Today's Sermon

 

“How Much is Enough” (Joy)

 

First Reading:
Isaiah 12:2-6
2 Surely God is my salvation;
    I will trust and will not be afraid,
for the Lord is my strength and my might;
    The Lord has become my salvation.”

 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say on that day:

“Give thanks to the Lord;
    call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
    proclaim that his name is exalted.

 5 Sing praises to the Lord, for she has done gloriously;
    let this be known in all the earth.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal[b] Zion,
    for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” 

         The Lord is my strength, my might, my salvation, rescue. To state the obvious, these are powerful claims. Would you make them?

         Let’s say there’s a pastor and every so often someone comes to their study where they wrestle with their faith, their own faithfulness. They struggle to call some of claims of the faith their own. They pray regularly. They try and live a good life, having acted honorably in business and in relationships, providing for family, engaging civically, with as much sound judgment and wisdom as they could muster. They report running a bit pessimistic. Maybe they are just in touch with what’s wrong in the world. They enjoy being around others, connecting people, and especially enjoy making others laugh.

            When it comes to faith, they feel a failure. It’s like being back in Catholic school and flunking the exam. What should the pastor say to them?

         Something interesting happens when the crowds ask John the Baptizer, who makes the way for Jesus, in essence how to be faithful. John doesn’t respond by saying, “Believe in God” or “Accept Jesus into your heart”—perfectly good things. No, he takes it in another direction. Listen to how the exchange unfolds:

Luke 3:7-18
7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!

            You bunch of snakes! This is not a “God’s Doors Are Open to All” moment. John seems to have missed that memo.

            Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

            John was traveling around teaching that there was a cosmic reckoning coming, grand divine intervention, judgment. New Testament John Dominic Crossan calls it, “a divine cleanup” of the world. Though we might shutter at the thought of an apocalyptic judgment day, we probably can relate to the sense that the world is a mess. John who came to bring this message, wonders where they heard and it why they’re running.

         His counsel is to instead repent, turn. Did anyone group up with the phrase, “turn or burn”? Repent comes from the Greek metanoia “meta” meaning change and “noia” meaning mind, understanding, or perception. Think differently. Look at it differently. (This is at the heart of faith). 

            8 Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and 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.

This goes back to Jesus’ critique of hypocrisy last week. It’s not good enough to say, “I’m descended from Abraham,” the greatest of the patriarchs. Your family name, your bloodline—This is not what matters. In the kingdom there are no legacy admissions. What matters is the fruit you bear, fruit that indicates you look, think about, and interact with the world in a certain way. 

            9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

            Uh oh. There is a divine sorting out coming and the imagery is sharp/cutting.

            10 And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” 

Good question, considering the above!

            11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 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.”

            That’s the interesting part. No statement of faith. No creedal affirmation. Share—If you have two coats—not twenty but even two—and another has none, you must share. Please note the collection box for the Ritter center out in the hallway. When the tax collectors inquire, those known as the greatest of hypocrites for how they extorted others, John tells them to do their business justly. Do not overcharge and skim off the top. When soldiers ask, John answers not to use their position to terrorize and take from the people. He tells them they’re plenty compensated.

            15 As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,[a] 16 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 strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with[b] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 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.”

            In the gospels’ telling, you could say Jesus is the instrument of the divine clean up, and while Jesus also talks in rather fiery terms about a judgment, he doesn’t enact it himself; he doesn’t rain down fire. Rather, he continues in John’s line of teaching of how to conduct oneself in the world. See his many teachings. John and Jesus seem most concerned with who you are.

