Sermon 6-9-13
Bible Text: Luke3:7-18
Today’s story shows us one of the pitfalls of our good
Lutheran theology. When we are baptized, we know we receive God’s grace and
mercy and love and new life in such abundance that it will never run out, and
it can’t be undone. Our baptism is a once-for-all event—we don’t have to do it
over and over.
In Baptism God is doing all the work, so we know God gets it
right the first time. God does not need to baptize us, of course—we are
the ones who need some tangible sign of God’s presence, a reminder, a date to
celebrate, so we don’t forget that God makes and keeps promises all
the time. What do we have to do once we’re baptized, to “keep” our
salvation? Nothing, of course. Nothing. We
didn’t do anything to deserve God’s love for us in baptism; we don’t do
anything to keep it.
So, that’s the problem we find in Luke today. John the
baptizer, who is not exactly shy or demure in any way, is out and about,
preaching and baptizing. And the people are flocking to him. They’re curious. He has a reputation—they
want to check him out. He has a message—they want to hear it, since they
already know bits of the story from the Hebrew scriptures. So here they come,
rich and poor, young and old, men and women, devout religious people and
sinners—even tax collectors! And John (who obviously has not been shaped by
graciousness as we have been at Living Word, where all are welcome),
greets them this way: You brood of vipers!
John supposes the people come to him because they want
another sign from God. They want to cover their bases so God will not forget
them: “Might as well go get baptized.” Like we see in our time, religious life
is no more than following some rules and checking things off a list. There is no depth. There is no
transformation. John calls them to a baptism of repentance—a change in their
lives,
into mercy when they have not been merciful. How do we know
repentance has happened? We can see the fruits of it—“bear fruit worthy of repentance”,
John tells them. It doesn’t matter what your family tree looks like—what
matters is your own tree. Regardless of whether you are related to Abraham or
not, are you bearing good fruit? “What then shall we do?” they ask in a
panic. And John answers them according
to their station in life. If you have enough to share, share it—surely someone
has less than you. If you’re a tax collector, don’t take extra money from
people for your own pocket. If you’re a soldier, don’t threaten people into
paying you off for their safety. This is what repentance looks like, this is
how the baptized live: every choice, every action, demonstrates the mercy of
God. You notice faith in Jesus is not required for the baptized; he hasn’t
even shown up yet, except to be born. Doing God’s will, which Jesus will
show us, is how faithfulness is measured.
What then shall we do, 21st century
Lutherans who insist that salvation comes by God’s grace, through our faith,
which is given to us freely by the Holy Spirit? We’re not supposed to have to do
anything in this unconditional relationship with God. One of the things
John the Baptizer, and Luke the evangelist, were living with was a world that
was upside-down. The world did not look like the paradise God had created. It
did not look like God’s vision of the world. People were hungry, thirsty,
neglected, poor, abused by the system, sick, at war. John’s answer to “What
shall we do” is instructions for how to get this world turned right-side-up.
The saddest part of this story is that our world is
not very different. Two thousand years later we still live in a world that is
upside-down from God’s dream. But we are
baptized, and we do live here. What are the fruits of our repentance? How
would John answer our question, “what then shall we do”? How can we
start turning this world right-side-up? We who have received God’s mercy—how
can we be merciful?
My friend Richard Swanson wrote in one of the books I
consulted for this sermon:
“…baptism…is an act of faith and
resistance;
it is a gift from God that
connects people with promises too big to fit into the world as it is presently constituted.”
God’s promises are too
big to fit here. We cannot see the
fullness of them. But we are connected to them. And when we join our lot
with others—those who suffer from the upside-downness of this world—then they
are connected, too.
We are baptized—we don’t have to do anything—we can
join the brood of vipers and ride the wave of God’s mercy. But people of God,
we are filled to overflowing—with God’s Holy Spirit, with God’s love named
Jesus, with grace and mercy and new life and joy and peace and hope. How can we
not do something? Our very
lives proclaim God’s presence with and among us—every choice demonstrates
the mercy of God. Yes, we are baptized! It is the power that keeps us going
in this upside-down world. Let us delight in these promises of God, to which we
are connected in baptism. Let us take them everywhere we go and hand them out
when we see someone who needs them. We have plenty to share.
Amen.
Resource: Swanson, Richard W. Provoking the Gospel of Luke: a Storyteller's Commentary, Year C. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2006
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