Sermon 12.12.21 – What Fire is This?

 St John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 3rd Sunday of Advent

Zephaniah 3:14-20; Isaiah 12:2-6; Philippians 4:4-7 

 Luke 3:7-18

⁷John 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? ⁸Bear 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. ⁹Even 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.”
  ¹⁰And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” ¹¹In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” ¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” ¹⁴Soldiers 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.”
  ¹⁵As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶John 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. ¹⁷His 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.”
  ¹⁸So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

NRSV

What Fire is This?

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, sisters, and brothers, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Especially after just hearing from our favorite, beloved, crazy, and prophetic dude, John the Baptist. 

Pastor, what does all this mean? Well, welcome to the club. Our weekly lectionary text study group greets you. I can tell that you are absolutely not alone and that you have the best of our long Lutheran tradition of biblical interpretation with you! What does this mean?

I will do my best to answer, and trust me, there is plenty of good news.

So, yeah, cousin Johnny is calling everybody the spawn of satan, also known as brood of vipers. It is what it is, I’m afraid. At least, he is talking to them, not to us. Or is he? Anyway, unless you are someone who walks around wearing a t-shirt or a baseball hat saying “good respectable Christian,” no, he is probably not talking to you. That is good news right there, right?

The man is mad, OK. I don’t know what happened to him in the wilderness of first-century Palestine, but he is furious. Bear fruits worthy of repentance right now! He is angry and in a hurry; the ax is cutting down barren trees as they speak. The winnowing fork is also already at work. You can smell the smoke as everything deemed useless is already burning! Thank goodness right now for John was two millennia ago. Since again, the day of reckoning is yet to come to us, there you have it, another piece of good news. 

Now bubba Jack was right about two things. One, God’s people ought to live a life of repentance. Yeah, sorry about that too. However, that much is not news to us. It is the first of the list of 95 theses that friar Luther nailed at the door of the Wittenberg Church on October 31, 1517. The other thing John was right about was that someone way more powerful than him – God incarnate, if you will – indeed was coming to shower us with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

So OK, we get the Holy Spirit part. That is clearly good news. But fire? Didn’t the christ child come to save us? Indeed he did. However, we have to ask ourselves, “what fire is this?” We have to agree that fire does more for us than burn us into eternal condemnation – if that is how you roll. Besides roasting, smoking, grilling, frying, or searing, fire cleans wounds, melts chains, gives sight. Fire illuminates and warms the night. Fire comforts and restores.

See, beloved of God, what if I tell you John is wrong about Christ? What if this is the best news of all? John is expecting and urging dragon fire. Later he will grow somewhat frustrated that it wasn’t happening yet. We are told by Luke, 4 chapters later into Jesus’ ministry, that John sends two of his followers with a message to the Son of God after hearing what he was up to. The message was (Luke 7:20), “are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Ouch! Luckily for him, Jesus’ level of compassion and kindness is unmatched by humans. And you know John is human, after all. So yeah, the Prince of Peace sends a message back saying:

 “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them (Luke 7:22).”

In other words, dear John, the chaff is not being burned but restored by the eternal flame of God’s Holy Spirit, and this is majestic good news for the ages.

But, you know, Joh is right, as I mentioned, and Jesus would definitely agree. God’s still hopes for us to bear fruits worthy of repentance. However, repentance for us is faith in the power of Jesus to do all these things for us. Faith which is rekindled, nurtured, sustained, by Word and Sacrament here, among the community of living stones. 

I will not dare to exhort you. I know better than to tell Lutherans what to do. Therefore, I will invite us to practice the faith we received as a free gift. We can start small if there is some rust build-up. That is OK. 

We could be a little kinder, a little more patient, a little more generous. We all have been through a lot, and there is always something we can do to help. Sure, donate a jacket if you have an extra one. It’s cold out there. Please, treat your neighbor fairly. Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t like done to yourself. 

Maybe, buy a cup of coffee, or give a call, send a card, or a text, to someone who is estranged to you. Visit with someone living alone. If that makes you uncomfortable, invite a friend to tag along. That is even better, buy an extra present for someone not likely to get one. Cook a meal with love. Pay for someone’s groceries. Help to alleviate someone’s debt. Speak for someone who has no voice. Guide someone who cannot see. Do something unexpected and beautiful for someone who cannot do for themselves, and expect nothing in return, just like the Messiah did for all of us. I promise you, his fire will warm your heart and comfort your soul. Perhaps it will even bear amazing fruit. 

He is coming, and he is here. Prepare his way. Thanks be to God. Amen.