Sermon 8th December 2013

Today Ben Hughes preaches.  The reading is from Matthew 3 1-12.

Making the way straight. 

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”

⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

What is this (hold up a thread gauge)…

And this (hold up a dial gauge)…

And extra points for knowing what they are for!

What is this (hold up a micrometer)…

What is this (plum line?)

And this (try square)

A spirit level (getting easier)

And finally a steel ruler

What do they all have in common?

They are all guides that help you make things straight!

And that is exactly what John the Baptist is doing here.  John the Baptist is like a guide pointing the way to Jesus.  He is asking, ‘Are you ready’? And there is a simple component to this message telling us what we need to do as well. That is: in order to receive God’s grace, mercy and love, you must repent and confess your sins. That is all that is asked of us! John the Baptist says it as it is: ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is here’; ‘Be ready for the coming of Christ’.

God brought into life and nurtured John the Baptist to be this guide, a preparer of the way for the coming of the Messiah. John the Baptist is the like the lazer level that lays it upon line which then pinpoints its sights on Jesus as the one who God has anointed to save the world.

John in his own words that we have just read and heard says:

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”

The aspect that I really love about this passage is seeing the unfolding and perfection of God’s plan. The details are jewel-like and exquisite. God puts into place a prophecy into the heart and mouth of a wild man – the ancient prophet Isaiah – and then hundreds of years later brings it to life again in the words of the  mystic lunatic that is John the Baptist (with his locust and honey and hair shirt of course).

You see one of the things that is so special and unique about being a Christian is feeling part of this amazing, beautiful and exquisitely executed plan – and the sense of being a part in this great order and unfolding that is the making of the Kingdom of heaven. In John’s Gospel Jesus tells the Pharisees “Before Abraham, I am”. A clever trick of tense to describe God’s unfolding Kingdom plan from the very outset and Jesus being there as it happens. Some say it’s the ‘big bang’ -  I believe ‘not the big bang’ but the ‘big plan’. That ‘big plan’ with Jesus as its centre, its reason and its fulfillment – Jesus’ birth on earth is the eye of the Universe! Jesus born in a wooden box and dying on a wooden cross.  That is the beginning and is the beginning of all things.  The word made flesh dwelling amongst us – Proceeding from the father down through time to the here and now today, tomorrow and always.

So John the Baptist is announcing the coming of God’s Kingdom on earth, saying that it is drawing near, one step closer than ever before … as he announces the birth of the one who he say: “I am unworthy to tie his sandals”. He is the one that will save not only the Jews but all people of all nations. And that is what we are celebrating at Christmas. The one who baptises in fire … the birth of the Son of God – the infant Jesus!

And then the scribes and the Pharisees in all their gilded robes of the holy state of Israel come out into the desert to cross-examine John and flatter and attempt to compromise him … and what does John the Baptist  call them? A “brood of vipers”!  And he sends them away with a flea in their ear …. and that sets the theme for the rest of the Gospel stories … and in doing so reveals to us the way in which God likes to do His business …. like the prophets of old, He uses the broken, the meek, the humble – all the opposite ways and means that the world would use. Jesus born in a manger, born in Bethlehem, growing up as a son of a carpenter, an itinerant ministry and lonely death on a cross – that is the way of heaven, that is how God conducts His affairs. That is the life of Jesus Christ and will be ours too – if we chose to follow him. The Pharisees did not get it then and never did and probably never will. You see this King Jesus that John the Baptist announces, this baby born in a manger, the King of the Jews and the Lord of all is not really the kind of King that the world thinks it needs. If you want a king in a big castle that you can court, flatter and preen around then Jesus is not your man. That was the problem of the Pharisees.  But if you want a fighter for justice, a hero for the poor and the outcast, a person who you cannot look in the eye without him looking into your heart and seeing you for exactly what you are and stand for (and loving you for that) then he is your king and that Kingship is the only one worth the candle. If Jesus sits on the throne in your heart then everything else in your life will become submitted to him by default and will come under his divine kingdom rule. Family, possessions, career, hopes, health and your own life are under his governance.  That is how it is – on the level – the baby in a cradle – the eye of the storm.

However there is one small part that we need to do … it is our part of this amazing plan and that Jesus asks of us.

What is? What do we have to do? Well one word: repentance. That is what John the Baptist says in this passage … repent, repent and repent.

We need to say sorry to God for what we have done wrong. And it has to be heartfelt and genuine: not the kind of Sorry when you stand on somebody’s foot in a theatre aisle.

So we repent!  Is that it?

Well no because there are certain aspects to repentance that we also need to consider here.

We need to be able to forgive others of course … plenty in the Gospels on that!

