-17 But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

18-20 There was a lot more of this—words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart in them. The Message!  But Herod, the ruler, stung by John’s rebuke in the matter of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, capped his long string of evil deeds with this outrage: He put John in jail.

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It’s the 3rd Sunday of Advent - Joy Sunday.  But this passage is anything but joyful.  John calls people snakes!  He tells them that they can be replaced. He thunders in the desert!   And it ends with Herod being about as evil as it gets!  One might be hard put to find the joy in this passage!

At this time of year it is often difficult to find joy.   It is the darkest time of the year… days are shorter, nights are longer, every one is overly busy and stressed.    Trying to get everything done before Christmas, before the end of the semester, before the end of the calendar year.   And the church calendar says “Be Joyful!”   Seriously?

On top of that, this passage doesn’t tell the story the way we are used to hearing it.  We are used to John saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  But what we hear in this version - the Message version - is really different: “The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out.”  We’re not entirely certain whether he is talking about Jesus or George Clooney.    

But, you know, sometimes we need to look at very familiar things from a different perspective, from someone else’s point of view.   We might need a different viewpoint in order to get a fuller picture of an event - like the police asking for statements from many witnesses at the scene of an accident or a crime.  Or we might need to shake up our complacency.  Look at what John says to the crowd.  “. . .don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as ‘father.’”  The Jewish people know themselves to be God’s Chosen People, the people he chose to be his own.  This is a cause for a bit of arrogance.  “We’re better than you are because our God picked us!  We are the descendants of Abraham, whom he claimed for his own.  No matter what, God will always come to our rescue.  Just look at our history!”  But John reminds them that they are not the only children of Abraham. “Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants.”   And he has a significant point, because the Judeans were only one of the tribes descended from Abraham - the others had been scattered and not rescued.  And then there were the children of Hagar and Abraham - there were at least as many of those, because God promised Hagar to make a great nation of Ishmael's children.  And so the people, having been made to look at themselves from a new perspective say, What shall we do?  John said, “Change your lives.”

John told all of the people in that crowd just what they needed to do to be real children of God - be generous with what you have.  Be honest in your dealings with others.   Treat everyone justly.

We don’t usually look at this part of this passage, because we tend to focus on John’s announcement of Jesus’ imminent arrival on the scene.  Yet John is saying much the same thing that Jesus will say later . . . Don’t be restricted by what the Law says.  John, like Jesus, and like the prophets before him, wanted the people to understand that the body of the Law was only a guide to how people should live with each other.   Being too focused on doing exactly what the Law said, no more and no less, wasn’t what God had intended.  If people were so focused on what was lawful and what was not that it kept them from obeying the love commandment, then they were’t getting the point.   

 Yes, John told them, I know that you only are required to tithe 10%, but do more than that. If you have two coats, give one to someone in need.  Tax collectors, even though Rome allows you to take as much as you can squeeze from anyone, don’t do it.  Only take what is owed from each person.  Soldiers, don’t oppress the innocent.  Only arrest true wrongdoers, and don’t supplement your income with bribes and blackmail.   Change.  Change your lives.   

If we bring this passage forward to now, to us, perhaps we hear John saying, “Just being a Christian is neither here nor there - Christians are a dime a dozen. . . What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.”   I’m pretty sure each of us can think of someone we know who says they’re Christian, but whose understanding of being Christian doesn’t line up very well with ours.   For example, in 2016 79% of Americans claimed religious affiliation, but only 55% went to church.   Some of us may believe that if you don’t go to church you cannot claim to be Christian.  Others feel strongly that if you do not understand scripture the way they do and follow the same rules they do, you cannot be Christian.  In some peoples’ minds, the fact that this church has a woman pastor means this whole congregation isn’t Christian.   But I think that none of these things are what John was talking about.  His concern was not in how well the people obeyed the 613 Laws of Moses, or the laws of Rome, or the laws of King Herod, but in how well the people cared for each other.  How well they loved one another.  How justly they treated one another.   

Yesterday there was a news story about Pastor John Grey, an associate pastor at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, who bought his wife a $200,000 Lamborghini for their 8th wedding anniversary.   He defended his purchase saying it wasn’t a pastor buying the car, but a husband.  And that he wasn’t using money from the church, but from his book sale profits.   And I wonder how much of his book profits he has used to help the hungry and homeless . . . because “If you have two coats, give one away.”  

"What counts is your life.  John said.  Is it green and blossoming?”    

 John told the people that the one who was coming “will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”    And the people were encouraged and strengthened by his words.    Someone was coming,  to bring change, to liberate them.  And John was there to help them prepare, to help them understand how their lives needed to change in order to live in God’s kingdom.   

And there was joy.  There was joy in the hearts of the people, knowing that God had not forgotten them.  There was joy as people walked into the Jordan to be baptized, so that they might start their lives afresh and be ready when the Messiah appeared.   They may have still had the wrong idea about what the Messiah was coming to do, but knowing he was coming brought joy and hope.  Knowing that the Messiah was coming, and coming soon, strengthened them to continue with their lives, to become better people.  To throw away the dead wood in their hearts and souls, and open their hearts to hear Jesus’ message when he came.

And so it is with us.  At this time of year, when we prepare for the birth of the Christ Child, and look ahead to the return of the Son of God, joy fills our hearts at the knowledge that God loves us.  God loves us so much he sent his son to heal the entire world.   God loves us so much that no matter what we are going through in our lives, we can be assured he is with us.  Especially in the dark times, in the times when we are tempted to feel alone and abandoned, God is with us.  John and the other prophets before him made it clear, that we would be liberated from our sins and pain would be wiped away by the coming Messiah.  That we would be granted freedom, and release from the oppression of the spirit. 

When we go forth from this place today, let us spread joy to all we encounter,  for the God of Israel has set us free.