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December 17, 2006: Third Sunday of Advent

Luke 3:7-18
Some Good News: God's Unquenchable Fire

Well here we are, in the midst of the Christmas countdown, having set a moderate pace to get to the stable on Christmas Eve, eagerly anticipating the love feasts, Santa Claus, all the gifts under the tree—looking forward to seeing family, enjoying some of Aunt Sara's homemade fudge or Uncle Bill's special eggnog –whatever our anticipated special holiday rituals are that exude love and warmth and good cheer, embodying our Christmas desire for peace and good will.

And amid all our December busy ness we've made it to church! To give thanks and praise to God for sending us a Savior in Jesus Christ, sing a few Advent carols, hopefully hear an uplifting message from the preacher and whoa!! Wait a minute? What the heck is going on? Who is this guy we meet in the gospel reading? Who's this bad mannered weirdo calling folks snakes? Ranting about axes, winnowing forks and unquenchable fire? What downtown street corner did he come from? Who let this grinch, who let this Ebeenzer Scrooge into church today?

And yet, there is no getting around John the Baptist. While only 2 gospels recount Jesus' birth, all 4 gospels introduce Jesus by first telling us about John the Baptist—who he was and what he did, which means in some way or another John the Baptist is here in the gospel to help prepare us for the coming of the Lord. So who is this guy we meet in today's gospel reading?

The Jewish Historian Josephus tells us more about John the Baptist than he tells us about Jesus. Josephus praises John's piety and religious leadership and surmises that Herod killed him because he feared the political turmoil caused by John's radical message of repentance. As unpleasant a character as John the Baptist is, he reminds us of our need for our lives to change. Turn away from your sins and bear fruit worthy of your repentance, he urges us. When the crowd asks him what does repentance look like? He gives hard, but practical advice—share your possessions with those who have none. Don't abuse your power for your own gain. Treat others as you would like to be treated. John the Baptist tells us repentance isn't just expressing remorse and feeling guilty over past actions and inactions, but repentance also involves a changed life that brings forth the fruit of our repentance. And he warns us: “For every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into fire.”

And I have to admit it's very easy for me to think of some other Christians here rather than myself. It's easy for me to label certain Christians as modern day Pharisees and Scribes—those Christians who believe holiness consists mainly of abiding by a modern day purity code, or those Christians who smugly say “Jesus is my Savior” and think that is enough. Where is the fruit beyond their own clean living? It's easy to look at other Christians who aren't living up to my ideal of discipleship and say, well John's talking about them, not me. But John is talking about each one of us who feel smug in our self-righteousness. He is addressing each one of us who have a wealth of coats, food and other material possessions.

One of the most frightening parts of John's vision of Judgment is the unquenchable fire. Living here in the Bible belt, many of us have heard vivid and scary sermons about the fiery fate that awaits unrepentant sinners. If you don't behave God's going to get you!! So shape up!! Repent!!

Fire has a certain fascination. There is something both soothing and frightening about a fire. I love the warmth it throws off, the way the flames softly light up a room or the dark of the night—the golden glow a fire casts on the faces of people gathered around it. Don't we all look better in the firelight? Yet I've been burned and know how quickly fire can consume a high school, a life's work, or a forest.

But as Barbara Brown Taylor points out, if you read the bible very much, you've have to wonder about this unquenchable fire of God John describes this morning. Taylor writes: throughout holy scripture, fire is the one reliable sign of the presence of God. God speaks to Moses out of the burning bush. A pillar of fire guides the people of Israel through the wilderness after their escape from Egypt . When Moses goes up on Mt. Sinai to get the 10 commandments from God it looks to those down below as if the mountain itself is being devoured by fire.

I do not mean to minimize the danger of John's fire, Taylor goes on to say, this is not safe fire; it can still burn and kill. But this is God's own fire, the fire of God's presence, fire that wants to speak to us, guide us, instruct us, save us. It is the fire of a potter who wants to make useful vessels out of damp clay.

It is the fire of a jeweler who wants to refine pure gold from rough ore. It does not have to be the fire of destruction, in other words it may also be the fire of transformation, a fire that both lights us up and changes us, melting us down and reforming us more nearly to the image of God.

It is the fire which Jesus himself baptizes us, inviting us into bright, hot relationship with him. Even when the fire seems bent on consuming us, like Meshach, Shadrach and A-bed'-ne-go in the fiery furnace, we find that we have company, and that even the hottest regions of our own personal hells we do not sweat alone. As psalm 139 reminds us, there is no place we can go where God is not there with us.

It is never to late to repent from what keeps us from a deeper relationship with God and a more loving relationship with our brothers and sisters. God does not give up on us, no matter how many times we fail. God's love for us is also an unquenchable fire. No matter who we are or what we have done, God can still change our lives, God can still transform us, but the process may be like being on fire.

All week I've been struggling with finding a story to illustrate what I'm saying here, and then I remembered a client I'll call Bill and Donna. They owned a successful tile laying business. Bill did most of the tiling with a couple of assistants, Donna kept the books and interfaced with the builders and other customers. By all accounts they were the epitome of the American dream—they had come from families who had always worked for others and now they were working for themselves. Their hard work had paid off and they lived in a big house full of stuff, drove nice cars, and took wonderful vacations. But as their business demanded more and more of their time, there was less and less time for one another and their children beyond what absolutely had to be tended to. They found life less and less satisfying no matter the percentage increase in sales and revenues, no matter the newest and best gadget or toy they bought.

As is often the case, the business suffered a downturn, they did not adjust quickly enough and found themselves owing Uncle Sam six figures in income and payroll taxes and the banks and credit cards even more.

As they began to get their life back under control. It felt like being on fire. They were stripped of all the status symbols they had worked so hard to attain—the cars, the boat, the nice house. Most of what they had worked so hard to attain was gone. And as painful and as hard as that experience was, they would both tell you, as they told me, the fire of bankrupcty gave them a freedom and an appreciation for love and relationship that their work and possessions could never begin to compare to.

After their business and possessions were consumed by the fires of bankruptcy, what Bill and Donna got was a fresh start.

What John the Baptist offered people was a fresh start, a cure for despair, and we have that same offer made to us. Advent invites us to prepare for the coming of Christ by turning away from whatever it is that keeps us from God, and allowing the flame of God's love touch us once again, transforming us to the person we are meant to be—whole, redeemed and loved. And that my brothers and sisters is the good news John proclaims in today's gospel. What needs to be burned up in you today? What do you need to let go of so that new life can break forth? So that new fruit can be produced?