Luke 3:7-18

"Indeed by going further with his image of the axe cutting at the ROOTS of the tree - as compared with cutting at the trunk of the tree - John is deepening the meaning of repentance to be RE-ROOTING."

Year C, Season of Advent
Third Sunday of Advent
Sunday Between December 11 and December 17 Inclusive

Read the passage: The Message   or   The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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Contrary to Arthur Paul Boer's excellent advice, Never Call Them Jerks, I often have to resist adding as a personal aside while reading Verse 7, "You brood of vipers (and you know who you are) ..." But just as with Jonah and the Ninevites, it turns out that even vipers can heed warnings and repent.

However, as Malina helpfully points out, this phrase would also be understood as, "you offspring of vipers." And since all of one's social standing derived from one's parents - this is a high insult indeed. An insult that would be strenuously challenged by those listening to John - and a challenge that John anticipates and cuts off by saying, "Don't say that Abraham is your ancestor ..."

Indeed by going further with his image of the axe cutting at the ROOTS of the tree - as compared with cutting at the trunk of the tree - John is deepening the meaning of repentance to be RE-ROOTING. Luke does not explicitly expand on this in this text, but the practice of baptism for the Christian community would very early on become not just a rite for repentance for the forgiveness of sins - but more crucially, a rite for re-rooting one's identity away from one's birth family into the community of followers of Christ's way. It is this baptism of RE-ROOTING as a child of God that Jesus undergoes.

What Luke does expand on is John's message of repentance. And so, probably the best sermon title for this week is, "New Roots That Bear Fruits of Repentance." (Verse 8)

That is, in Biblical terms, repentance is not about feeling sorry or forgiveness - nor can it be inherited - it is all about changing behaviour. Verses 10 to 14 give specific concrete examples of the type of changes to make, and invite challenging self-examination: Anyone here have two coats?

Thinking through what might be the fruits of repentance for each of us - and for the congregation as a whole - might be all the work that needs to be done this Sunday.

Verses 15 to 18. Somewhere back in the mists of my memory, someone said that John is our model. Like John, we too proclaim the good news to the people, we too point to Jesus and his ministry.

I also am reminded of Mr. Rogers whenever I read a separating-the-wheat-from-the-chaff passage. As Mr. Rogers often pointed out even people who are bad most of the time will be good some of the time; and those who are good most of the time will be bad some of the time.

So the wheat-chaff separation is not separating into two groups of "bad" persons and "good" persons. It is separating the good that is within each person from the bad that is within each person. May it be so. (Especially you vipers out there. Just kidding. Sort of.)

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

* Link to Amazon.com Bibliography for Bruce Malina, et. al., Social Science Commentary on ... The Synoptic Gospels; The Gospel of John; The Book of Acts; The Letters of Paul; The Book of Revelation; and others.

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Comments

[Peacemakeradhk]

A great deal of information to absorb in the passages for the thrid Sunday of Advent. I pray that I do justice to the scriptures in 3: 15-18. Each year I find more and more to say about less and less.

[David Ewart]

Hang in there. With time, you'll soon find with fewer words that need to be said about more and more.