Valois United Church

December 9

Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72, Part 1,2
Matthew 3:1-12

Walking the road from Jericho to the Jordan is HOT as the morning sun bakes the earth around. The occasional hare bounds across the road, heading for it’s burrow before it gets any hotter, and one fox slinks into the bushes in one of the gullies – the only green here being down where a little moisture still endures after a month with no rain.

You are heading to the Jordan, and you remember how important this river has been: Elisha performed two other miracles at the Jordan: one was when he healed Naaman by having him bathe in its waters, (2 Kings 5:14).

Not much of a river - you can throw a stone right across it - but it has touched the lives of everyone in the land somehow.

And now, as you get close to the river it is like dropping into a new world – suddenly dry, cracked, bare earth is replaced by green – some grasses, though even here they struggle to get moisture, but papyrus and palm trees crowd each other, and crowd the narrow river so that some are leaning over it.

Where the road was, until now, silent, now the air is filled with the noise of a myriad of birds – their wings and their songs.

The track goes along the river, and you hear the noise of the expected crowd. As you come to a place where there is a bit of a break in the trees, where the dry earth briefly re-asserts itself, you hear one voice above every other sound. “You snakes and vipers” he calls out.

Now you can see the crowd gathered around. Some are just ordinary folk like yourself. There are some Roman soldiers in all their gear, grouped togther on the edge of the crowd.

But others – you can tell by their attire, and the way they hold themselves – are religious leaders: Sadducees, Pharisees. Some of them are here because they wish to be baptized. And some of them have travelled all the way from Jerusalem. You know that these have been sent to check on the “trouble maker”.

You’re not sure he’s a trouble maker. You’ve heard about this man, John. Some of your friends have already come to see him, and have returned home: some admiring, some condemning.

Whether he is a trouble maker or not, he certainly is different. Camels hair clothing, fastened with a leather belt – not the same as the clothes of cloth that you where, and far different from the finer clothes of some of the more important leaders who stand scowling at him. His beard is matted, and his hair unkempt. But his eyes burn as with fire.

“Repent”, he calls out, “Turn your lives around away from your sins, away from your wrong-doing.”

One of the soldiers calls out to him, almost jeering “What are we supposed to do?”

The preacher looks at him, looks at all the group gathered on the edge of the crowd. “You know well enough, men, how you are well paid for your work. But then you threaten people with your weapons and your bullying behaviour, extorting money from them that does not belong to you, that even Caesar does not ask you to collect. Repent! Turn yourselves around. Be satisfied with your wages. Don’t use your violence and threat of violence where it does not belong.”

You hear a murmur of assent in the crowd. And then a quieter voice pipes up, this one more sincere: “What am I to do?,” the voice calls out.

John looks at him. “Who are you?” he demands.

“I am a tax-collector”, that man replies, eliciting grumbles from all around him.

“Tax collector?” comes back the strident voice. “If you’re like the others, the Roman government tells you to collect three coins and you collect six, telling the people they’ll go to jail if they don’t pay - and you keep the extra three coins, in addition to your pay. Repent! Turn yourself around - only collect what you’re supposed to.”

And you find yourself saying “Yes” together with many in the crowd.

And then John turns to the religious leaders, surveying them.... “Snakes and vipers! Why do you come here today? Do you really want to change? Are you coming here just because you heard that judgement is coming? Coming here is fine. But you have to change! You have to show your in your actions that you’ve turned yourself around to God.

“You can’t continue just to sit in your councils, and attend your worship at the temple and synagogue. You can’t continue just to go through the actions of being faithful people, attending each week. You have to show in your actions, each day, that you have turned yourselves around to God.

“No,” John continues, “you have to show the fruits of repentance: you have to show right action. Don’t spend your time judging me or anyone else. Spend your time helping those who need help.”

As you listen you can hear the energy and conviction in each of his words: “Show that you’ve got your lives turned around. Don’t just be concerned about those close to you. The whole world awaits your good actions.

“And don’t think that just because you come from faithful families that it is good enough. God can raise up children to Abraham from these rocks all around us. No, you need to show your faith in action! You need to show your repentance in action!”

“In a minute, we’re all going down to the river for baptism. But this is only a beginning. There’s another one coming after me. I’m not even worthy to carry his sandals for him. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, the fires of the Holy Spirit. And he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire....

“So come down to the waters of the Jordan,” John invited, “Come down and wash away your past. Come down to the waters and start your lives over. Come down to the waters and turn to God’s way.”

And John turns to the river, down the short, steep bank of cracked soil to the waters, and standing in the waters of the river he stretches out his arms. “Come down and wash away your past. Come down to the waters and start your lives over. Come down to the waters and turn to God’s way.”

And as he speaks, his eyes flash over all those who have come to the edge of the bank. The tax collector goes down the bank. “I want to start over,” he declares. “I want to start over today.”

And John leads him into the waters, lowers him into the water. “Be cleansed in the waters of repentance,” he says. And the tax collector stumbles back to the shore, and falls on his knees in prayer.

A few of the religious leaders go on down to the waters, and even one of the Roman soldiers.

And now, as Johns eyes scan those on the bank, his eyes rest on you. You. Just an ordinary person. No huge sins. A little this and a little that. Blindness to the needs of others, a little greed and self-centeredness. Honesty could be improved and.... well, yes, lots of little stuff. Isn’t it little stuff????

“Come down and wash away your past. Come down to the waters and start your lives over. Come down to the waters and turn to God’s way.”

And suddenly you find your feet heading down the bank, and you’re waist deep in the cool water. John takes you and dips you under the waters, declaring “Be cleansed in the waters of repentance: now you shall be ready for the one who is coming.”

And as you make your way to the top of the bank, you hear him as he begins to quote from the great prophet Isaiah:

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.