Third Sunday of Advent

December 13, 2009

Sermon by Rev. Dr. Marcus Pera

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The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. Luke 3:7-18

John said 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? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin 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. Even 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.”

And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

The Gospel of our Lord.

In the name of our coming Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. Amen.

You notice this morning that there are three candles lighted. You notice also that each of the candles is blue. Now, if we trace back about 35 years, per chance, and we were in at least the Lutheran church, or Roman Catholic church, or an Episcopal church, you would notice that there would be three purple candles and there would be one pink candle. And the pink candle was to designate this particular Sunday, which was a release from the fast that was required, and it was because of the Second Lesson, which says: “Rejoice.” “Rejoice in the Lord always.” It was a release from the penitential character, which was followed after the pattern of the Lenten season.

After the liturgical movement and liturgical reform that took place after the Second Vatican Council, the season of Advent was changed a little bit in its focus. There was more of a dominant theme of hope, and with this dominate theme came a change of color, which is the color blue, that we use also on the paraments as well.

On this third Sunday is also the second of a series of sermons or words from John the Baptist. We had that first part of that lesson out of Luke last week, where we talked about repentance. And this Sunday is a continuation of that lesson, and that lesson today focuses on John saying, “We must bring forth the fruit of repentance.” It’s some pretty stern language. And it’s interesting, if you notice in the reading, right at the end of the Gospel, it says, “With many other exhortations,” he spread the good news, or spoke the good news. And I think a lot of people who hear those words, at least for a first time, would not necessarily recognize it as good news.

But there is a question that is asked within that lesson today, that I think is a very useful one, and I want to concentrate on that and illustrate it through each of the three lessons. And that question is: “What should we do?” It’s always an appropriate question. “What should we do?” “What should we do with our lives?” “Where shall we follow and walk?” “What shall we shape and how shall we shape our life accordingly?”

And before we go a little bit farther with that question, I want to point out one other fact, and that is that the word “should” does not appear in the Greek at all. Actually, it’s a subjunctive mood; and that being the case, it’s not necessarily “should” in that more heavy sense that we often hear the word “should.” “You should have” “You could have. “You would have.” We hear it not negatively, but rather it can imply also a volition. And so perhaps we should retranslate that question to kind of ask and say, “What do you wish me to do?”

In the First Lesson, we have the reading from Zephaniah. What happens so often with people is they experience their God as a very angry God. I worked with young adults almost all of my ministry and I know there are many young adults who no longer won’t walk with the faith community because they have never experienced God necessarily as a God of love. They experienced God as a judge. They experienced being hit over the head with the Bible, being hit over the head with the name of Jesus; being hit over the head with the law of God. And because of that, they have withdrawn from the community of faith.

But what is interesting in these lessons—and this first lesson from Zephaniah—even though there is strong language about the people needing to repent before their coming out of exile in Babylon, and because their life has been sacrificed in a variety of ways, yet in this last lesson that was read, in the last part of the book, there is this absolutely wonderful section. What should we do? We should be grateful for God rejoicing in us. “Rejoice in the Lord.” But here it says, “God rejoicing in us.” Listen to those words. He said, “I will rejoice over you with gladness, and I will renew you with my love.” What wonderful words, what wonderful thoughts—God delighting in us; God rejoicing in us; God renewing us, recreating us, in order that we might be transformed the way he originally created us to be. And then the sentence that comes after that, he says, “I will exult with loud singing as on a day of a festival.” Once again, God’s delight in us, to the extent that he is ready to have a party for us, as he kind of dotes on us, a party in which there is singing, and there is music, and there is dancing, if you will. Yes, God delighting in us. How important for us to hear that God looks upon us with such love, with such unconditional love, as he has shown in his son, Jesus Christ.

Because of that, what should we do? I would wish that we would be grateful as we understand the way God looks upon us with his gracious favor. And how do we give that thanksgiving? I’m going to again show some words, and I don’t mean to keep doing this but, in the Greek, the word for joy is “chara”. And then there is the derivative word from that root, and that word is “charis.” And maybe you can guess what that is. That’s “grace.” “Joy.” “Grace.” And then there is another related word, and that related word is “charis” with an “eu” in front of it—“eucharis.” And you already hear it, “Eucharist,” the giving of thanks, which is what we do around the table every week. What happens and what flows out of the grace and the joy that is there—God’s delight in us and God seeking to renew us in his love—is that we are people then who give thanks to God for his goodness.

What should we do, if I go back to that sentence? “Do”—remember that in the words of institution—“Do this in remembrance of me.” At the very least, we come around the altar to give thanks, receiving God’s gift, free gift to us. And by the very coming and taking of our place, we offer thanksgiving to God, acknowledging God’s gifts. But more than that, we come offering ourselves in order that we might be people who bear fruit for him.

Now, the Second Lesson is that one that says, “What do you wish us to do?” They wish us to give joy in the Lord and to find joy in the Lord. Now, that word “joy” is not simply an equivalent of happiness and not simply an equivalent of pleasure. We can pursue those kinds of things. We can arrange things—how about a good vacation, and find pleasure in that and happiness in that. We can do that in relationships as we nurture them. We can do that same kind of thing in a variety of aspects of our life. Our own Constitution of this country says that we have freedom in order that we might be able to pursue happiness. But the concept of joy is a deeper one. And joy, as it is understood in scripture, is a gift.

