ADVENT 3 2021 Rejoice

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT  Year C  December 12, 2021

·       Zephaniah 3:14-20  • Isaiah 12:2-6  • Philippians 4:4-7  • Luke 3:7-18

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Welcome to the 3^rd week in Advent… the time where we prepare for the coming of Christ and the week where we light the candle of Joy.

 

Today we read about John the Baptist.  But just who was this John?  

John was the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah.  Do you remember the story of when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth and the babe within Elizabeth leapt at her greeting….?  Well, that babe was John.

 

John was the son of Zechariah, who in the year of John’s conception was serving as priest.  Therefore, John was from the Israelite tribe of Levi.  The Levites were a holy tribe who were to be the priests for the nation of Israel.

 

There was an anointing on John from the time of his conception.  Elizabeth, his mother, was yet another of the many barren women in our Bible stories.  It was during the time of Zechariah’s role as priest, when he was chosen by lot to burn incense in the temple, that an Angel appeared to him to proclaim that Elizabeth would bear a son. 

 

John was a relative of Jesus, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  He was a normal human man, but his being was supernaturally crafted.  Remember, Elizabeth was barren.  God enabled Elizabeth to conceive and John was designed by God and set apart for a specific purpose.  It was foretold to Zechariah that John would go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord.

 

I tell you this about John even though it is not the part of the story that we are reading today, because it is important for us the church, because we too are set apart for the purpose of preparing the way of the Lord.

 

In the reading about John in our Gospel today, John is harsh with the crowds, “"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits worthy of repentance.”

 

He is addressing the crowds who came out to him, who wanted to appear to be doing the honorable thing.  They wanted to appear to be committed to God.  They wanted to appear to be a godly person.  They were the people of the nation who belonged to that tradition where it was understood that Baptism was a sign of cleansing and commitment. When John called the people a brood of vipers he was alluding to the serpent in the garden of Eden.  In reality, it is not as unreasonable as it sounds at first.  The offspring of those who followed the serpent’s deception is the brood of vipers.  John began his call to baptism by reminding people who they really are.

 

Who are we?  Are we perfectly good?  Are we fallen?

 

From the time of John’s conception, the prophetic word about his ministry was that he would “Turn” people’s hearts back to God.  Turning back to God is at the heart of what it means to repent. 

 

The word translated repentance is one that means to change your mind.  Many think that it is a feeling.  Our conscience is pricked and we feel regret.  This, however, is not repentance.  Repentance is to affirm with our mind that we are NOT perfectly good and that we ARE fallen and we need to TURN from our own ways and go God’s ways.

 

Many are offended if we talk about sin, but sin is a fact of our life since the beginning of time and that deception in the garden of Eden.  We are all in the same boat…. Or at least we were….  The difference is that Jesus has come along with a life boat.  Which boat do you want to be in…? the sin boat going to destruction or the life boat?

 

These boats are operating in our life every day.  Spiritually we have been saved by the sacrifice of Jesus, and that is a fact, but we tend to figuratively jump from boat to boat depending on how we feel.  Someone makes me angry… I want to jump into the sin boat and yell at them or worse…. Speak about them, putting them down to others.

 

There are people who have never jumped into the Jesus boat and our seemingly jumping from one to the other is an incredibly bad witness.  We know Jesus… we know God’s saving grace.  But others don’t and never will unless we repent properly… in other words, change our mind, agree with what God says, and go a different way…. Stay in the Jesus boat. 

 

Now, the fact of the matter is that we will always have times when we fail.  Failing is part of being human and if we could do this “going God’s way” thing by ourselves Jesus would not have had to come…. And the Holy Spirit would not have been sent.  

 

In Luke 3:16 we read – “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 thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

 

Has this little paragraph ever caught your attention before?  We often celebrate baptism with water, but this talk of Holy Spirit and fire is a little less common and a little less popular.

 

John follows up this statement by talking about the winnowing fork is in his hand, implying judgment.

 

How does it make you feel that Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire?

 

At a glance it sounds a little frightening.  Whenever I am presented with a Gospel message that sounds frightening, I always keep in mind that if it doesn’t sound like Good News then the message is either wrong or incomplete.  Gospel means Good News and the Gospel is all about the Good News of Jesus Christ, so we need to look further into this message to see what is really going on.

 

We know that Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit.  We also know that fire is a symbol of judgement and refining.  Remember the song, Refiners fire… my heart’s one desire… is to be holy… set apart for you Lord… etc..  This is what it is all about.  Jesus does baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire.

 

God’s Holy Spirit living in us allows God to direct us and teach us.  The more we can be teachable and trained to hear his voice, the more he can use us to be his hands and feet in this world and that is where we really need to get to. 

 

In recent times the church has not been effectively showing the true heart of God to the world.  God wants us, his people to be a blessing to the nations.

At this time of Advent we are called to be a people in the spirit of John the Baptist who was in the spirit of Elijah, calling people back to God.

 

Our first reading comes from Zephaniah, the fourth last book in the Bible.  Zephaniah is a prophet from the Kingly line and he prophesies about the coming day of the Lord, as well as a time when God himself changes the hearts of the people. 

 

Even though Zephaniah is our first reading, his prophecy is about what happens after our repentance and when we take up our role as God’s people who are to be a blessing to the nations.  He declares that; “The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, …..”

 

It is true that we are facing difficult times today, but we can take encouragement from these following words from Zephaniah; 3:16 – 17 “On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

 

More than anything, in all this, we need to remember God’s very great love for us.

 

God calls us to repent.  To turn from the way we are going, and to commit to following his ways.  We can’t do it in our own strength.  God knows this.

 

God is a God of Justice.  We have all gone our own way.  Because of God’s great love, Jesus paid the sacrifice.  But now, to live life God’s way there is more that God gifts us with… he sends his Holy Spirit to live in and through us.  To teach us and comfort us. The Holy Spirit enables us to be all that God wants us to be.

 

Know this; God loves us beyond words, but his actions speak louder.  We repent and commit to following God and he rejoices over us greatly because of his great love.

 

Repent and be baptized with Holy Spirit and fire.  The reality is that we are fallen and incapable of saving ourselves.  But God’s ways are Good and he promises to remove disaster from us.  Here is the Gospel and here is the Good news.  God loves us so much that he does for us, what we can not do for ourselves.  He has saved us and now he sends his Holy Spirit to enable us to live his way.  Rejoice… because it is accomplished.