Preached at Christ church, Billericay, 15 Dec 2024 @ 08:00
Readings: Zephaniah 3:14-20 & Luke 3:7-18
Why the crowds were coming to John
A voice in the night
I was in a deep deep sleep, suddenly there was a loud voice. I woke slowly, it was pitch black. I couldn’t make sense of the voice or work out where it was coming from. I thought it was trying to tell me to do something. My brain was awake, now, but my body was lagging behind. I forced myself out of bed, and made my way to the lounge. The voice had stopped. I got to the lounge and woke the dog, but no-one else was about. After a short while, I said “good-night” to the dog and went back to bed. I couldn’t sleep, feeling I had missed something important. In the morning, I was told that the voice came from a radio, it’s left on all the time, it has batteries to keep it on in a power cut. It’s tuned to one station and the volume is turned all the way up – so everyone will definitely hear it. It is the hurricane warning system, and was telling us we MUST stay inside. It was so loud, the sound was distorted.
John’s Urgent Message
Anyway, it gave me a sense of urgency, that I must do something, and that is what John the Baptist is trying to do. And it’s working. Lots of people are coming out to him. They sense the danger.
The state of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire is corrupt; it’s struggling to keep control of the Jewish state at the edge of the empire. The puppet kings are ineffective, and part of the territory is effectively under direct rule.
Out sourced tax collection
The collection of taxes has been outsourced. The rights to collect tax are sold to the highest bidder, who must then deliver the tax to the Emperor, and also collect enough extra tax to become rich.
How Jewish Soldiers make a living
The Jews have their own army, but it behaves more like the occupiers. Instead of protecting the people, the soldiers bully them, to supplement their own income.
The need for a new ‘Exodus’
It seems like things are coming to a head. That something important is about to happen. Something that will be on a par with God rescuing His people from the Egyptians in the Exodus. We have a vision of what they were hoping for in the Zephaniah reading. The oppressors removed, the festivals returned, and the world put to rights. They just had no idea how God would get them there.
Then this weird, but highly charismatic prophet – John the Baptist – appears and offers people baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Many people come and repent of their sins from all walks of life.
Vipers (Snakes) and their symbolism
John is not one to hold back. Calling those who have come to him a “Brood of Vipers” seems like quite an insult. Matthew tells us that this comment was addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees, not the crowd in general.
Genesis – the serpent
Brood here refers to them as offspring. So it takes the idea right back to Genesis, where the serpent tempted Adam & Eve and was cursed by God. He’s saying they are children of evil.
Wrath of God and how to avoid it.
The wrath of God will sort out all the problems. The Israelites have seen this before. God’s wrath is coming soon, and John uses two images to explain this. The axe is already at the root of the tree – a tree that doesn’t produce fruit is cut down. That’s the danger they face.
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how that might apply to the Jews who have come to be baptised. If they don’t get that one, the winnowing fork should explain it nicely – the chaff is about to be blown away, only the good grain will be left.
Being subjects to God’s wrath is a painful experience, but the end result is worth it. Anyway, they have just been told that they can flee God’s wrath.
Baptism is for converts
The way for them to avoid God’s wrath is to repent and be baptised. Baptism was the ceremony that those converting to Judaism went through. So, in a sense, they are admitting that they do not really have Abraham as their father. Even though they have repented, they don’t seem to clear what they have repented of. Three people in the crowd ask John what they must do. Clearly, they are expecting to live a different way.
A different way of Living
Cartoon
A cartoon shows a sceptic shouting up to the heavens, “God! If you're up there, tell us what we should do!” Back comes a voice: “Feed the hungry, house the homeless, establish justice.” The sceptic looks alarmed. “Just testing”, he says “Me too’”, replies the voice.
Living Differently
They will have to live differently. They will have to look after one another – sharing the resources they have. They will have to deal with each other fairly, not using the power they have over others to take advantage.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to them – but it seems to be. Sometimes the obvious just needs pointing out. It’s there in the prophets:
Micah 6:8 He has shown you,
O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act
justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
USSR
John’s call is for us too. Back in the USSR, where being a Christian was illegal, times were very hard for the believers. But some employers protected them as much as they could, because Christians were the only ones who could be trusted not to steal from their employers and not to use what they knew against them.
Living differently has an effect, not just in difficult situations, like living under persecution, but here and now in our world.
Perhaps we can feed the hungry, house the homeless and establish justice, because the sceptics aren’t going to. It is after all what the Lord requires of us, it is what we are here for.
Amen.
