Advent 2 - Listen to the Outsider

Notes
Transcript
The New Revised Standard Version The Proclamation of John the Baptist

The Proclamation of John the Baptist

(Mk 1:2–8; Lk 3:1–20)

3 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.’ ”

4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

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Greetings and peace be with you all on this second Sunday of Advent. As we began last week, we are in the season of anticipation and waiting, longing for the arrival of the promised Messiah, the birth of Jesus Christ.
Last week, we looked at what it means to stay awake, to have our hearts open to the coming of Christ and to expect the unexpected. We seek ways to become aroused and alert to the presence of Christ when Christ shows up — here and now and ever coming.
We must cultivate hearts that are ready to hear the voice of God, ready and able to stay awake. That is why, this week, we need to hear from John the Baptist.
Last week, we heard how the world will shift as a part of the Christ’s coming. This week, we get down on the ground with this earthy figure, John, who shows us the humanity of coming alive in Christ — John does not sugar coat reality, but rather wants to wash anyone who is willing to repent in the waters of baptism.
John wakes the people up. He is a wild man crying out in the wilderness. He has no patience of the religious elite, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the elders in positions of power who can see only their own way of rigidity and law. He has no regard for ones who claim their privilege in the line of Abraham, the ones who use their title and their bloodline and their status to hold power over others. John calls them out for what they are. And John invites the humble to repentance.
It is not a washing that simply rinses off the dirt from their feet — no the baptism is one of burning away all that is impure, a powerful chopping down and building up something new in each person who engages it.
The invitation for us in 2019, in Bellingham, WA is to begin to become aware of these voices like John the Baptist that are calling us to repentance. God speaks through prophets like John, but sometimes they look like unexpected figures, a person we pass on the street who perhaps, if we paid attention and learned their story, would tell us something of the call to justice needed in our community.
John is getting after the elders and religious leaders because they’ve stopped truly listening to the call to repentance. They’ve stayed in their comfortable positions of power and title. They’ve made presumptions about what it means to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. And the time has finally come that this way of skating by on piety and religious title is going to get cut down. Can you imagine this issue in our lives today? Can you feel the conviction in yourself for the way we have become the Pharisees and Sadducees? And can you hear those who are calling you to repentance?
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What needs baptising? Who can tell us about it? Who will we listen to?
Outsiders, weirdos, mentally ill, addicted — what do they have to say to us?
“Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
John the Baptist — Isaiah spoke of the message bringer, the prophet coming to ‘prepare the way of the Lord’
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Eating in the wild, but eating clean according to the law. Interesting.
Today, we have an opportunity to examine this text in a different kind of way. I’m going to invite up Hans Erchinger-Davis, the Executive Director of the Lighthouse Mission, to talk and explore how he hears this text and the baptizing work of John in the work that Lighthouse Mission does among the unhoused and struggling people in our community.
Wild and aggressive words to the pharisees, the elders, the religious leaders — bear fruit worthy of repentance. Don’t hide behind your title or your position, your heritage or how much you give, your knowledge or your hours of piety logged: If your life does not bear fruit of the spirit, fruit of a life truly changed — the ax and winnowing fork are coming for you.
Be baptized, with purifying fire.
Hans, I believe this call to repentance from John the Baptist has something to tell us today. And I think that it might be easiest to hear this kind of call from the outsiders, the people on the margins of society, the ones who are messy and don’t have it all together. Because it is a prophetic voice, an unsettling voice, that John brings us today.
Do we let these voices of correction in? Do we allow them to speak to us?
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Is John withholding baptism from the Pharisees and Sadducees?
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 How do you witness the prophetic voice of God speaking in the people you serve?
 What are ways that Lighthouse Mission invites people into seeing Jesus in our city?? 
 Do you think God is using the folks served by Lighthouse mission to tell us something about God’s love and hope for our city? 
 How can we get involved in a deeper way in the year ahead? 
Close with prayer.
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