The
Call to be Present
Keith
McFarren
December
15, 2024
Luke
3:7-18
     This
morning, if you were paying attention, and I know you were, you saw that we lit
the pink or the rose colored candle during our Advent candle lighting
service.  That’s because today is Gaudete
(Gow day` tay) Sunday in the church.  Gaudete
is the Latin word for “rejoice.”  
    Today marks the midway point of Advent.  It is the day that we are to begin to look
forward to the light that will overcome the darkness, to the light that is
about to make its way into the world.
Today is the day we are to begin to look forward as individuals and as a
church to celebrating the joy and the happiness that awaits us with the coming
of Christ.
    This is the season when our attention is
drawn to the most significant and wonderous event in the history of mankind,
that event of course is the coming of our Savior, who comes into a world that
is dark, a world that has lost its way.  So,
we look upon Jesus as the hope and the healer; we look upon his birth as the
beginning of a new age, an age of health and harmony that is spread throughout
the world, an age that will eventually come into its fullness when Jesus
someday returns.  
    On Gaudete Sunday, we lift our hearts in
joy and happiness and celebration as we look forward to the coming of Jesus.  We should be happy and lighthearted and full
of joy because of the upcoming events…and yet our scripture reading is once
again about this strange, negative sounding guy John the Baptist, who instead
of being happy and celebrating the future, calls everyone around him a brood of
vipers.
    John the Baptist, a man firmly embedded in
the prophetic tradition, makes it distressingly clear.  The way he dressed, the things he ate and the
way he acted was strange, yet it was all done in contempt because it symbolized
his rejection of a corrupt society.  
    Both his lifestyle and his message shouted
to the world that big changes were on the horizon.  No longer would people be able to rest easy
with the status quo that they have for so long enjoyed.  Instead, John warned them that the coming of
the Promised One would sweep over them like a raging fire that devours a bone
dry forest.
   John’s announcement of the coming Messiah was
meant to be heard by everyone.  His words
were troubling.  Troubling because the nation
of Israel believed that in God’s mind, they were part of a favored nation
clause.  They believed that God would
judge other nations with one standard and them with another.  In fact, because they were his chosen people
they believed that they were safe from all judgement and they were automatic
shoo ins for entry into God’s kingdom.  
    By listening to John and the harshness of
his tone it was evident that he had no patience for those who thought that because
of their Jewish background they did not need to change the way they lived their
lives.  They believed they did not need
to repent because they had already been guaranteed a place in God’s kingdom, so
for them, there was no reason to pay any attention to what he was saying.  
    Regardless of what they thought, John was
trying to make one thing very, very clear.
God does not play favorites.  He
does not favor one particular group of people over another nor does he give any
particular group of people a free pass into his kingdom…not Israelites, not
Americans, not white people, not black people, not Republican or Democrats, not
Catholics or Baptists not even United Methodists.  
    John spoke only one way.  He spoke to all the people and he spoke with
brutal frankness.  Racial privilege means
nothing.  Social privilege means
nothing.  Economic privilege means
nothing.  Religion or politics means
nothing.  
    Therein lies the challenge of John the
Baptist: all whose lives do not exemplify the righteousness of God are in
danger of judgment and need to repent.  It
is the way one lives their life that serves as the basis for judgement.
   So, as we look forward to the coming of
Christ on this Gaudete Sunday, a day that is supposed to be filled with joy and
happiness, as we look forward to the coming of Christ, it’s as if something is
totally wrong here…it’s like something is out of sync.  Instead of feeling good about ourselves and
about the season, John is back at it again complaining and criticizing and telling
us that something is wrong.
    After John complains and criticizes and
berates his listeners, which is probably not the best way for a preacher to win
friends and influence people, the response we hear is surprising.  Instead of ignoring him, or arguing with him
or writing him off as some type of holy roller preacher, they instead bought
into what he had been saying; they understood the prophetic call to repentance
and to an ethical reform.  
     And
to this, they asked him a very important question.  “What should we do?”  “Given all this fearsome sounding truth that
you’ve been throwing at us, what should we do?”
    How do we get on the right side of
history?  How do we get in the right lane
to get to where we need to be going?  As
compared to all that he had been telling them, John’s answer is kind of on the
mundane side of things.  
    Maybe we would have taken it more
seriously if he had said something like “Make the world a better place to live
in” or “share the gospel” or “work against social injustice” or “don’t be so
arrogant and prideful.”  
