The Kingdom of God is Near
Rev Dr Mark Porizky
12/9/07
Matthew 3:1-12
Max Lucado, in his book Six
Hours One Friday, tells how the
The
It is to heart’s like those that
created the conscience fund that John the Baptist speaks today.
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
‘The
voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.” ’
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist,
and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of
Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the
Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their
sins.
But when he saw many 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 worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at 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 one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
I remember my mother saying these
words to me and my sister when our behavior was more than she could bear:
"Just wait 'til your father gets home!"
Of course, after a time those words
didn't quite do the trick, so she would say, "Your father will be home any
minute." This was better, but nothing would call us to attention--and
on some occasions --repentance like the words, "Your father is pulling into
the driveway!"
Bingo! This produced an instant
change in behavior. It even worked when we used it on each other, "Here
comes dad," one of us would say and no matter how many times one or another
of us cried "wolf" with these words -- they always drew at
least a glance out the window.
You might say mom put "the fear
of dad" in us with this simple phrase. And we did have a
"fear" of dad. Not a toxic, unnerving fear, but a healthy, respectful
fear. Dad loved us and we knew it. We felt safe and secure
surrounded by his strength. He was not mean, but he was firm. He enjoyed playing
with us, but there were rules. There was an expectation that we would live
rightly and honor our parents.
The fear we had of "dad" was
not a fear that drove us away. Instead, it drew us to him -- to this day
the memory wraps around our spirits like a warm blanket of security. Dad passed
away too many years ago and both my sister and I would quickly deliver up our
life savings to hear one of his "lectures".
In our scripture today, John the
Baptist¹ appears on the scene with a stern message.
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven² has come near."
As you read the remainder of the passage, you realize that John's preaching
would qualify as being of the "fire and brimstone" variety. His
message was a kind of equivalent to, "Your father is pulling into the
driveway!"
It
struck a nerve, a strong one. The response to John's ministry is striking.
Even the religious leaders came out to hear him -- and to respond to
his message. To our way of thinking these days -- and especially to the thinking
of church growth "experts," John's movement wouldn't have a chance. A
new movement at the corner of First and
It’s
funny that every time Advent rolls around we discover again that we can’t get
to the manger and the stable without going past John the Baptist. There he is,
out there in the wilderness, with his ragged leather clothes, and locust wings
stuck between his teeth. Rev.
Barbara Brown Taylor says that John always seems to her like the Doberman
pinscher of the gospel. He’s there nipping at your heals, growling for
repentance. “Before John is through our heads are pounding with vipers, wrath,
axes, and unquenchable fire, when all we wanted was a chance to sing “O Holy
Night.”
John
may be a stark figure, and his message is surely daunting, but it’s a message
that’s a necessary part of our faith: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is
drawing near.” The trouble is that words like sin and repentance just don’t
seem to resonate very well in our culture. They have the faint musty smell of
outdated words like “vouchsafe” or “behoove.”
Once
upon a time, the vocabulary of new life included such words as sin and
salvation, penance and repentance, but these days we do not seem to be able to
say them without stammering. We are more comfortable with words such as sickness
and health, love and acceptance. These words place no blame, impute no fault,
expect no change, except the change from feeling bad to feeling better, as we
are forgiven for being exactly who we are.
What
is repentance? I would guess that if I were to ask most of you that question
I’d get a wide variety of answers. But I would also guess that for most of
you, it leaves a slightly bad taste. It’s about guilt and remorse; it’s
dragging up all our sordid sins. It’s like facing an angry parent, or a
disappointed professor. So we mostly avoid it, or maybe don’t really know how
to go about it. Like a computer
neophyte who doesn’t know RAM from ROM, we don’t know how repentance works
or what it means.
But
we can’t just ignore it. Theologian Paul Tillich said years ago, that the
great words of the Christian tradition cannot be replaced. There are no adequate
substitutes. Avoiding them, or abandoning them diminishes our faith into
something barely recognizable. What we have to do instead is rediscover their
meaning.
So,
I want to do a little digging into the depths of our souls this morning, and try
to find at least one way to reconnect with the idea of repentance.
Here’s
something I see in lots of people, and sometimes find in myself. We feel stuck.
