Tough Words from a Fiery Prophet
A Sermon preached Sunday, December 9, 2007
by Pastor Terry Davis
First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, CT
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.’”
4Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7But 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? 8Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9Do 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. 10Even now the ax 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.
11“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. 12His 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.”
There is no question about it, Jesus’ Cousin, this John the Baptizer was a tough talking fire and damnation prophet, much in the tradition of many of his predecessors Joel, Amos, Micah and others of the Hebrew prophets. For that matter Isaiah whose beautiful and beloved words we read this morning, moves from speaking words of comfort to the afflicted to strong words of condemnation for those who are themselves comfortable but leading the nation down paths that lead to destruction. Although my camel hair jacket is nice and soft I have the feeling that the camel hair clothing that John wore might have been a bit itchy and uncomfortable, and I know I would have a hard time being sweet and nice if the main thing I had to eat was grasshoppers in honey.
What is interesting about John, and Jesus also whose preaching was not always meek and mild either, is that they seldom criticize or condemn those who society usually considers the most sinful. While the constitution of our Presbyterian Church seeks to bar homosexuals from ordination as ministers, elders or deacons Jesus never had a single word to say about same sex loving people. He never once has a harsh word to say to drunkards or to tax collectors, indeed he was condemned for befriending these people who were considered some of the worst sinners by their respectable contemporaries. First century Palestinian society looked upon adultery as among the most heinous of offenses that a man or woman could commit, but when they brought before Jesus a woman caught in the very act of adultery and asked him as a rabbi to pronounce judgment on her instead he writes something on the ground and then invites the one without sin to go ahead and throw the first stone. You remember the story, no one throws a single stone, but all of them leave one by one, and Jesus says to her, has no one condemned you? When she said no one, than he says, neither do I condemn you he says go and sin no more.
Instead of condemning the people who were considered the great sinners, the undesirables of society both Jesus and John take aim at the respectable, privileged members of society. Who had more of a reputation for moral behavior than these religious leaders, and who had more power to do harm to prophets like John or Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees; but these are the people who John called a brood of vipers, a family of snakes. While others were coning out in sincerity to confess their sins and begin life anew, cleansed by the water of Baptism and assured of God’s forgiveness and power in their lives, the Pharisees came, by in large, to criticize and to look down on these common sinners; but John knew then for what they were, self righteous oppressors who condemned others for their sins while keeping their own well hidden. Just as so many supposed religious leaders: ministers, priests, televangelists, have been exposed as committing the same sins for which they condemned others, so the religious leaders of Jesus time were not so righteous and holy as they pretended to be as they stood in their pulpits and sat in the councils condemning others and demanding more and more offerings to support their extravagant life style.
It is certainly possible to understand John’s message to be one about an angry God who is going to cut down and burn up all of the unrighteous and sinners; but I would bring a different understanding as I hear John’s message. I do not hear John talking about an angry God, but instead saying in the strongest terms that sin has its consequences. Although people can persist in their wrong doing and hide their sinfulness for a long time, eventually what we do catches up with us. What you do in the dark eventually comes out to the light. Oppression breaks down the social contract and no people who are oppressed will tolerate injustice forever. Unfaithfulness in marriage eventually destroys the marital relationship and damages the whole family. The behaviors that God identifies as sinful, lying, cheating, stealing, murder, covetousness: all of the moral behaviors prohibited in the Ten Commandments have the effect of damaging both the person who commits these acts and other individuals and to a greater or lesser extent damaging the larger society. You cannot live in sin and not pay a price. That is what John is saying, there is hell to pay, not necessarily eternal hell, but a here and now hell that eventually is destructive of the sinner as well as the larger society.
John’s message is a call to a new morality, a call to turn away from destructive behavior and to instead move into positive behavior. The other gospels tell us more about the positive side of John’s preaching giving the specific prescriptions that John gave to people. He told the soldiers not to oppress the people in whose midst they were working, and not to take anything by fraud or force. He told the tax collectors to stop collecting more than appointed of them in order to line their pockets. He said if you have two coats give one to the person who has no coat, if you have food share it with those who have little or none. Just as lying, cheating, stealing and murder are destructive so honesty and compassion and sharing make everyone better. When you share what you have with those who have not both you and the one who receives feel better and not just feel better but you are better off.
Amidst all that John had to say about moral righteousness there is another side of John’s ministry, it was not a ministry of condemnation alone, but it was a call to turn around, to repent, to change your ways, and through Baptism John was providing them a way to accept and receive God’s forgiveness. It was a ritual that Jesus himself submitted to, and which his followers adopted with his approval, and even today we continue to practice Baptism as a means of assuring people of God’s cleansing, forgiving love. It is who we are, we are sinners forgiven by God and the font stands here in the front of the sanctuary as a reminder of who we are by God’s grace. Amen