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Advent II

Matthew 3
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”[a]
4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness and saying, “Repent, because we want to make Judea great again.” The crowd seemed puzzled, but he continued anyway: “I think it’s time to drain the swamp in Jerusalem.” It didn’t seem to matter to him that the whole area is desert—he was on a roll.

He then pointed to the edge of the crowd. “Look over there,” he said, “look at the crooked Sadducees! What should we do with them?” The crowd began chanting in a predictable way. When the chants died down, he said “repentance is about winning—so much winning—only if you repent.”

That’s an approximate transliteration from the Greek, with apologies to John the Baptist, who would have more than a few angry words for the pending administration. Despite this, I’m going to try to show that the same impulse that drove John the Baptist and his followers is present in contemporary political discourse. The way things are expressed—and the uneasy relationship between campaign rhetoric and the likely outcome—show us that an ancient tradition continues.

But before I do that, I want to look at just one phrase that came to dominate 2016, and the extent to which meaning takes a backseat in the hothouse of politics. The phrase in question is “drain the swamp.” What does it mean? Well, that’s a good question.

Apparently the phrase “drain the swamp” was coined way back in 1903 by an American socialist. The question was ‘why kill a few capitalist mosquitoes, when you can drain the whole swamp?‘ That actually makes some sense. However, any linguist will tell you that once a good metaphor gets out, there is no telling where it will end up.

So, in 1980’s Ronald Reagan used it, this time to suggest fewer bureaucrats meant draining the swamp in Washington. Nancy Pelosi used to twenty-some years later to describe ridding Congress of Republicans. Then Ben Carson used it, then Trump, and now we’re talking about it here.*

No one really knows what the President-elect means by ‘drain the swamp,’ and I don’t think people much care. And that’s the power of a good metaphor: you bring your own meaning and you make it fit to whatever you hope the metaphor-maker will do. Less bureaucrats, less lobbyists, less politicians—it doesn’t matter. People hear the words and they get very excited.

So back to making Judea great again. John is in the wilderness, preaching repentance and the nearness of the Kingdom of Heaven. People have come for a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but they are not alone. The religious ones are there too, Pharisees and Sadducees, come to see what all the fuss is about. John is not impressed. In his harshest campaign rhetoric, he says:

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

The argument is about the purpose of religion. Is it empty ritual to maintain some kind of spiritual status quo, or is it meant to transform lives, to produce fruit worthy of the God we serve? And what about those who can’t produce fruit? He has words for them too:

The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

So he’s described a program, he attacked some easy targets, and then he begins to close. This vision of the Kingdom’s return needs some fleshing out, and he really needs to clarify something important: he’s not the one.

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than me, whose sandals I’m not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

You know and I know that he’s talking about Jesus, but it’s not entirely clear from his words. Winnowing fork? Threshing floor? Burning the chaff with unquenchable fire? This doesn’t sound ‘Jesus, friend of little children,’ the one who has the whole world in his hands, even the itty bitty babies, in his hands.’ Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. There’s no flaming chaff, is there?

Well, yes and no. There is a alternate Jesus that seems to slide from view in this sensitive age. Take, for example, Matthew 10. Jesus says, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth—I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” That’s confusing, but the passage then proceeds to describe the various ways belief in Jesus will split families and he ends with “take up your cross.” There is enough in the passage that most preachers just pass over the sword.

Conveniently, the people who put together our lectionary of readings overlooked Luke 22.35ff and didn’t make an already stressful job here in the pulpit any worse. Listen to this other Jesus, preparing his disciples for the time to follow his passion:

35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.

I share this not to trouble you as we await the birth of the Prince of Peace, but to highlight the extent to which John the Baptist’s prediction is not without some substance. We don’t dwell on disciples with swords, by it’s in the tradition and it seems to fit the idea of burning chaff.

Mostly I present it because John the Baptist seems to give us an whole basket of deplorable words—winnowing, thrashing, burning—because he wants to get our attention. He wants to underline the gravity of the situation, and he’s not above using disturbing language to do it.

He’s also employing simple and easy to remember ideas to share a message that might not be that easy to sell. Repentance is hard work—you have to turn away from sin and turn back to God—but it’s the first and most obvious step in bringing about the Kingdom. Listen again to his versions of “drain the swamp”:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
“The ax is already at the root of the trees.”
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
“His winnowing fork is in his hand.”

In many ways it’s Evangelism 101, John the Baptist style. But the same principle stands for everyone engaged in evangelism: share a compelling message that will somehow motivate people to act. I would add simple and compelling message (just like John), and people will flock to the wilderness.

Now, you’ll see I dropped the E-word, and maybe some of you winced on the inside. It’s an idea that we seemed to leave behind—or did we? If it’s “share a compelling message that will somehow motivate people to act” then the United Church does it all the time. The only difference is we don’t say ‘give your heart to Jesus’ we say ‘sell your mining stocks’ or ‘don’t buy these products,’ but it’s still evangelism—share a compelling message that will somehow motivate people to act.

So, the John the Baptism Advent project is to recapture the ability to express—using simple and compelling words—why someone should return to God. Maybe it’s how your week feels when you begin your week here. Maybe it’s how the decisions you make are better informed through a Gospel lens. Maybe it’s the forgiveness you extend having found forgiveness here.

Whatever the message you take home—hope, love, joy and peace come to mind—may the Spirit give you the words to share. May they be simple words, and compelling too—since so many need the comfort only faith can bring. Amen.

*http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/drain-the-swamp

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 7:47 AM