ADVENT JOY
Sermon for St. James 12/15/24
Third Sunday in Advent Luke 3: 7-18
Jan Jordan Obl/OSB
Today is the beginning of the third week in Advent.
We have added the light of Joy to the candles of Hope and Peace.
Our candle today is rose colored to reflect rejoicing in the joy that our loving God has given all of us - to care for and to share - in order to fulfill our role in the Kingdom of God.
Joys to reflect on as we rejoice in preparing for the celebration of Christ’s birth and for his second coming.
Joy in our Salvation.
I don’t think we hear very joyful words to start off our Gospel reading today!
John the Baptist is preaching to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
I don’t know about you – but this accusation from John stirred my curiosity.
And I am quite confident that Fr. Jerry would not even think of beginning a sermon calling us a brood of vipers! 😊
So what might be the reason this passage was chosen for Advent 3?
The week to celebrate joy and rejoicing.
I like John the Baptist. He ranks right up there with the Apostle Peter. One of God’s unique children.
Here we have a guy who lives in the wilderness or desert. He preaches from the Jordan River as he is baptizing people of the surrounding area and preaches from the Jordan’s desert shores.
He does not go into town to Jerusalem’s synagogue. God did not send him to a place of power.
John was reaching out to the people on the margins bringing them Good News of the Messiah’s coming and that they better be prepared.
All the people were drawn to him in the wilderness including the Pharisees and Roman soldiers - as John’s reputation was already well known.
Doesn’t this sound familiar of how Jesus lived out his ministry?
John’s appearance is out of the ordinary wearing a camel hair tunic.
I envision him having long, messed up hair and dark, tanned skin from being in the sun. And the man eats locusts and wild honey!
The honey is okay by me but don’t any of you great cooks in our congregation start thinking about a recipe for locusts or grasshoppers!! 😊
I think God gave John a voice that would carry the message of baptism and redemption of sins a great distance and it definitely would catch our attention.
I don’t think John was afraid to tell people bluntly what they needed to hear about repenting of their sins.
Even if those blunt words would bring about his death.
Like Jesus.
So back to the snakes.
Why does John call everyone a brood of vipers when preaching to the crowd about repenting their sins and that they need to “bear fruits worthy of repentance?” (v 8)
Here are some of the interpretations noted in the commentaries I read:
· Since vipers are poisonous snakes – the implication would be that Satan was at work in the people’s hearts striking out to poison them to sin against one another.
John Dear said in his book “The Gospel of Peace” that “Luke’s John is condemning the people for their support of systemic violence and is challenging them instead to do something useful and good with their lives”. (pg. 239)
Jesus, himself used this same accusation in Matthew 12:24 when speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus proclaims, "Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."
· Another commentator wrote “a brood of vipers are young snakes that stay and swarm together until they are threatened and then would scatter or as in v 7… “flee from the coming judgement” (CEV)
· Maybe the crowd expected to hear words of this nature come from John due to his uniqueness.
Whatever the reason, despite being called a brood of vipers the crowd responded in a positive fashion to John’s challenge.
John continues on in verse 8 that just because the people were descendants of Abraham who had made a covenant with God, that this did not give them the leeway to do nothing themselves to show repentance.
They couldn’t just go on with their way thinking that all was good in the neighborhood.
They needed to live their lives (as we do) as God intended.
And how do we do that they ask John? His message to all of us is:
· Verse 11: To share the clothing and food that you have.
In other words, take care of the hungry and poor.
· Verse 13: That the tax collectors are not to make people pay more than they owe.
Maybe for us we need to support those who lobby for appropriate medical and pharmaceutical costs or fair wages. Perhaps buy fair trade goods such as coffee to help support family run farms.
· Verse 14: That those with political and legal authority are to treat people with respect and not be greedy.
Again, opportunities for us to support those in authority on all levels who truly have the people’s best interests at heart.
Verse 15 in my bible (Contemporary English Version) says that everyone became excited with John’s news and questioned whether he was the Messiah that they were waiting for.
We hear John tell them that he baptized with water but someone more powerful was still coming and urged them to be prepared.
The uniqueness of John’s message is cause for rejoicing and joy for those in the crowd that now have hope that Isaiah’s message of the Savior foretold so long ago was coming to fruition.
We hear in verse 6 of Canticle 9, The First Song of Isaiah (c 12):
Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.
Part of our Baptismal Covenant states that we will proclaim the Good News of God in Christ and seek to serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves. With God’s help. (BCP p 307)
And a portion of the post Baptism prayer says: “Give them…a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.” (BCP p 308)
I know some of you read the devotions in Forward Day by Day. This month’s writer particularly touches my heart.
Deon Johnson is a bishop in the Diocese of Missouri. He is the first openly gay, first black and first immigrant to this Diocese. He is from the island of Barbados.
He wrote this past Wednesday (12/11/24) about a tribe in South Africa and how they dealt with neighbors within their tribe who act unjustly or were felt to have committed an offense.
They form a circle around this person and one by one tell them of the good deeds, words and actions they have done and praise them for their strengths and kindnesses. It might take days for everyone to have the chance to offer their words and then the circle is broken, the person is welcomed back into the community and they celebrate.
What a concept of practicing a circle of caring! The precise meaning of “seeking to serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves.”
How will we find Joy and Rejoice this week as we fulfill our role in the Kingdom of God?
Amen
Contemporary English Version Bible (CEV) 1995
BCP
The Gospel of Peace John Dear pg. 239-240
Feasting on the Word Year C, Vol 1 pg. 68-73
The Rev. Dr. Kate Alexander https://christchurchlr.org/sermons/2021/12/12/hope-for-the-brood-of-vipers-luke-37-18
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/jesus-christ/who-was-jesus-calling-a-brood-of-vipers.html
Forward Day By Day December 2024