Sixth Sermon at St. Paul's

Year C, Third Sunday of Advent, RCL
Luke 3:7-18

“And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’”
We heard last week that the word of God came to John the Baptist and that he traveled all throughout the land around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We hear in this week’s Gospel reading that his itinerant preaching days paid off. Right off the bat we hear that crowds, not a crowd but multiple crowds, came to be baptized by John. Upon arriving to receive this baptism of repentance that John so eloquently preached, John does something I find to be quite remarkable, he calls them out for coming to be baptized. “You brood of vipers!”, he calls them. He then informs them that “the ax is lying at the root of the trees” and that “every tree... that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Now, I imagine that if I was among those crowds that came to be baptized by John I would be very disturbed by these statements. Am I producing good fruit? I would wonder. How can I be sure that I will not be cut down and thrown in the fire? If up until now I have failed to do so how can I possibly begin to bear good fruit now? All this doubt and anxiety leads to the question, “what then should we do?”
The crowds are concerned with what they should do to avoid being chopped down and thrown into the fire. They seemingly come to John, not because they recognize that he is preaching a way of life that has inherent value because it is in line with how God calls us to live, but rather out of anxiety and fear of what will happen to them. I’m reminded of a story I read recently that is used by Ikon, an emergent church community in Belfast, Ireland, as part of a performance like liturgy that they put on every week.
The story tells of a group of disciples who immediately after the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ left and traveled for thousands of miles finally settling in an isolated village far from where they had seen Jesus die on the cross. Having left after the crucifixion this group never knew about the resurrection, but regardless, upon settling in their new village they vowed to continue to live by Jesus’ teachings. Hundreds of years later Christian missionaries came to this village and the villagers then heard about the resurrection. The evening they heard this news there was a great celebration in their village. One of the missionaries however, noticed that the village elder was not partaking in these celebrations. When asked why, the elder told the missionary that he recognized it was certainly a day for celebration but followed that up by saying, “But now I am concerned that my children and my children’s children may follow him not because of the implicit value he has, but because of the value he possesses for them.”
Looking into this story quickly I was unable to find anything that confirmed or denied its historical accuracy. Based on where I heard it from, I’m inclined to believe it to be nothing more than a story, but even still it has an important message. This band of disciples recognized that Jesus was worth following, not because of any promises of eternal glory, but because in Jesus they recognized God, and that is reason enough to follow him. They recognized that the way of life he showed was the right way to live regardless of any promise of future reward or punishment. They followed Jesus because Jesus was their Lord, that was all the reason they needed.
The crowds that come to the Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist on the other hand, they came because of the benefit for themselves of doing so. They came to avoid being chopped down and thrown in the fire, they came to avoid being burned as chaff in an unquenchable fire. And for this John the Baptist calls them a brood of vipers. However, even though they may not have come for the right reason, the crowd’s question is still an important question. “What then should we do?”
In this season of Advent we find ourselves in a time of waiting, a time of expecting. In this time of waiting, while we think on Jesus’ coming to the world near two thousand years ago, and his eventual coming again, it is only natural that we ask this same question, “What then should we do?” If Jesus is to return, then what should we be doing to prepare ourselves? This question sums up Advent for me. We’re not supposed to be simply waiting around, sitting on the edge of our seats, anxiously watching minutes pass by. No. We’re waiting and in this waiting we are preparing ourselves for his arrival, we are working out what we should do in anticipation for his arrival.
What does it mean to prepare ourselves for his arrival though? Jesus is not a house guest for whom we clean up an extra bedroom and stock the fridge a little more than usual. Jesus’ arrival calls for much more than quickly tidying a mess, which will most likely return shortly after our guest leaves. John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance in anticipation of Jesus’ arrival. I think it was last week that Fr. Sloane aptly stated that repentance, metanoia in the original Greek, is not simply admitting fault and saying you’re sorry, it is a complete reorientation of our lives.
This reorientation is certainly difficult, much more difficult than admitting fault, saying you’re sorry and then going right back to whatever you were doing. If we approach repentance solely as a means of receiving something, as a means of avoiding the ax that John the Baptist told the crowds was already laying at the roots, then true repentance, metanoia… well I do not think that it’d be possible. If, however, we come to it as the disciples from the story I told earlier, as seeing the implicit value that Christ has, not the value he possesses for us, then this repentance, this metanoia, is possible. It becomes possible because when we are concerned more with what value Jesus possesses for us then all we are doing is moving the object of our desire to our salvation, we are still focused in on ourselves. When instead we see the implicit value that Jesus has we move past focusing on ourselves and our own desires and we give ourselves over to God. Elsewhere in the Gospels you’ll remember that Jesus tells the disciples that to be his followers they must deny themselves and carry their crosses, they must give up themselves . We are told that by doing so we will find life, we are clearly told that there is a reward to following Jesus, I am not trying to deny that. Rather, what I am saying is that like the disciples from the story, we ought to follow Jesus because in him we recognize and experience God, not because of what we can gain from doing so. In the first approach to repentance, that of avoiding the ax at our roots, we are not reorienting ourselves, we are simply reorienting our desires, reorienting our concern for ourselves. When we approach repentance with an understanding of the implicit value that Christ has however, we can fully reorient ourselves to Christ and in doing so we can deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow him.
This reorientation to Christ is what our lives as Christians should always be focused on, no matter the time of year. In Advent, while we are living in a place of expectancy the question of “What then should we do?” is very present, and it is of course natural that this reorientation will be more prominent in our thought and speech than it might at other times of the year. This however, does not mean that preparing ourselves for his return, that reorienting ourselves to Christ is limited to this season. As Christians we ought to be always working out the question of “What then should we do?”. Every day we should remember that God became man and bid us to follow him and from this we should ask “What then should we do?”. Following Jesus, following God incarnate, requires repentance, requires a complete reorientation of our lives. We cannot follow him and remain as we are, as we were. We must continually strive to orient ourselves towards Christ. So as we await his coming again I ask you, what then will you do?