Advent 2 A WORD FOR OUR WORLD 12/2
& 5/04
John the Baptist has been called “the Doberman
pinscher of the gospels”! Author Barbara
Brown Taylor writes: “Here we are trying
to get to the stable in
The second and third weeks/Sundays in Advent both focus on John the
Baptist, the one sent ahead of Jesus to prepare His way. “Repent” is John’s word to the world and St.
Matthew places a significant amount of emphasis upon the act of
repentance. The Greek word we read in Matthew 3:2 is “metanoeo” and
means literally “to change one’s mind.”
However, John the Baptist goes on to call the multitudes to “bear fruit worthy of repentance.” Matthew is stressing more than a mere
change of mind, for we change our minds all the time. We even say “It’s a woman’s right to change
her mind!” What John calls for and
Matthew records in these verses, is a change of life, a change in how and why
we live! Repentance is not only for those
who are doing something bad, it is also for those who are not doing anything
good! If you are doing a bad thing,
repentance means stop doing it! But, if
you aren’t doing anything good, then repentance means start doing good things!
Immediately
following Thanksgiving and the, seemingly, overnight appearance of Christmas
lights and decorations, our holiday joy is confronted with a strange man,
wearing strange clothing, sustained by a strange diet, proclaiming a message
from the wilderness! We read in vs. 2/“Repent, for the
One
of the most frightening things about John’s vision of judgment is this mention
of “unquenchable fire.” In addition
to calling him “John the Baptist,” it is likely all this
mention of “hell” and “fire” that leads people to believe that
John was a Baptist! Lutherans
don’t speak nor talk much about “hell, fire, and brimstone.” But, if you read the Bible with any
frequency, you are well-aware that “fire” is one reliable sign of the presence
of God. God speaks to Moses out of the
burning bush; a pillar of fire guides the Israelites through the wilderness
after their “exit” from
This
is God’s fire, like the fire of a potter who wants to make useful vessels out
of damp clay. This is the fire of a
jeweler who wants to refine pure gold from rough ore. This is a fire that has the power to destroy
and the power to transform…a fire that lights us up and changes us, melts us
down and re-shapes us more nearly to the image of God. His fire melts us and
molds us into faithful disciples. God
does not come to fill us with anxiety, but to calm our anxious souls. God comes to ignite a fire within His people,
a fire fueled by repentance and tended to by no less than God’s Holy Spirit!
“Repent,” John’s word to the world, to
turn toward God, is for all of us to hear, and for us to hear over and over
again. It was John’s concern that people
were taking their faith for granted, experiencing it secondhand through their
faithful-family-members and ancestors, dabbling rather than dedicating
themselves. And this must be our concern
today. There is far more to see and hear
and experience than we have, thus far, seen, heard, and experienced! Everyday of our lives requires a renewed
commitment to God, an increased awareness of God, and a greater personal
participation in the ways of God! It is
never too late, in this life, to repent and be changed. Despite where we are or what we’ve done, or
failed to do, God’s hand is still open to us and still upon us. If a person fails to repent and be changed,
it is because they are unwilling…not because God is unable!
Copyright
© December, 2004
Publish by permission
only. Contact Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church