You undoubtedly have heard the name and read books by C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis was an Englishman, taught at Oxford, an extremely high-level intellect, and was an atheist for much of his life. In about the middle of his life, he was convinced and became a Christian; and he chronicled that journey of his in a book that was titled, “Surprised by Joy.” “Surprised by joy,” as he came to discover what that was about. He was surprised because of the gift that was given to him as well. And he defines “joy” in that as an experience of the very character of God. To experience the very character of God, which we just said is, first of all, a God of mercy and a God of love. That is to have and experience joy. And we experience that in the context of the Christian community. We experience it also at different times in our life, which also can be times of pain and times of trial.

You all haven’t seen enough of my writing yet, but whenever I write a letter—and I have done that throughout the years—I sign off by saying, “Peace and joy.” And one of the things they realize when we say this is a lot of the times, especially if I send a note to someone and they have just lost a loved one, and I hesitate on the “joy” part and say, “Will they understand this?” “Why joy at this moment?” To experience the very character of God is what issues forth in joy, even at those moments in our life as well. And with that joy comes a comparable experience of that part of God, that presence of God, and that is peace.

At the end of that Lesson he says, “That the peace, which passes all understanding.” Peace that is not simply an absence of conflict. Peace that is something much more. When people ask me often what a favorite Bible passage of mine is, one of the ones I like to quote is from John 14, where Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives give I unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” It’s a deeper peace that comes out of that gift of God and God’s presence.

“What do you wish us to do?” Now, let’s come to the Gospel Lesson where the question is actually asked. And there are three sets of people that ask that question. And the first are the crowds, the crowds that come there. And we won’t try to figure out today who those people were, but simply people from the area that have heard of the preaching of John the Baptist. “What do you wish that we do?” And he says to them, “Well, if you have two garments, then give to somebody who only has one.” In that day, a garment, probably a person had one next to the skin; it might have been more defined as a tee shirt; one perhaps for the sabbath as well. Give to the person who has none. In Luke’s Gospel, there is this strong sensitivity toward social justice. There is that strong sensitivity to the basic needs of life that are needs of food and that are needs of clothing. And so the soldiers that are there ask, “What do you wish that we do?” And the soldiers in that day were probably mercenaries, collaborators with the Roman occupation. They were hated people as well. They were people who more than likely used their position of power to pad their bank account a little bit. And he says to them, “Don’t take more than what you have been given, and be satisfied with your salary.” And then, also, tax collectors, the toll collectors say, “And what do you wish us to do?” The people who collected the tax were also mercenaries, collaborators with the Roman government, were given a certain amount of money to be able to live on. But they, of course, were able to exact more for themselves, and did. And so, once again, they were not to be doing that. Very specific kinds of things; very contextual to the lives in which they were living.

“And would you wish us also to be doing?” Notice that it’s the plural in each of these. “What would you wish us to do as Immanuel congregation, as people who live in this country, as people who are part of the ELCA, as part of this congregation? What do we do? That “we,” it seems to me, does not say, “Get out of your occupation.” That isn’t mentioned at all. Stay within it. But the “we” is how do we bring about change within them, and how do we even address systemic change? And how do we even look at what we are about during this interim, in trying to figure out, in a new kind of way or a deeper kind of, way what we are called to do and to be as God’s people gathered here in this place? We are to do that.

And God says, through John the Baptist, that we are to bring forth the fruits of repentance. And there is a reference in there to the ax at the root, and the root talks about the fact that if it is the core that is good, then the tree is going to bring forth good fruit; it’s going to produce. We need to give attention to our core. If we are virtuous in our core, our product and our fruit will be good. If we give attention to our core, then the fruits will be there as well.

I remember well a person by the name of Walter Brueggemann, who was a professor of theology at Eden Seminary in St. Louis. I was at a conference in which he was the speaker. He talked about his son was just going off to college, and he said he talked to him before, and he said, “Don’t ever forget that you’re a Brueggemann.” That sentence had a lot of meaning to it. Don’t forget about your core. Don’t forget about what the Brueggemanns are committed to. Don’t forget about what the Brueggemanns’ value is. Don’t forget about the fact that the Brueggemanns are Christians.

If we look in and attend to the core of our being, then that fruit is going to flow forth from us, too. It wasn’t John. John was pointing to Jesus. Jesus was the one who would baptize with fire and with water and with the Holy Spirit. It’s in our baptism that this transforming power of God comes, and we experience the powerful presence of God, that makes it possible for us not to only see his joy in us, but to see our joy in the Lord, and also experience peace.

In Bible study this Wednesday, I made an observation. We were looking at this lesson, and I said, you know, I listened mostly to my father, because I am a p. k., in terms of sermons when I was growing up. But you know that almost every sermon ended with, “And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.” And there somebody that was a part of the Bible study said, “I miss that. And I need to hear that.” And so this day, as we hear and rejoice in the Lord and experience God’s peace, I close this sermon by saying,

And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding,

keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.

Amen.