"Dead - or Alive?"
Given Sunday, December 17, 2006 at St. Mark’s Church, West Frankfort, Illinois; and at St. James’ Memorial Church, Marion, IL.
Dead, or alive?
That’s the choice that John the Baptist, whose voice roars out to us, even as it did to the crowds who’d come to see him baptizing in the River Jordan….
“You brood of vipers” (it’s clear that John the Baptist was no graduate of the Dale Carnegie course “How to Win Friends and Influence People”), he said, “who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance…” The choice that John the Baptist laid out before his listeners that day comes down to this: “do we bear fruit, or not?”….in other words, “are we dead, or alive?”
Let’s remember that John was the forerunner for Jesus….in last week’s Gospel reading, just in the verses which precede today’s lectionary, we hear Luke’s quotes from Isaiah, chapter 40: “a voice of one calling in the desert…prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him…”[1]
John prepares the way for the coming of Jesus Christ….John is announcing a new covenant, a new way of relating to God.
So, let’s look at today’s reading from the perspective of: dead –or- alive
We begin with what’s dead – or dying:
- A relationship to God based on birth: Notice that John tells the crowd (perhaps as if to read their minds), “do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” In fact, God’s chosen people had come to regard their status in just those terms: if one was born into the chosen people, one had a relationship with God. It seems that this claim rested on something that was received, the benefit of God’s work (in choosing Abraham) and an accident of birth. It was a done deal, a past event that was looked back to with pride.
- Relationships that bear no fruit: Notice how John the Baptist ties together the claim of relationship with God through Abraham’s bloodline to the image of a tree which is firmly rooted in the soil, but which bears no fruit…..Picking up his earlier comments about “bearing fruit”, John continues, “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” John is saying that a group identity (such as being a descendent of Abraham) is dead. Every individual is to bear fruit, and to cultivate a relationship with God so that fruit can be produced.
- Extreme individualism is dead: Desires that put ourselves first and others last are to be done away with….John responds to the crowd’s question, “what shall we do then?” with these words (paraphrased): “share with one another, do not steal from others, do not extort money using threats and force.”[2]
So, what’s “alive” then? How are people to relate to God in a new covenant, a new agreement, that comes into being with Jesus Christ? Luke provides the following answers:
- A relationship with God is accepted willingly: Just as people willingly came to John for baptism, and a cleansing of their sins, so those who come to God through Jesus Christ will come willingly. No accident of birth, no past relationship to God by some other person will suffice to make the children of the new covenant “children of God”.
- A relationship with God will be a one – on – one matter: Here again, we rely on John’s words, “every tree”.
- Concern for others will mark the fruits of this new relationship, this new covenant: Here we should pause for a moment, for Luke seems to be deeply concerned with the question, “how do we live out the Gospel, if we (the believers) are going to be here in earth for awhile (assuming that the Lord was not going to return in glory as soon as many in the early church had previously thought)?” Luke’s answer, found throughout his Gospel account, seems clear: 1. concrete, observable actions will prove that God resides within the heart and mind of those who claim to be God’s children; 2. actions which take care of others’ needs will be a significant part of those fruits; 3. a genuine repentance from dishonest, illegal or harmful actions which are associated with living in a pagan culture (like the first century – or increasingly, in our own times), will mark the actions of God’s children (here we come again to the ways in which tax collectors and soldiers often behaved in the first century).
Some final thoughts are in order here…..
- Notice that this new covenant is conditional: In the Old Testament,
some of God’s covenants with His people were conditional…usually, they could be summed up this way (this example is from II Chronicles 7: 14):
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
And so we hear John the Baptist saying today, “every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” - If God can’t work with us, He’ll work with someone else: John’s message seems clear….”do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’, for I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham”.
We are called to be living stones, being built into a spiritual house, whose foundation is Jesus Christ (this image is found in I Peter 2: 4 – 10).
John’s message asks us to take stock of ourselves, as we prepare for Jesus’ coming…..
- Does my claim to be a Christian come from something in the past, some past action (like being baptized), some association through some other person, -or- does in come from a deeply rooted relationship, freely chosen, willingly accepted, and frequently renewed relationship with Christ?
- Do I cultivate my personal relationship to God, even as I live it out in the community of the Church?
- What are the fruits which show that I am firmly rooted in Christ, and particularly, what are the fruits that are demonstrated in acts of love, generosity and kindness towards others?
AMEN.
[2] The tunic was an undergarment which was worn next to the skin. Tax collectors were usually Jews who collaborated with the governing Roman authorities, and so were hated for being a part of a hated regime….the tax system encouraged graft and corruption, for it allowed tax collectors to take additional amounts above and beyond the actual tax, which they could keep. Soldiers were probably poorly paid, /and often may have extorted money through threats of force to supplement their income.