    Maybe all this preaching stuff that John
has been doing makes it too difficult to fully understand what we need to do to
change our lifestyles.  Maybe all this negativity
coming from John makes things seem too hard to do.  And since we’re all different in our own
special ways, maybe we each need to make our own decision on what to do to make
some changes in our lives.
    So, John is willing to help us get on the
right track because sometimes we need something to get us started…something to
kick us in the rear end to get us going…something that’s simple but doable…something
that is right there in front of us that we don’t really see.  “Give away a coat or help feed the hungry,”
John says.  “Treat your clients fairly
and don’t use your power to your own advantage.”  “Don’t lie to people and don’t grumble about
them.”
    Simple, yet life changing and world
changing things, don’t you think.  There
is something life changing and world changing about all these simple
instructions as we prepare for the coming of Jesus and that is that we need to
be aware of those around us.   Quit being so concerned about yourself as an
individual and make a point to be present in the lives of those who are around
you.  Be present in the community around
you.
    Be fully present in the lives of other
people.  Make it your responsibility to
help those in need.  Those who are doing well
in this world need to pay attention to those who aren’t.  
    He is telling those who are collecting
taxes to see the people they are collecting from as people with histories and
stories and lives and relationships, rather than objects who time and time
again are ripped off by the Roman government.
    He is telling the soldiers, the guys who
wield a tremendous amount of physical power to see those that are weaker and
more vulnerable as human beings who have a place in this world as well.  He is telling those with power and status to
see other people as God’s children rather than people easily taken advantage of.  
    Life changing actions that result from
repentance should bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Life changing action that result from our
repentance should result in radicalizing the commandment to love one’s neighbor
as we love ourselves and then prove it by doing deeds of loving kindness to/for
our neighbor.
    It’s about addressing the individual needs
of others rather than societal needs because if we address the needs of the
individual first, then exponentially, it will grow and grow and the fruits of
our repentance will flow throughout the world.        
    John
is calling to radically reorientate the world.
And a first step toward a redeemed community is for those who have to
share with those who have not.  It’s a
small, almost unnoticeable start, but it is a start that will turn the world
upside down, a start that begins with caring about the needs and the feelings
and the lives of other people, one person at a time.
    These are such clear, simple commands, but
they have to be obeyed to demonstrate that we are willing to change our ways.  None of these things happen by chance; they
only occur when we have a change of heart and then repent of all our sins.
    In
John Steinbeck’s story, The Wayward Bus a group of people are taking a
trip across the country in an old dilapidated bus.  Along the way the bus gets stuck in the mud
and while the driver goes to get help the passengers take refuge in a cave.
    The passengers are people who come from
all walks of life and it is obvious that the author is attempting to get across
the point that these people are not only literally lost but they are also spiritually
lost as well.  That’s because as they
enter into the cave, the author calls the reader’s attention to the fact that
as they enter into the cave they must pass a word that has been scrawled with
paint over the entrance.  The word is
Repent!
    Although Steinbeck calls that to the
reader’s attention, it is interesting to note that none of the passengers pay
any attention to it whatsoever.
    All
too often, you see, this is our story.
Yet John the Baptist calls upon us today to pay attention and to take
our sinning seriously.  Why?  Because God does.  God take our sinning seriously.
    Repentance is not just changing our minds,
or feeling sorry for something that we have done in the past and promising God that
we’ll never do it again.  Instead,
repentance means to turn around and go in another direction.  This is what John the Baptist wanted his
audience to hear…change your ways…stop your sinning…and turn your life toward
this one we call the Messiah (The Wayward Bus, Sermon Resources, Dec. 2024).
    The Prophet Isaiah wrote: “…the Lord is my
strength and my might; he has become my salvation.  Give thanks to the Lord; call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted.  Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done
gloriously; let this be known in all the earth” (Isaiah 12:2-6).
    Our salvation lies within our
repentance.  It’s about our priorities,
our commitments, our personal relationships, our passion for peace and justice…and
it’s about our unplanned acts of compassion.
All these things give evidence of our repentance.
    It begins with one person…with you…and because
of God’s grace we become present in the lives of others because of our love for
them and we show and we invite others to share in our joy…a joy that is
contagious…a joy that is meant to be shared with others…through individual relationships
and through community.
    Advent is not meant to be a secret we keep
to ourselves.  It is an announcement that
we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are called to share with others.  Through our repentance we share the joy of
God’s work among us by being the presence of God with one another and by being
the presence of God throughout the world.