by Mike Stavlund
Gospel Reading: Matthew 3:1-12
For Sunday, December 8, 2013: Year C—Advent 2
Most of us wouldn’t let J to the B into our sanctuaries, that’s for sure. He is more than a little imbalanced, dressed like a Mountain Man and surely smelling much worse. It would have taken some effort to look him in the eye and not stare at those bits of bugs stuck to the honey smeared in his beard.
Yes, that’s all very interesting, sir—may I give you the address of the shelter downtown?
Christmas Hospitality.
John’s crazy appearance and ranty preaching notwithstanding, he is getting a good response. The text describes people from the whole region—villages and cities and countryside alike—streaming toward John’s riverside revival. And there are even “many Pharisees and Sadducees” coming for baptism, eagerly responding to John’s invitation. But instead of offering hospitality, John addresses them with naked hostility.
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
Uh, well, that would be you, John…hmmmm.
Mistaken Identity?
Just whom is John talking about? If he’s a prophet describing Jesus, he seems to be missing a few things. Like the whole ethos of Jesus, his loving welcome of sinners, his ministry of healing and hope, his promise of God’s dreams being brought to fruition in our here-and-now. John can’t possibly be describing the Jesus we come to know later in Matthew’s gospel.
Or is he? Does John know something, or see something that we are missing? Is he using some kind of x-ray glasses, looking past the love and kindness that will make Jesus’ ministry so inviting and infectious that he will eventually be put to death by the religious establishment? Or is it that very betrayal that John foresees and reacts to?
The nearest shelter is on the corner of Church and State. Do you need a ride?
Hair-Trigger on a Hairy Prophet
Later in the gospel, we will see a Jesus who at least allows Pharisees and Sadducees to make the first move, or to throw the first punch, a Jesus at least as likely to let stuff go as to engage a lively debate. But Jesus’ predecessor John blasts these upstanding citizens almost pre-emptively, even as they were coming to be baptized, responding to his invitation toward repentance!
The Lectionary reading from Isaiah preceding Jesus’ ministry—and the reading from Romans after that same ministry—are both depicting the growth of a hopeful branch from the tree of Jesse, but John describes a Jesus who is carrying an axe. It doesn’t seem like everyone is on the same page here.
So which Jesus are we expecting? And why are we so keen to tout Jesus’ cousin John’s predictive preaching when it seems so at odds with Jesus himself?
I don’t have a lot of room in the Lexus—could you squeeze in the back seat?
Subverting a Revolution
We tuck Jesus “meek and mild”, whom “no crying he makes” into a nice nativity as if to marginalize or silence him. We make Mary’s Magnificat into a docile hymn instead of a call for revolution. If John has anything to say about it, we will take Jesus off the mantle and use the whole nativity crèche to start a big unquenchable fire in the fireplace. And maybe throw the Christmas tree in there for good measure.
Um, sir, could you please not flail about in the memorial poinsettias? We’ll be leaving any moment now.
The Hardest Question
John has a flamethrower aimed at absolutely everyone—why do we think we are going to get a fireside chat next to a peaceful Christmas tree?
Excuse me sir, fire code doesn’t allow us to swing the wreath around like that. Ah, finally, your ride is ready.
Who or what are we waiting for at Advent?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mike Stavlund writes from a 5-car pile-up at the intersection of his Christian faith and real life. A husband of over 15 years and a father of 4 children, he lives with his wife and 3 daughters in a small house outside Washington, DC. He’s a part of an innovative emergence Christian community called Common Table, a co-conspirator with the Relational Tithe, and a proud part of the collective called Emergent Village. He blogs at MikeStavlund.com, and his first book, "Force of Will", was published by Baker in the Spring of 2013.
