Third Sunday of Advent – December 12, 2021
Luke 3:7-18

When I was a small-town solo pastor of a small congregation, I appreciated the intimate, close-knit relationships among congregant members and of residents in the neighborhood. I could pretty much expect that every church potluck would have one of our widows bringing her deviled eggs with a sprinkling of paprika on each one, and for another she would bring baked mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows. On our street, I could always count on our beloved neighbors across the street to have their bobbing reindeer on the front lawn, just as they could count on me setting up our wooden Nativity set figures on our lawn. And all of us can expect that around after Thanksgiving Day up through December 31, we came to expect the crowds of people at the local shopping malls, no matter how much snow or sleet there was on the road. That’s just what you do in Advent and Christmas.

So when we look at Luke 3:7-18, there are certain things we have come to expect, especially when it comes to the business of John “proclaiming the good news to the people.” When the crowds asked, “What then should we do?” For one thing, we need to give credit to the crowd for seeking some practical theology after receiving John’s beratement, “You brood of vipers!” instead of trouncing him out of town. Or perhaps their question was indicative that the preaching of repentance and the Spirit making the way straight was having an effect. We would expect no less than when the Spirit is present, people are changed and being changed.

So when the good news is proclaimed we would expect a response. John dives right into the matter. What should they/we do when the good news is proclaimed and received? Whomever is without adequate clothing and food, give that which your neighbor and the stranger need. For tax collectors, do contrary to what your instinct says or what you may be accustomed to or even what their bosses might say … don’t collect more than what is instructed; deal honestly. As for soldiers and for any armed official of the state, don’t threaten others, don’t extort them, or falsely accuse, and be satisfied with your pay. All this is to say that God would expect that in our human hearts and in human systems there would be a neglect for the naked and hungry, there would be usury and extortion, there would be discontent and malcontent, there would be mistreatment. After all, we are humans who are broken, who are broods of vipers underneath the Christmas carols, underneath our clerical garb, beneath the manicured way we carry on. That is why we would expect no less than God acting to clear the threshing floor, to winnow the wheat, and to gather us. This act of God, this familiar promise, is what the Gospel text described as the Lord “baptiz[ing] with the Holy Spirit and fire.”