Sunday Homily - December 16th, 2018 - Fire and Brimstone

John the Baptist - Angel in the Desert Icon

17th Century Russian Orthodox Icon

I.

Anyone sat through a fire and brimstone sermon before?
  Well, rest assured that that's not what I'm up to this morning!
     I promise!

But think for a moment.
  Because even if you haven't been immediately present for one of those sermons,
    doubtless you have some sort of picture come into your mind.
      Or at least some caricature of a red faced preacher,
        waving his arms and getting after the congregation
         to turn from their evil ways.

I grew up Baptist, so I can attest to some of these sermons first hand.
  And an the main element of those sermons that really made me super uncomfortable
    and really made me want to crawl under the pew and try to pretend that I'm somewhere else,
      is the inevitable charge to repent and change my evil ways
        by coming down the aisle and making a public choice for Jesus.

And so when I think of fire and brimstone sermons,
  I normally have a specific idea come into my head,
   which is the image of an angry preacher,
     telling us to repent of our sins,
      to come down the aisle, to ask Jesus into my heart,
       and they wouldn't stop preaching until someone finally was brave enough
        to come down to the front of the church.

I always get uncomfortable with fire and brimstone.
  Yet, John the Baptist this morning
    is just not going to let me get away, will he?

So, with no further adieu,
  let's listen to the real preacher this morning.

II.

John the Baptist shows up to the party
  proverbial guns blazing.
    Or, in other words,
      John was not for mincing words.

John's message was urgent,
  it was vitally important,
   and it was salted with fire and brimstone,
    or, at least that's what we hear at first.

"You brood of vipers!
  Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?"

But John doesn't just leave it there:
  he moves on to the point of his proclamation almost immediately:
    bear the fruits worthy of repentance, without excuses and without justifying yourself.
     [Luke 3:7-9]

And the people respond with questions,
  but not just any questions.
   They are questions of importance:
     "John, what should we then do to bear this fruit worthy of repentance?"

And John sets them right to work,
  work to fulfill the Law of God given through the Law,
    the divine Law of God concerning the people of Israel.

"You who have two tunics,
  give one to someone who has none.
    You who collect taxes for the Empire of Rome,
      only collect what is actually due and nothing more.
        You who serve as soldiers,
          do not intimidate and extort from anyone using your position of power,
            and be content with what you are paid for your services."
             [Luke 3:10-14, paraphrase]

But now we come to the most important part of the passage:
  why, John, are we to do this?
    Are you the messiah that was promised,
      the one who will restore Israel?

And John the Baptist answers them:
  "I baptize you with water;
      but one who is more powerful than I is coming;
        I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.
         He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fork is in his hand,
  to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary;
    but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
     [Luke 3:15-17 NRSV]

John, the Voice in the Wilderness,
  preparing the way of the Lord,
    making the straight path for God,
     proclaimed that a new day is coming,
       and yet now was at hand.

Jesus Christ is coming,
  Jesus, the very Son of God is coming,
    and yet is near at hand.
     And John's proclamation of repentance,
      baptizing for the forgiveness of sins has this urgency about it
       precisely because Very God of Very God has come into the world.

And the kicker of the whole passage,
  the very last verse:
    "So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people."
       [Luke 3:18 NRSV]

What John the Baptist proclaimed:
  "You brood of vipers! Bear fruit worthy of repentance!"
     "Fulfill the Law of God!"
        "One is coming after me that I am unworthy of,
            and he is coming to harvest the good and throw out the bad."
              Is this Good News?

Is this the Gospel,
  is this the Good News that we talk about so often,
    the news that brings salvation to the hearers?

III.

I'll be real with y'all:
  After hearing fire and brimstone sermons for a decent bit of my life,
    I'm always tempted to flinch at anything that sounds like an angry preacher
      getting ready to chastise a congregation about shaping up and repenting of sins.

And yet, that temptation tells you much more about me than the Gospel.
  Because I'm often tempted to interpret things that make me uncomfortable
    as things to be explained away and rationalized until they are meaningless.

And yet, by doing so, do I not denigrate the very Gospel that we are charged with proclaiming?
  The very Good News of Jesus Christ coming into the world
    to bring perfect justice and to set things aright?

What if the Gospel isn't about our convenience or our comfort,
   but instead is about holiness?

What if the Gospel isn't about being comfortable,
   but about proclaiming the very faith that actually saves people's very souls?

And what if the Gospel isn't just about sitting back and being religious,
  but is all about the radical challenge of laying down my coats
  for my neighbors freezing on the street this winter,
    giving of my food for my neighbors whose own kids can't eat dinner,
      and opening my doors for those who silently cry for a roof over their heads?

Its hard, its hard, y'all.
 There is NOTHING easy about the Gospel.
   There is NOTHING comfortable about having to radically live out the faith
    that literally says that the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

But, as sure and as solid as the ground beneath our feet,
  this is the life we are called to as Christians.
   This is the faith that has found us,
     and this is the cross that we have picked up to follow Christ.

And just as John the Baptist lived and exhorted this kind of repentance
  the actions that are fruit worthy of repentance,
    we also are challenged by God
      to live what we believe.

Because that is what God did for us,
  when God forsook all of the splendor of heaven,
    all of the power of the throne of the universe,
      and took our humanity to save us from sin and death.

Jesus Christ came in the exact form that we must also take on:
  the form of the greatest servant.

As we walk this Advent road,
  coming toward the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ,
    perhaps we need a little bit of an uncomfortable Gospel
      to show us the true nature of Jesus Christ's own incarnation.

An uncomfortable Gospel that beckons us to abandon our striving for comfortable lives,
  and exchanging them for lives that live out the good and just ways of Christ's saving work.

And this is not a path that we can go alone.
  It is not something that we can merely do on our own time.
    This kind of life can only be prayed into being,
      being fueled by the fire of the Pentecost Holy Spirit
       that through the actions of a few women, fisherman, and a tax collector,
        turned the world upside down with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If we are to follow in the holy tradition of our faith,
  if we are to lay claim to the goodness, the power, and the love of God,
    pray fervently for the faith that it takes to repent.

And then go give your jacked to those outside who are freezing,
  give your food to those kids whose parents can't provide,
    and open your homes to those who cry for help.

Then. THEN: people will KNOW that Jesus Christ is coming soon.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.