I should know by now to tread carefully when it comes to the Baptizer. Jesus’ cousin was more than a family member. He was both a prophet and the fulfillment of a prophecy. Jesus himself said that “among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). All four gospel writers include John in their accounts with stories that are all kind of alike, but each one also shares a detail or two we don’t see anywhere else.
Where there is repetition, pay attention.
I love the fact that in the Revised Common Lectionary every Advent season, John moves out of the shadows into the spotlight. His miraculous birth is interwoven with the supernatural birth of Jesus. The beginning of Jesus’ ministry is interwoven with John’s ministry. I have preached many a sermon on John, even the one that I preached as part of my requirements for ordination.
So, why would I include a sermon on John in a series on “sermons I never got to preach.
Sometimes a tree is cut down, and the space it leaves behind is the necessary sermon that was previously unpreached.In my last post, “The Woes,” I concluded with the following reference to John:
When Jesus was baptized, John the Baptizer prepared the way by calling out religious leaders as a “brood of vipers” (that’s another sermon for another day). In Matthew 23:33, Jesus echoes what his prophetic cousin said: “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”
The time has come for “another sermon for another day”….
Matthew spends twelve verses introducing us to John before the adult Jesus appears on the scene. He tells us where John is (the wilderness of Judea), what he’s saying (Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand), who he is (the voice of one crying in the wilderness), what he’s wearing (camel’s hair), and what he ate (bugs and honey—I literally had to stop writing and swat a dirtdobber as I read that).
I love Matthew’s attention to specific details, as if he’s answering the questions he knows people will have. He goes one step further, beyond John’s appearance and tells us how people respond to him. They flock to him and heed his command, get baptized and confess their sins. This is a fabulous picture of hope and anticipation that something really good is about to happen, the “something” and “someone” they have waited for their whole lives.
Then the “but” comes in verse seven of chapter three: “But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Saducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.”
Matthew doesn’t tell us what the Pharisees and Saducees said in response, although we can imagine the shock and horror on their faces. Instead, the only voice we hear is the one crying in the wilderness. The passage continues in verses ten and eleven:
And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fuit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
We heard the storm blow through around 3:30 am on the fifth Sunday of Easter. We heard the thunder, saw the lightning, and prayed the pounding rain wouldn’t damage the garden. Nothing was amiss when I went outside to feed the yard cat a few hours later. We poured the coffee and opened the Scriptures, sat on the porch. Suddenly, the same yard cat flew by the window. Our gaze followed him to find a fallen tree in the yard. We’d never heard a crash. We have no idea when the tree fell. It was not a literal ax in our hands that brought it down but something unseen and silent.
The Greek word for “ax,” only appears twice in the New Testament—here and in Luke’s similar account of John confronting the Pharisees. The word for “ax” comes from the Greek word, agnumi, which means “tearing or rending.” It appears far more often in the New Testament, and Jesus uses it when he speaks of not putting new wine in old wineskins, for the old wineskins will break, unable to contain the wine —especially the wine of his blood that will be poured out for us (Matthew 9:17).
The unfruitful trees John referenced could not handle the new fruit about to spring forth from the Messiah. Cutting down, tearing down, ripping apart the old trees was to prepare the way, to make space for the new thing God was doing.
In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul describes that new fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Before he speaks of the good fruit, Paul names the works of the flesh that must be rent, torn, and broken like those old trees. The old must be dug up and broken for the new to take root and spring forth. What springs forth is fruit, and the fruit comes from the Holy Spirit, not by our works.
The first mention of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is in Matthew 1, which describes Mary in verse 18 as, “found with child of the Holy Spirit.” The second mention is by John in this passage to describe how the Messiah will baptize us. The Son and the Spirit are one. With the Father we encounter three persons and yet one God in the glorious power of the Trinity.
As many times as I’ve read and preached on this passage, for the first time I saw that John’s words are invoking the Holy Trinity. He confronts the religious leaders with the truth that their self-congratulatory practices and family trees don’t make them holy. Only the Holy One can do that, and He is on his way.
I have become so grieved in recent months with the overuse and misuse of the word, “holy,” as an adjective. We have reduced it to gimmicks and marketing strategies for people to listen to, click on, or engage in. I cringe when “holy” is coupled with curse words. When I hear a sermon where the preacher refers to the Holy Spirit as an “it,” a deep anger rises within me. The Spirit of the Living God is not an it. John will baptize Jesus, but Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit—a person, the third person of the Godhead. We must be more cautious of how we speak about the Holy Spirit, for with Him comes fire. There is a reason Jesus speaks strongly about the consequences of blaspheming His Spirit (Matthew 12:31).
The Greek word for “holy,” is hagios, and carries a sense of being completely set apart, separated and consecrated to God. We must not mix it with carnal ideas or worldly pleasures. It is a word that carries a sense of something or someone being more than worthy, more than magnificent, greater than pure, greater than honorable.
We must tread more carefully.
When the tree fell in our yard, and the Holy Spirit began to unfold to me how little I had seen in a passage I’d preached so often, I noticed that our yard cat had eased his way into the branches. He eased down the trunk, placed one paw on a now-sideways branch. He pondered his next step before jumping up into its leaves. He climbed back down, moving slowly, making sure each paw was steady as he explored this newfound playground. I like to believe it was awe and wonder in his eyes, even though there’s a good chance it was simply feline curiosity. Regardless, he knew to watch his step around a tree that needed to fall.
So must we. John’s instruction to the religious leaders do not condemn us, but they do wake us up to the marvelous news of what is coming. Christ has come. He has died. He is risen. And he will come again.
Repent. Believe. The Kingdom is near.
Let us pray.
Holy, Holy, Holy, are you Lord God Almighty. The one who was and is and is to come. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord. We wait for you. Bear fruit in us, Holy Spirit. We are yours alone. Amen.
all good things to each of you,
dr. darian
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