Second Sunday of Advent (9 Dec. 2018)

Hear ye!  Hear ye!

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Caesar Tiberius, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of Ituraea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, at the time of the high priest Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came upon John son of Zachariah in the wilderness.  And he went into the whole surrounding region of the Jordan announcing a baptism of repentance for the purpose of the forgiveness of sins.  Just as it is written in the book of The Words of Isaiah the Prophet "A voice crying in the wilderness 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'  Every valley will be filled and every mountain and hill made low, and the crooked will become straight and the rough roads be smooth and all flesh will see the salvation of God."  He began saying to the crowds that were coming out to be baptized by him “You brood of vipers who warned you all to flee from the future wrath?  Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance.  And do not begin to say to yourselves: we have Abraham for a father.  For I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise children of Abraham.  And even now the axe is already laid at the root of the tree thus every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  And asking him the crowds said: “What shall we do?”  And he answered them saying “The one who has two tunics shall share he who has not, and the one who has shall do likewise.”  And tax collectors came to him as well to be baptized and said to him “Teacher, what must we do?”  And he said to them “Collect no more than you are ordered to.”  And some soldiers were questioning him saying “What shall we do?” and he said to them “Do not take money by force or by false charges but be satisfied with your salary.”  [As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.]  Luke 3:1-14 (15-20, ESV) 

It is always interesting having a Gospel text that isn't about Christ.  Except, that, it is.

The last and greatest prophet, John, had a mission from God: prepare the way of the Lord.  The Jews probably thought that the phraseology literally meant that a road had to be made ready for the messiah to arrive and reclaim the throne of David.

But that was not the duty of the prophet.  The prophet's job had always been to call the people back to God, and His statutes.  And so John prepared.  He taught the people that they needed to be contrite.  Which is true, but not because it would bring about the Messiah.  The Messiah was coming regardless.

That does not mean John rightly teaching the Law was wrong.  The Law is to be taught to sinners who are secure in their sin.  That's why he calls them "kids of snakes" and says that Abraham isn't their father.  He doesn't mean anything genealogical.  Because being children of Abraham has nothing to do with genetics, bloodline, familiar relations, or ethnicity.  A child of Abraham is a believer in the promise.  Even the stones, the "dumb rock" Gentiles, could (and would) be raised up by God to be the true Israel.

When those who had been shown their sin by the Law asked John what they must do, we best not that they do not ask "what must we do to earn salvation."  No, they want to know what they should do to stop breaking God's law.  "Be generous.  Don't steal.  Don't resort to violence to get what you want."

With all of this fire and feistiness, John was not the expected messiah, by a long shot.  And he said so.  He knew the Messiah, having met Him while still in the womb.  John was merely teaching the Law and doing simple washings, much as the priests had done stop-gap sacrifices.  But the Christ, He baptizes through water and His Word, by which we receive the Holy Spirit that is the Fire of God.

And so John stands there on the banks of the Jordan river, the last great herald of the King before His return.  John represents the true exodus from slavery and wilderness, pointing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by His death and resurrection.

(Since my Greek Readings class only translated the 1-14, I elected to use the ESV for the remainder.)