John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin 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 ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Luke 3:7-18
And 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.”
As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people.
My sermon from Third Sunday of Advent (December 15, 2024) on Luke 3:7-18.
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A few weeks ago, a mom in Pompton Lakes made the news. Jennifer Watts, during the holidays, has a lot of people stop by to visit. They’re coming, though, not to admire all the decorations all over her house. People come to visit the coat rack sitting on her front lawn. Since 2019, that coat rack has braved the cold and frosty air with a sign letting everyone know that: “If you need a coat, take one. [And] If you want to help, leave one.” When she first started this project, her first sign was simply an old pizza box with the words written on it in sharpie. But since then, her neighbors have supported her by installing an industrial grade clothing rack as well as signage that would fit any designer boutique. No one who visits has to prove they need a coat nor does anyone donating a coat get to make themselves the center of the story. Instead, people visit all day – and all night – to give and receive. Jennifer recognized that she could use what she had – her own front yard – to empower others to use what they have to to change the lives of hundreds of people they will never meet. And as we heard in our reading from the gospel according to Luke, these small acts we can do have a habit of becoming the big things that change the world.
Now this is the second week listening to the start of John’s public ministry. God, through John, chose to engage our world through the history we create and live through. God regularly chooses to show up while we’re living our lives which is exciting – and terrifying – all at the same time. It is a gift that God moves through our world but also scary to know how God chooses to experience the impact of what we say and do. John’s ministry, from what we can tell, began in the wilderness which – in the Bible – is never meant to be a majestic place like Yellowstone or Rocky Mountain National Park. The wilderness is always the place where our sense of control breaks down. The wilderness is where living is hard and all we can do is lean on God. It’s also the kind of place we’d expect a prophet to be since they were chosen by God to proclaim a message that would afflict the comfortable while also comforting the afflicted. Even though John was in the wilderness, his words were for people living their lives and they soon felt compelled to see what this prophet was all about. These folks from all different kinds of places and all different kinds of backgrounds wanted to hear what God’s imagination was for their lives. It didn’t take long before a crowd gathered around John and he was well aware of the power their presence and attention gave him. He knew his words mattered which is why, I think, he spoke very carefully. He knew they would expect a bit of fire and brimstone since that was what they expected a prophet to do. But rather than only focusing on the crowd itself, he chose to highlight two specific vocations that mattered in his world. God wasn’t merely inviting people to do good, be kind, and to truly share. John also invited those around him to recognize their place in God’s word and how God’s love will always push us beyond the status quo.
When it came time to answer their question, John could have leaned into the fire, the violence, and the winnowing fork. He chose, though, to share something parents – and teachers – often repeat over and over again to young kids in preschool. John told those around him to share: to recognize when they have two coats and to go find the nearest outdoor coat rack waiting for their donation. Realizing what we have while discovering what we can give, is a skill we always need to work on. And when we finally do give, that’s when we start to see our neighbors as more than people who are beneath, below, or against us. It’s very natural for us to spend all our energy and focus on what we don’t have, which is why John’s simple words are rather hard. But when it came to expand on what he said, John chose to highlight those in the crowd who served as soldiers and as tax collectors, John’s attention to these two professions reveals how sharing often upends the ways we choose to live in the world since these professions were more than a symbol of evil rulers. They were also essential when it came to how communities managed themselves and their commitments to one another. Those who collected taxes and those who patrolled borders, defended cities, and enforced laws were how people defined who belonged and who didn’t. And while the rules would never be applied equally among all people, the assumption was life was meant to be about how one got ahead of everyone else. Tax collectors were specifically designed to collect more than they were supposed to since that extra was the wage they earned. And soldiers were paid poorly on purpose so extortion, violence, and living off the booty collected after battles was how they stayed loyal to those who employed them. At the heart of their story was that belief that life can only be defined by those who had power over them and who they, themselves, had power over others. And in a world that refuses to share – or pretend sharing only matters at certain times of the year – knowing what we have, what we get to give, and not letting what the world allows be the limit of what we do – will always change us – and our world – into something more.
This point is also, I think, strengthened by the words John uttered at the end of proclamation. Rather than claiming any authority or power over others, he pointed immediately to the One who might have been in the crowd with them. John’s words can feel a bit over the top since he included a lot of fire and burning. But what he said isn’t, I think, defining Jesus as the One who would separate people into good and bad; loved and unloved. Rather, the separation he described was about how our life is meant to be food for others. The wheat John identified is the part of the plant that can be ground into flour while the chaff wouldn’t be able to feed anyone at all. Instead of choosing to compete with, and against, each other – John invites us to imagine a different way of being where sharing, caring, and being for one another is at the heart of who we are. And while God could have said these words as a kind of emperor on high telling us what to do; God, in Jesus, chose to show us how we can love God and our neighbors at the same time. This kind of living isn’t only for the saints, the faithful, or the pure of heart. It’s also a way of life we can live since, through baptism and in faith, we have been united with the One who refuses to let us live on our own. We can, with an old pizza box, a coat rack, and our front lawn bring healing to those in need. And when we give and share, we also lean into the love at the heart of what God chooses to do.
Amen.