Luke 3:1-14 New Living Translation
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3 It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler[a] over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler[b] over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. 2 Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. 3 Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. 4 Isaiah had spoken of John when he said,
“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
Clear the road for him!
5 The valleys will be filled,
and the mountains and hills made level.
The curves will be straightened,
and the rough places made smooth.
6 And then all people will see
the salvation sent from God.’”[c]
7 When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 9 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”
10 The crowds asked, “What should we do?”
11 John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”
12 Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”
14 “What should we do?” asked some soldiers.
John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”
The Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Hypothetically, imagine slipping into an airline seat for a three-hour flight or boarding that same old commuter train for that long morning work commute.
The man next to you politely begins to exchange some general pleasantries.
But as the commute continues, the polite tone of the conversation changes.
The man begins to mutter something, in fact, he mutters several somethings.
These “somethings” are things which instantly cause you to bristle, to squirm.
Luke 3:7-9The Message
7-9 When crowds of people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do, John exploded: you “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God’s judgment? It’s your life that must change, not your skin. And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as ‘father.’ Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life. Is it green and is it even flourishing? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.”
Very soon you discover, realize that he also has extreme views about religion, even more extreme views about politics and governance, how people respond.
His goal as you fly the friendly skies or just try to get to work for another day, is to convince you that your far too casual way of life is putting you in danger of snake venom, the fires of hell – it dawns on you it’s going to be a very long day!
Now imagine that it is not just you who are in ear shot of all these harsh words.
You aren’t the only one on the airplane nor the only one on the commuter train.
On the plane we might hope that the louder and more raucous this guy gets that the flight attendants would not be so slow to intervene on this guys intrusions.
They might even try to move him to another seat – but that is no promise nor is it any guarantee that this guy will not just stand up and cause another ruckus.
Maybe if it gets to be too much – someone would inform the pilot – or if there was an Air Marshall with a pair of handcuffs and something to cover his mouth.
Maybe if it goes to the extreme of extremes, the Pilot will turn the plane around.
Anything, anywhere-as long as someone figures out how to shut the guy down.
Now, back in the commuter train – the people just have to sit restlessly and just listen until they get to the next station and hope he gets tired and he gets off or they do and they simply accept the uncomfortable fact they will be late for work.
Imagine walking the downtown streets of any city or serving meals in a shelter and this guy walks up beside you, gets into your ears, or hands you a meal tray.
Perish the thought and pray such an occurrence is one you’ll never experience.
In a homeless shelter?
In an overnight shelter?
Spending a morning, an afternoon or evening or a whole night with the words of John the Baptist ringing in your ears would have been a similar experience.
After all, John’s hardcore extremist views believed you got ready for Christ’s coming by taking a hard, long, intense look at the ethical quality of your life.
Hearing enough of this message, listening to all the vitriol, high end criticism spewing from his mouth about quite literally everybody – who would not want have the plane turned around, to call the police this guy arrested – like Herod?
Luke 3:19-20 New Living Translation
19 John also publicly criticized Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee,[a] for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for many other wrongs he had done. 20 So Herod put John in prison, adding this sin to his many others.
Which one’s of us reading this reflection would be praying to God to keep such a man out of our lives, as far away from our “Christian experience” as is possible?
The Covenant Reality of Becoming an Advent Prophet
Isaiah 40:1-3 New Living Translation
Comfort for God’s People
40 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that her sad days are gone
and her sins are pardoned.
Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over
for all her sins.”
3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
for our God!
Yet our preparing a pathway for the coming of the Messiah is our Advent task.
That means listening to John’s words and some (Psalm 51) clearing away the moral rubble that prevents God from taking His straight path to your hearts.
I mean we’ll never like, nor appreciate, anyone calling us a “brood of snakes!”
Yet, OUR King is coming, and He will remember the poor, cut down the proud.
The all too comfortable, utterly corrupt order of things, must come to a change.
The hardest thing for “contemporary Christians” is actually taking the time for us disciples to make the U-turn of repentance, to straighten out their priorities.
Preparing our homes for the season, getting it ready for Christmas isn’t first a matter of our remembering our perfect gifts for everyone on our family gift list.
It’s about remembering the very nature of citizenship in the King’s kingdom!
It’s about taking a moral inventory of our lives. What changes do we need to make so that we can welcome Christ with integrity on Christmas morning?
More Like Christ – More Like John the Baptist First?
Ephesians 5:1-2 New Living Translation
Living in the Light
5 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us[a] and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
When I have asked, very Christian I have ever known will always profess this:
“Work in progress, trying to be more like Jesus every moment of every day!”
But, what about a bit more like John the Baptist in his camel hair wardrobe?
Luke 3:10-14 New Living Translation
10 The crowds asked, “What should we do?”
11 John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”
12 Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”
14 “What should we do?” asked some soldiers.
John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”
The changes John the Baptist was calling for do not appear .0001% radical.
One teacher I know of thinks John’s counsel is, for us, rather commonplace.
All we need to do, it seems to him, is to love a little, show a little kindness.
No career change is required.
I believe that interpretation goes too easy on many of us.
After all, many of us are well-to-do.
Many of us out there in the world have far more than two sets of clothing; many of us also have two cars, two or more credit cards, and maybe even two homes.
Our freezers are probably most full preparing for the Christmas feasts to come.
Yet, our hardcore reality: in light of our riches, John’s words become unsettling.
They demand a radical generosity that few of us are genuinely accustomed to.
True, John the Baptist does not specifically order anyone to leave his or her job.
But he definitely and directly does demand that we actually live out our faith by actually being honest and genuinely content and not ever abusing our power.
Clearly, any reading of Luke’s narrative reveals “John the Baptist Discipleship” is not something for the uncommitted, the timid nor for “after-hours only.”
We are not, so to speak, called or covenanted by God to moonlight for Christ.
Quite the contrary, our allegiance to Christ rules not only our after-work hours but also our hours travelling to work, our hours of actual work in the office, at the plant, on the road, in the air, on the trains, in class, at those sales meetings.
We can neither ignore the hardcore words of John the Baptist, leave Christ in church on Sundays nor let him “wait for us in the parking lot” on weekdays.
Here’s a question:
How do we, who are supposed to be dying to self and coming alive to Christ, do our work and other activities so that we honor Christ and respect our neighbor?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord Jesus, too often after hearing the good news we go right back to business as usual. Forgive us, and make our every thought captive to you. Lord, we admit that our lives are a mess. It’s been a long time since we’ve held them up to the light of your truth. Now is the time. Help us to begin today. Let us read these words from Luke’s narrative, let us hear the hardcore accusations spoken by John the Baptist against us as so called “contemporary Christians” and your so called Body of Christ, the Church in your kingdom, let us finally come to our senses. In your name, Amen.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 