John says to these Pharisees, repent and produce fruit in keeping with your repentance. In other words … only in repentance do you really know your desperate need for God, because it is in repentance that our true conscience is awakened. Also you cannot expect to be forgiven by God unless you can forgive others.  That is why we have the Peace … to put things right with your neighbor before Communion. Forgiveness and repentance are paradoxically entwined! And repentance is always a process but not conditional on how you say it. The fruit of repentance can also been understood as penance and making amends … showing that you are sorry, putting damage right …. giving back what you have stolen, for example. But that is not always the way … because God’s forgiveness is always unconditional … yes, hard to believe that in a world where we are used to small print and signatures … but it is true – there are no strings attached! God will forgive you when you ask Him to because it’s in His very nature to do so.

Also we must not think that because you have been forgiven that you are now better than others …

If you think you are perfect – then probably you are definitely NOT! And be prepared for a possible shock! And if you draw attention to yourself in this way then God will shine his light into the remotest corners of your heart and seek out and reveal to you the areas that require confession and repair. When you judge others, the spotlight falls on you!

In confession we also need to be prepared to be laid waste by God … an axe at the foot of the tree!

To cut down a mature tree with an axe is very hard work. It requires thought and planning, and you need to keep the axe blade keen by sharpening with oil and stone regularly. To get bite into the flesh of the timber requires a practiced swing, and the axe head needs to be well wedged onto the axe handle so it doesn’t fly off. John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, who knew about woodwork, chose this metaphor precisely – John the Baptist says the axe is at the root of the tree.

God’s work in us is often unseen and he cuts away the branches if not the whole tree that do bear fruit …

And if you ever made a bonfire to burn grass or hay, it is not an easy job and requires preparation and some good fuel to get things started. The hay needs winnowing and aerating and spreading thinly in small amounts to burn in the flames. If not done right, the fire is choked and will go out. It is a dangerous and time-consuming process to burn a field of hay.

You see, better to lose an eye or hand than enter hell with both them is how Jesus describes it. Let Jesus burn the grass and weeds that are choking the fruits in your life!

Finally, mixed metaphors (don’t you just love them) … some years back there was a worship song doing the rounds that had a line … “You wash my soul with burning fire, with tongues of flame you cleanse and restore me like a stream of living  water” …o r something like that.

We all used to find it funny and have a good laugh about it.

But if you read our passage today, this idea of being washed in both fire and water is all there.

John the Baptist baptizes in water and Jesus will do the same but with fire.

A blacksmith knows well that you use a furnace to purify metal … they also know that heat is used to soften and anneal metal so you can hammer it without it splitting and shearing. To shape a copper bowl or hammer out a breastplate in steel or iron – after every dozen or so hammer strikes the metal needs heating and cooling.

You could say life is like a series of hammer blows. Knocking us about, shaping and forming for good and bad. But unless we are heated and quenched in God’s love then those hammer blows will eventually begin to break us.

John the Baptist seems to say that heating and quenching is necessary process of Christian formation and development. And it is the process of repentance and baptism that is key in helping us survive and to grow in our faith.

Unless we repent regularly, reaffirm our baptismal vows in prayer, fellowship and Communion, those hard hits in life will eventually take their toll on us.

So Happy Christmas everyone – or is that too early to say? … Could we be saying “Happy Kingdomtide” or “Happy season of light”, or “Happy St Nicholas Day”, the patron saint of Children (6th December)? – but what I think we should be saying now this morning to each other is … “Happy Advent”, and we should do so in hushed tones! Happy indeed because Jesus is coming into this world … hushed because we are in anticipation and suspense! Advent is the hope, expectation, anticipation and excitement of the great things to come.  Advent is a time of preparation too … not just busy getting things ready for our families and friends but as a time when we prepare our hearts through confession and reflection.  So as we get on with being busy and the pressure cranks up over the next few weeks, we need to keep the Advent hope and prayers in the forefront of our minds. That is the Advent way … if you buy presents this week but don’t think about God’s greatest gift to us, then our presents will just be gifts on a list. And if you buy and decorate an evergreen Christmas tree this week and don’t think about God’s promise of new life, then ask yourself what am I celebrating with these lights, tinsel and bells?  And if you order your turkey or nut roast this week and are not thinking about the great ‘feast in heaven that will take place’ then it is just another meal to worry about. And Advent is not about us Christians putting God back into Christmas either… let the world carrying on … No,  Advent is allowing the season of our faith to take its course and to move our hearts in a way of revealing to us what really came into the world those 2000 years ago. Jesus the baby – born in a wooden box and dying on a wooden cross to save us from sin and death.

Have a blessed Advent

Amen.