Stuck is the image of repentance I want to talk about today.
Stuck
may be a destructive pattern we have in relationships that always seems to make
them go sour. It may be an inability to focus our energy and time on anything
constructive. For some it’s the hurts from the past that continue to cast a
dark shadow over their lives, with its resulting depression and helplessness.
For others it’s patterns of addiction or destructive behaviors that erupt
again and again, and we can’t even conceive of living without them.
People
live every day with pressing anxiety, deep sadness, critical boredom,
self-destructive behavior, and they can’t shake it. Essentially,
they’re stuck.
Well,
my friends, stuck is sin. Sin is all those patterns, behaviors, activities, and
habits that have us trapped in their vise-like grip. Sin is much more than the
actions of the moment. These are but symptoms of deep down patterns, well-worn
pathways we can’t seem to break out of. Sin is a name for the experience of
being cut off from God, who is the source of true life and joy, and it cuts a
swath of sadness, hopelessness, and brokenness through our lives and our world.
Then what about repentance? The
typical picture is the “I’ve been bad” scenario, in which, like a kid
caught in the act, we admit how screwed up we really are. We've had a lot of
those kinds of apologies in the past year or so -- haven't we? Remember
professional football player Michael Vick who apologized for raising dogs for
fighting? Or the popular disc jockey Don Imus who apologized for calling a
women’s college basketball team assorted names, but only after it got him in
real trouble?
But
were these people truly sorry? John the Baptist would say... "Show
the fruits of your sorrow for your sins. Words alone won't cut it. Make
some changes. Get some therapy. Do some good. Give justice to your victims.
Your actions will confirm or deny your words." That’s part of it. But do
you think that’s what attracted all those thousands of people to hike out to
John the Baptist in the wilderness? It wasn’t just the chance to admit how bad
they were, it was the hope of something better. That’s the heart of what
repentance means.
The
heart of Christmas is actually all about repentance.
The original Christmas message wasn't, "Christmas is
coming!" It was, "Christ is coming!" The message is,
"Joy to the world, the Lord is come... Let every heart
prepare him room..." That's essentially John's message.
Make room for Christ. And in making room, we just might discover
the truth that the peace and joy God wants to give to us does not come from the
stuff of Christmas but from the simplicity of Christ.
"Christ is coming! -- A Savior
will be born!" Advent calls us to look deeply into our hearts and
clear the way for the rule and reign of the Lord. John's message for us
today may not be any easier for us to hear than it was for his first century
listeners. It is not an easy thing to look at your life with the knowledge that
God is "pulling into the driveway."
Preparing a way is more than simply
saying, "God, I am sorry for my sin -- now let me get on with my
life." Do you know what I'm talking about when I use the term
"empty apologies" -- the kind of apology that follows a father's
command to his son, "Tell your sister you're sorry for pulling her
hair!"
John's message is a message to each
one of us to empty the clutter in our hearts and "prepare him room,” to
get unstuck. John's Advent ministry
is one of preparation. It is the beginning of something, it is not the
completion. And this is Matthew's final point in our scripture --
completion comes from the One who comes after John. John baptizes with
water, but the One who comes to be born in our hearts is more powerful. He
baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The Holy Spirit brings
authentic life and the purification of the refiner's fire.
Perhaps we've been through Advent and
Christmas so many times, we are too easily sidetracked by the
"busyness" of Christmas and miss the true "business" of
Christmas. Several years ago a woman left our Christmas Eve candle light
service with tears streaming down her cheeks. She said simply, "This
was beautiful -- where has Christmas been all my life?" She had been raised
in a fringe group that did not celebrate or even acknowledge Christmas.
She had never before experienced a simple celebration of the birth of Christ in
scripture and song.
Did you happen to see the Kellog's
Corn Flakes commercial that ends with, "Taste them again, for the very
first time." Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could experience the real
meaning of the coming of Christ once again -- as though for the very first
time?"
In order to do that we will have to
"prepare him room" and when we have made room for Christ we will have
to let our actions speak of the change he brings.
Will you pray with me now?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton
,
Web Site: WWW.SAPC-CT.ORG
Office Email: OFFICE@SAPC-CT.ORG
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