"You brood of vipers! You children of snakes! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? It will take more than just coming to me to be baptized! If you've really repented, you need to be bearing fruit that shows it. Don't sit there and tell me that you've gone to church all your life. Don't think that you can just say ?I've got Christ as my Saviour,' and that will be good enough. God can make children out of these stones and send them to church! Bear fruits that are worthy of repentance. The axe is poised and ready to get at the root of the matter. Trees that don't bear good fruit are only good to be cut down and thrown into the fire" (cf. Lk. 3:7-9).

Is your reaction the same as the crowds who first listened to John the Baptist? Are you eager to know what you should do in order to live as God wants you to live? Or do you simply assume that this message is not meant for you? There are other people who definitely need to hear it, but not you. Or perhaps you're just annoyed that it should be a festive season, and here's John telling us to repent and get ready for the wrath to come.

However, John the Baptist appears during the Sundays in Advent for a reason. He was getting people ready for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, who would save his people from their sins (Mt. 1:21). We are also getting ready for the coming of Jesus, but in a slightly different sense. On the one hand, Jesus will come again, and we will want to be ready for the day of his coming. On the other hand, we are preparing to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, and as we do so, we remember what it was like for those who had waited so long for him to come.

John the Baptist was all about preparing the people to receive Jesus, and the main part of that preparation has to do with repentance. Repentance is an inner thing. It has to do with our hearts. It involves turning away from our selves and our selfishness and turning toward God instead. It is impossible for us to look into another person's heart and determine if they have truly repented or not. However, it is possible for us to look at somebody and see the signs of repentance. This is what John is getting at when he's talking about bearing fruit. When a person's heart is good - when a person is in a right relationship with God - then that goodness in their heart produces good fruit in their lives.

And so, in today's gospel, a number of different groups of people ask John what they would need to do in order to be bearing good fruit. The number one thing that shows up in all of John's answers is to do away with greed. Be content. Don't take. Share with those who have less than you do. Incidentally, these are not necessarily rich people that John is talking to. He says, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none" (Lk. 3:11). The word that is translated as "coat" actually means an undergarment that is worn next to the body. A poor person would normally own two of these garments - one for everyday use and one for the Sabbath. So John is actually telling the poor people in the crowd to share with people who have even less than they do, whether it is their second piece of clothing or the food that they have.

And then there are the tax collectors, many of whom are probably very rich. In fact, the whole system was set up so that they could charge people as much as they wanted to for taxes. As long as they paid what they were supposed to pay to the Romans, they were free to collect more than they were supposed to from the people. In their case, bearing fruits that are worthy of repentance means being honest in the midst of a dishonest system.

The soldiers, also, are told to operate in a way that is different from how soldiers were expected to operate. These were probably not Roman soldiers, but "local mercenaries serving the Herods or the Roman procurator" (Culpepper, in Luke, The New Interpreter's Bible, p.85). A soldier's allowance was minimal, and "extorting payments by threats was apparently common" (ibid.). And so, instead of using their position as soldiers in order to take whatever they wanted from people, John tells them to be content with their wages, because they have as much as they need. John also calls them to live in righteousness rather than threatening people or falsely accusing them for personal gain.

For both the tax collectors and the soldiers, it would be incredibly difficult for them as individuals to buck the corrupt system and strive to live honestly and righteously. However, were a group of them to support one another in changing their way of life, it just might be possible for them to do so. Notice how John doesn't tell them to quit these corrupt occupations and do something else? Instead, they are asked to change things from the inside out. For them personally, they are challenged to repent and to change their hearts and to allow the goodness that comes from that repentance to show forth in their lives. At the same time, they are called to collectively set an example for their co-workers in the midst of a corrupt system.

As Christians, there are good reasons why we have always gathered together in communities of believers. As one person, it can be very difficult to live out your faith in your day to day life and work. However, with the support of others who are trying to do the same thing, there is a far better chance of being able to live as an example to others, and show the fruits of repentance in our lives. The other thing, of course, as Christians, is that we don't have to rely only on our own will-power to do this. For it is the Holy Spirit working in our hearts who produces repentance and faith and the good fruit in our lives.

Now, just in case we're not sure what good fruit might look like in our lives, there are a few other passages in Luke to help us out. Incidentally, for those of you who are interested in language, the word for "doing" and the word for "bearing" fruit is the same word in Greek. So when the people ask John, "What should we do?", it could just as easily be translated as "What should we bear?". This same word is used in three other places in Luke which teach us something about good fruit.

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (Lk. 6:27). That is good fruit. "Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Lk. 6:31). That is good fruit. "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me" (Lk. 22:19b). That is good fruit, for every time we eat of the bread and drink from the cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes (1 Cor. 11:26).

A word of caution, though, about getting things in the right order. Doing all of these things will not make us a Christian. We can share our food and clothing, and live within our means, and even share in the Lord's Supper or do good to those who hate us, and this will neither make us a Christian nor save us. However, for those who believe in Jesus Christ - who have repented and thus have changed hearts - doing these deeds will flow naturally from our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is Jesus who has saved us. It is we who are asked to respond to God's gracious gift of salvation. Doing this - responding in love and obedience to the love that God has first shown to us - is the best way possible to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. It is also the best possible Christmas present that we could ever give to Jesus. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Advent 3(C) Luke 3:7-18 December 14, 2003 St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church

? 2003 Lynn Hutchison All Rights Reserved