The Work of Anticipation

A Sermon by Andrew Colman based on Luke 3:1-18

Tonight we meet one of the strangest Characters of the Bible, John the Baptist.

He is often considered the last of the Old Testament prophets because he is the last one to stand up and say, "Look, look who is coming. The Messiah, the Anointed One, God made Flesh, the final Judgement on all things is coming, look!"

And he takes up the Mantle of the prophets handily. He is strange. "John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather girdle around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey." We have heard these words many times, and we've probably had a picture of him in our mind for many years, so that seems normal-ish, but it was not. I didn't do extensive research on this fact but most people in Jesus’ time did not live on a diet of Locusts and Honey.

And the other part of the Mantle of the Prophets that he took on was to be rather abrasive in the delivering of his message of Good News.

God is here! This is not something we need to tip-toe around! He used strong language to get the attention of as many people who would listen as possible.

“You brood of vipers!" You can just imagine that there were a few people in the crowd who had come to see what was going on looking off into the distance and their head whipping around to look at John and the people he was talking to when he cried out, "You brood of Vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

That's not how adults speak to each other... unless you're a prophet of God in the Bible, and what you're concerned about is the very life of those approaching vipers.

And then comes the final part of his Prophetic Mantle:

"Bear fruit that befits repentance." The call to get right with God.

It's the whole story of the people of the Bible. God chooses them to be God's blessing in the world - through whom Jesus would eventually come - and they stray.

God sends a prophet to call them back and either they repent and like in the Book of Esther, they are saved, or they don't and they are taken into exile in one way or another.

Now, it's not always that cut and dry, but that is largely the model that John is working with.

So when multitudes asked what to do,“Whoever has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”

the tax collectors “Collect no more than is appointed you.”

the soldiers, “Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

John knew where the stuff of repentance in their life to clean up was, so he simply named it. Go and do bear fruit worthy of repentance.

This part of the story always confused me as to how it connected to Advent. After all Advent is a time of the year set aside to waiting, waiting for the coming of Christ in both looking back to the manger, but more importantly, looking forward to Christ coming again to banish the Power of Sin and all of its malevolence from the world.

That makes sense - John the Baptist is helping us to remember the Christ is coming again.

But Advent is for holding back, pushing back against the chaotic consumeristic drive of the Worldy Holiday season; it’s a way of keeping an eye on what is truly important in this world.

Not stacks and stacks of presents, but the presence of God in our lives, through our life of prayer, that personal connection, in our corporate life of prayer, coming to a place where we can find a caring group of people in whom we can hopefully find refuge from the madness, and in the lives of our family and friends who are there to love and care for us as well.

That's part of the pushback of Advent, too, not just about more stuff but about slowing down and developing relationships and connection - [resonance]

This second part of John’s Prophetic Mantle seems to focus more on doing and understanding our relationship to, well, stuff!

If you have two coats or more food than you need, more stuff than you need- go and do - go and give it to someone who does not have any at all.

That call from John from within the Advent season is less about the waiting and more about what the word Advent actually means - Advent means Arrival.Advent is about anticipating the Arrival of God, of Christ.

Think about hosting a Christmas dinner - about hosting and anticipating the Arrival of special guests!

I can only really speak for myself, but sometimes our living room and dining room are not perfectly neat and tidy. Sometimes, there are books strewn around, an espresso cup or tea mug on a bookshelf, and maybe a blanket hasn't yet been folded back up and put over the back of the couch…

If we are anticipating the Arrival, if we are waiting for the arrival of some special guests, we'd do our best to tidy the books, pick up the mug, and fold the blanket.

For John the Baptist, it's kind of like that, but on a cosmic existential scale. It's not just a few friends showing up for dinner  - It's God!

"Look, everyone", John is saying, "tidying up the cups is not we're talking about here. We're talking about tidying it all up. Pharisees, Sadducees, tax collectors, and soldiers, we all know you abuse your power. Intimidate and silence the less powerful and take more than you should. Clean that up. It's not good for you; it's much worse for those you're oppressing - and God is coming - is that how you'd like to be judged? You're better than that - you're made in the image of God.”

See John was concerned for each person in that brood of vipers - because they were made in the image of God. And when they act in contradiction to that image, it does them harm and harm to those around them.

John was calling them to repent of their ways because when we turn from our ways that are guided by sin, we are able to draw nearer to God. Like Zacchaeus, the Tax Collector who drew near to Jesus turned from his sinful tax-collecting ways and ended up blessing all those that were around him

A life lived close to God is a beautiful life.

This week in Advent, we hear the prophet's call to repent to turn from that in our own lives that is born of sin, or of our fears, or of our wounds; things done better left undone, or the things we fail to do, the people we can’t quite manage to be.

What John didn't know was coming was the following line.

As we speak the truth of our lives to God—God who is merciful and just—we are reconciled and drawn home again and again and again.

John cried out clear the way for the Lord; make his paths straight! And he was serious - when we do those things, life gets better for us and all of those around us.

But what he didn't know was coming is that Jesus was about to come to us through those overgrown paths around every corner and pick each one of us in our most broken state and be a real peaceful, comforting presence in the midst of the wilderness himself.

Because there are times when we can barely even cry out in the wilderness, let alone pick up the brush to clear the path - let alone make straight pathways out of crooked ones.

He comes to us in our brokenness through all of the crooked and overgrown paths not only because we need him to. We've proven that time and time again, but because it's all God wants to do.

All God wants to be is our comforter and peace bringer.

Because God knows that when His peace and comfort resides in one, it cannot help but overflow, like the cup that overfloweth in Psalm 23, on all of those around.

When Jesus is the guest for dinner - the dishes don't need to be washed, the books don't need to be tidied, and the blankets folded and put away. The door needs only to be open in the tiniest and most obscure way for him to come in and start the clean-up for you.

Am I saying we can just /wait/ around for Jesus to come into our lives and start cleaning it up for us, no. That's not the kind of waiting that we're living into during Advent.

It’s anticipation - and when we anticipate, there is at least a spark of energy waiting to become active. Maybe it's just to pick up a mug or maybe it's to try make something small right that hasn't been.

But when it's anticipation of the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to return and make all things new - there will be at least a spark if not much much more. But maybe just a spark.

Come, Lord Jesus, into this time and this place, and into our hearts and start the tidy up, whatever it is we know needs tidying up,  that we might draw ever nearer to you and be your blessing in the world this Advent season and always.    Amen