Luke 3:7-14
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 axe 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.”
I’m pretty sure John’s never been to sensitivity training and knows nothing about Dale Carnegie. Witness his somewhat less than tactful sermon opener. Rather than warm up his audience, address them by name, identify their “felt concern,” start with an engaging story or entertaining joke, John begins by insulting and accusing his audience. Then, lest he has not made his opinion of them sufficiently clear, he moves on to warn them, command them, and eventually threaten them.
If nothing else, his chutzpah, at least, is rather amazing.
Just as amazing, however, is the reaction of the crowd. I’m pretty sure that had we come out to the wilderness to hear John’s message and been treated to this opening, we’d have turned right around again to go back to the city. But these crowds don’t do that. Rather, they ask John what they should do.
And John answers.
Now, one might think after his fierce opening that John would set before them heroic feats of spiritual discipline or intense faith pilgrimages. After all, if the ax is about to fall and the purifying fires are being stoked, we might want to undertake some serious acts of repentance and piety.
But no, what John instead suggests is fairly simple, even mundane. He tells the crowds to share, the soldiers (really hired mercenaries, not at all the same as our folks in uniform) not to bully, and the tax collectors to be fair.
Hey, wait a second: share, don’t bully, be fair. These sound like the rules of kindergarten. That’s right. “Fruits worth of repentance,” it turns out, aren’t located at the top of some spiritual mountain; rather, they are right next door, in our homes and schools and workplaces and community. There are opportunities to bear fruits worthy of repentance all around us.
Faith, in other words, doesn’t need to be heroic to be meaningful. And you – where you are today – have the opportunity to be the person God called you to be, to make the world a better place, to heed John’s warning, and to witness to Christ’s coming with the simplest of compassionate actions: share, don’t bully, be fair.
This is something John’s audience can do. It’s something we can do, too.
Prayer: Dear God, open our eyes to see opportunities to serve you by serving our neighbor, and encourage us to live our faith in the small, ordinary gestures of kindness and compassion that are constantly available to us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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