Zephaniah 3.14-20; Luke 3.7-18
“Are we there yet?”
“Mommy, Daddy, are we there yet?”
Slightly irritated, Mom replies, “No, we’re not; it’ll be awhile. I’ll tell you when we’re there.”
Is it Christmas yet?
No, not yet!
It’s the Season of Advent, when the church remembers a time before Jesus … the hopes and fears of all the years: Where is God in all of the stuff going on? … Are things moving along by the will and purpose of God, or are we stuck here? God promised to come to us, to come to our aid, to help us - when will that happen? Will it happen? Is faith just so much wishful thinking, or is faith real and good and worth our time? Are there other gods to which we might turn? Is there something else we might do? What should we do?
The people ask John, What should we do?
Here they are, coming out from Judea and Jerusalem to hear a preacher who’s washing away sins in the Jordan … that fabled river … where God’s people so long ago crossed over into the Promised Land.
John gets right to the point …
If you have a little extra, share it!
If you’re in position to make money, don’t go crazy about it!
If you’ve got some power, use it carefully! … be satisfied.
Simple … basic … essential … John doesn’t ask anyone to believe in something, but only to behave well … to prepare the way of the LORD.
What is the relationship between John and Jesus?
They’re family … cousins … Jesus lives in Galilee, in the northern part of Palestine … John lives deep in the Southern Wilderness regions … a man of the desert … dressed in the clothing of the wilderness… eating desert food: roasted locusts and wild honey …
Cousins in the flesh … but it’s the spiritual relationship that Luke wants us to understand … if Jesus is the Messiah, John is a spiritual Elijah … who prepares the way of the LORD.
The angel’s announcement to Zechariah says it all:
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah wonders how all of this could be … the angel says to him, O be quiet! … and literally, Zechariah is unable to speak until the day of John’s birth.
The angel saved Zechariah the embarrassment of his own words … such things cannot be explained, and there’s no use trying … words fail to capture the glory of God … God knew that Zechariah wouldn’t keep his mouth shut, so God shuts it for him … sealed his lips, silenced him, quieted him … all Zechariah could do was motion with his hands.
Let all the earth keep silence … the LORD is in his holy temple.
One of my favorite moments in the Bible - the Book of Revelation - the Lamb takes the Scroll, with seven seals, and opens it … one seal at a time … and at the seventh seal, the final seal, silence in heaven, for about half an hour … why the specific note about half an hour?
Because heaven is a noisy place … singing and chanting and shouting and blaring trumpets … but even heaven knows when to shut up and keep quiet.
For an entire 30 minutes or so - a very long time in heaven to be quiet.
I once led a silent retreat … we began with small increments of silence … folks would go off and find a quiet place, and stay there - no reading, no writing, no walking about, no talking - just silence - we began with just a few minutes, and then on the third day of the retreat, several hours of silence.
At first, everyone found the silence to be intimidating, unnerving … folks wanted to read, write, talk, walk around, do something, anything … but at the end of the retreat, they found comfort in their silence.
The angel silenced Zechariah … Zechariah needed quiet time, and so did Elizabeth … so did everyone around him …
As Ecclesiastes says, There is a time to speak, and a time to keep silent.
John is born, grows up, finds his way into the Wilderness.
God’s word came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.
There were many who lived in the Wilderness in those days … for prayer, worship, contemplation, reading - spiritual communities similar to monasteries and convents: places of quietness, reflection, silence … a time to settle the mind and wait for the LORD.
When the LORD speaks, as Elijah learned in times past, the LORD is not in the wind and the earthquake and the fire, but in a still small voice - a hush, a breath, a stillness …
John preaches … and baptizes … and the crowds came to hear him.
John says to them: change your hearts and change your lives … and then you’ll have God’s forgiveness.
There’s something here terribly important … a changed life welcomes the forgiveness of God … and we might well ask, “Doesn’t God’s forgiveness come first?”
Not according to John!
John is preaching to people who know the truth already … who know what God wants, but are reluctant to do what God wants … John says to the people, Do you want God’s forgiveness? ... then do what God wants!
Forgiveness has nothing to do with doctrine and dogma and creeds and confessions … how weary God must be of all our words, our preaching, our songs, our prayers … once again, our nation is beset with sorrow and suffering, and preachers across the land will cry out to their congregations: We need prayer back in our schools, and Bible study … we need to teach creationism … we need to keep women away from birth control … we need to get rid of atheists and Muslims and gays and lesbians and abortion doctors and socialists and Communists and illegal immigrants … and by the way, go out and buy more guns; fill the land with guns; pass laws that make it easier and easier to carry guns … and then we’ll all be happy and safe.
God says, “Be quiet!” … give thought to how you live and the values you hold - and remember, those who live by the sword die by the sword … give thought to how you live: what you do for one another, your care for creation, your kindness to the weak and vulnerable … if anyone makes it to heaven, it’ll not be on points of doctrine, but what was lived … not ideas but mercy … not creeds and confessions, neither prayers nor hymns, but justice rolling down like water and righteousness like and ever-flowing stream [Amos 5.24]
What should we do? The people ask.
If you have a little extra, share it!
If you’re in a position to make money, don’t go crazy about it!
If you’ve got some power, use it carefully! … be satisfied.
Who are the people who ask John?
Those who have an extra shirt and extra food … folks on the better end of things … who’ve made it … who have more in the closet and more in the pantry then other folks …
The tax collectors … entrepreneurs … deal-makers, money-managers and bankers … go ahead and make money, but do so with restraint … only what’s legitimate, what’s authorized, and no more.
Soldiers of the Empire - probably Jewish mercenaries … they worked hand-in-glove with the tax collectors who relied on the force of arms to extort monies from merchants and travelers … John says: don’t cheat anyone, don’t harass the people with your weapons and power … be satisfied with your pay.
Share from your abundance.
Restrain your greed.
Don’t bully others and be content with what you have.
Then or now, these are the central challenges that face all of humanity.
Every religion knows these things … Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Jews, Muslims:
Share from your abundance.
Restrain your greed.
Don’t bully others and be content with what you have.
John tells us what to do …
And when Jesus comes, he tells us the same thing …
And the same fate befalls Jesus, as it did John … Herod kills John the Baptist for calling Herod’s family to account, and three years later, Herod will kill Jesus.
But we know how the story ends, so to speak … Herod doesn’t win, nor does Rome … no do all the powers of death and darkness …
The stone is rolled away, Jesus steps out of the tomb … God’s way of saying - I will not give up on you … but let the world know, John’s message is the right one … those who share from their abundance, those who are restrained in their quest for money, those who are satisfied and use power carefully, are on the right track … they enjoy my Father’s forgiveness: they are the light of the world, the salt of the earth … their light shines in the world so bright that the world can see their good works and give glory to the Father in heaven.
Amen and Amen!
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