         Again, to state the obvious, who we are matters. I was sitting next to my son’s basketball coach at a team event last weekend. I had heard he had come to Fairfax after hurricane Katrina so I asked him about it, and he told me his story. He explained that over the years, after evacuating a number of times over the years at great financial cost for storms that kept making last minute turns, many New Orleans residents understandably grew laxed about evacuating. By the time he and his extended family, several households worth, decided to leave as Katrina bore down, it was too late. They all went back to his mother’s home since it was the biggest. The levies failed, the water rushed in. He’s 6’1”. The water rose to 6 feet in his house. 13 hours they spent huddled in his attic. They communicated with a neighbor “sheltering” on the roof through an air vent. That neighbor was able to signal a fire department rescue boat to save them. For three days they lived in the lobby of a senior center that was on slightly higher ground. Then when they had to leave there, he and his mother were walking across the street and were promptly hit by a car. He escaped with only a broken leg. She broke many bones and was hospitalized for months. They were relocated to Dallas. Shortly after that a friend who’d moved to Fairfax offered him a couch until he could get on his feet.

         Think along the way how many human decisions had consequences, for good or ill. I’m not interested in blame, only noticing how many actions mattered. From building below sea level, to inadequate infrastructure, to lack of resources to evacuate, from heroic rescues, and rescuers, generous friends, the resilient and determined human spirit.

         Suppose I told you the same story, and I compared a few figures, the neighbor who called for help, the rescuers who came, the friend who opened the doors of his home to another figure, a hypothetical one. We’ll call him, “Christian.” Christian goes to church. Christian prays every day. Christian talks about the importance of accepting Jesus. With his neighbors in trouble, Christian got in his boat and took off. Maybe Christian wouldn’t live in that neighborhood in the first place. Christian said a prayer for those poor people and then went back to picking out anew ski jacket for the second winter in a row. Christian keeps his house beautiful, all 7 bedrooms for he and his spouse and their 1.7 children, but when a friend needs a place to crash after losing everything, he just doesn’t feel “comfortable” with it.

         The parable kind of writes itself, doesn’t it? You brood of vipers, you hypocrites, you’ve got to change the way you think, the way you perceive the world. In John’s eyes, this might prompt the coming clean up, repenting. What Jesus understood is that this might actual begin and be the clean up, behaving in a godly way. (That’s what Crossan would assert anyway).

         One of you told me about an inspiring charitable organization in the Bay Area. When I looked up the website, it had a link to a video in the “About Us” section that was accompanied by the following description, “What if every person in the Bay Area knew a Christian they thought of as radically generous?” Now that’s a reputation! That’s the kind of image we would love to have. That would delight John and Jesus. I excitedly clicked the link only to find: Video does not exist.

         (I’m not one to throw stones around technical difficulty, though) That parable writes itself too.

         We are playing with the image this Advent of being the inn in the Christmas story. If we let one person take up all the rooms, or a couple select people, how many will be left out in the cold? I can assure you if the Christ is in the story, they’re among those in the cold. Maybe our inn has a prayer room, but if those prayers aren’t prompting them to see the needs of their neighbors, it’s not working.  

         All of what sometimes get identified with faith—prayer, worship, study, certain beliefs—they can be good things but they are meant to shape how we are in the world. Being pious is meant to make us generous. It’s not about earning high marks in a report card in the sky.

         What’s more, being generous is what makes us joyful here on earth, joy which is represented by the third Advent candle. Why do we chase joy by doing the opposite of what will actually bring it. Much of our culture would tell you the path to joy is through seeking attention and riches. The reality is these cravings tend only to grow stronger as they are fed. The peace activist John Dear once said that anger is not sustainable energy. Neither are greed are attention-seeking. They deplete us. It is giving that paradoxically fills us. As Jesus put it, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” (Act 20:35). That quote is not about exchanging gifts, but supporting the truly weak. Christianity must not forget this if it wants to preserve its soul.

         Let’s go back to the pastor’s study, there with the one wrestling with their faithfulness, though they strive to live well and be good. Should the pastor shout “Repent!”? Perhaps that’s exactly what they should say, if not shout. Repent, as in change the way you’re thinking about this, the way you’re looking at it. You may be struggling in some of the interesting electives, but in the core curriculum, you’re passing with flying colors. Amen.