Saturday, December 3, 2016

“What We Do Know” - December 4, 2016



Matthew 3:1-12


            We may not know when Jesus will come again, when time will end, when everything will be wrapped up. But if we want to know how to be ready for that, whenever it does happen, maybe we should look at the way we were told to be ready the first time he showed up.  Directions about how to prepare at that time came courtesy of this strange figure, John the Baptist, who was active when Jesus was getting ready to start the three years of his public ministry.

There was, at that time, a sense of expectation in the air that something was going to happen, or had to happen.  The Jewish people were badly oppressed by the Romans, the political leaders had dragged the priests and the Temple into their own struggles for control and power.  Some of them were clearly trying to use the institutions of religious life not to build up people’s faith or to glorify God, but to keep the Romans happy.  Some did that for selfish reasons, others did it out of fear and in an effort to protect the people.  Either way, corruption had found its way to the top and was infecting the whole system.

Some groups became so disgusted with what was going on that they turned their backs on Jerusalem and the Temple and went to live in the desert.  They built their own villages and communes and lived on their own, waiting for God to send a Messiah, a Chosen One, who would clear things up and set things right, and then they (or their children or their grandchildren) could maybe live decent lives in peace and quiet.  That was their hope?  Was that so wrong?

John the Baptist, scholars believe, lived for at least a time among these people.  The ritual baths that are found in their settlements point toward the sort of ritual that John became known for, although he put a new spin on it.  They emphasized the need for purity and would wash as a sign of inward cleansing, praying for forgiveness of their sins.  John took that idea, but then turned back toward the settled areas, and took it with him.

“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.” [Matthew 3:5-6]

I’ve seen pictures of the Jordan.  It’s not the clean, clear water that the ritual baths required.  It’s muddy and messy and brown, and with crowds of people stirring up the riverbed it would have been even more so.  That was the water that John was telling people to dip into, while at the same time telling them to clean up their lives.

 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” [Matthew 3:2] 

Mark would later tell us that Jesus spoke the same words.

            What John expected of people who had truly repented, though, was not that they should go out into the desert to lead lives of separation, like folks who hold themselves apart from the world, but that in the world they should be a sign for others of what righteousness should look like.  In Luke’s account,

“the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’” [Luke 3:10-14]

It meant doing their jobs the regular daily work and responsible and in an ethical way. It meant caring for the people that were around them.  Nothing spectacular there, right?  

            The pressure not to live that way can sometimes become strong, though, as at the time of John and of Jesus.  Part of the story of John the Baptist is how he died.  He dared to tell King Herod that there was something wrong with having killed his brother so that he could marry his sister-in-law.  That got him thrown into prison and eventually beheaded.  Speaking up for common decency can, in some times and places, call for great courage.

For people who await the coming of the kingdom, whether soon or late, to live responsibly in the midst of corruption may become an almost heroic deed.  People who do that bear witness that “the way things are done” does not always equal “the way things should be done”.  The people being baptized in the dirty old Jordan instead of the carefully constructed ritual baths knew that. 

Even now, to confess your sin like they did and to ask God’s forgiveness, knowing that you will continue to live in the middle of temptation and trials. is also to witness to the power of God to keep your life in his own hand.  It is to say that Jesus will be the judge and ruler of all things, not the world.  John said,

“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.” [Matthew 3:11-12]

When Jesus described the Last Judgment, he spoke about people who do what is good and right all the way along, not even giving it a thought, who will surprised at his approval, even gratitude, toward them.  He tells of them asking,

“‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’” [Matthew 25:37-40]

If you really want to be prepared, that’s the way to do it.  Just keep on keeping on.  Do whatever is good and right and pleasing to God, simply because it is good and right and pleasing to God.


            There’s a story that’s attributed to Martin Luther, but nobody can find it anywhere in anything written before about World War II, so it’s probably apocryphal, but it’s still a great story.  Someone is said to have asked him, “If you knew that the world were going to end tomorrow, what would you do today?” to which he is said to have replied, “I would go outside and plant a tree.”

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