“DISMISSED IN THE WILDERNESS”

LUKE 3:1-18

 

3:1  In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,

2  during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

3  He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,

4  as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

5  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth;

6  and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

7  John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8  Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin 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.

9  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."

10  And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?"

11  In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise."

12  Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?"

13  He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you."

14  Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

15  As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,

16  John answered all of them by saying, "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.

17  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."

18  So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

 

No one likes to be nagged. No one likes to be told over and over again, “Take out the trash. Do your homework. Why don’t you open up and share your feelings with me?  How come you can’t be more like so and so?  I’ve told you a thousand times not to do that.”

 

Consider if you will the man who was driving down the highway one day with his mother-in-law. Now his mother-in-law was a notorious back seat driver.  So, every time he went over the speed limit she quickly brought it to his attention.  The man paid no attention to her though.  That proved to be a mistake a little while later though when a state trooper pulled them over and gave the man a ticket for speeding.  Naturally, the man wasn’t too happy about that. As they continued on their way the man grumbled that the state trooper should have let him off with just a warning.  At that point the mother-in-law turned to him and said rather smugly, “I gave you the warning.  He gave you the ticket.”

 

John the Baptist was like that. He had a reputation for being a rather critical kind of guy.

Luke says that he was a voice crying in the wilderness. For many of the people back then he was more like a voice whining in the wilderness. John the Baptist had some critical words for his Jewish sisters and brothers.  First of all, John got their attention by calling them a brood of vipers. Then he warned them that the ax was about to fall.  So, if they knew what was good for them they’d start bearing fruit that was worthy of repentance.

 

It’s hard when someone throws a little criticism your way. If you’re like most people it makes you angry. That’s what happened one day when a mother scolded her daughter for misbehaving and sent her to her room.  As the daughter sat there in her room she thought about the confrontation with her mother.  The more she thought about it the angrier she got  Finally, the daughter opened the door to her room and in a very defiant voice hollered, “Alright, I give up! How many times did you tell me not to do it?”

 

It’s hard when someone throws a little criticism your way.  Sometimes it makes you angry. John the Baptist undoubtedly made some of the people who went out into the wilderness to see him angry.  If you’re not really into confrontations though you might just dismiss the person as an idiot and walk away.  That’s what some of the people did with John the Baptist.  Or you might agree that the criticism is valid but insist that it doesn’t apply to you because you have a good excuse or a good explanation.

 

That’s what some of the people did with the criticism that John the Baptist threw at them.  The listened but they weren’t the least bit worried.  Why? They weren’t the least bit worried because they were descendants of Abraham.  That meant they were God’s chosen people. It meant that God loved them more than everyone else. It meant that they had a get out of jail free card. As far as John the Baptist was concerned though that was a cop out.  It was a way of not taking responsibility for their behavior.  So, he told them that he wasn’t impressed with their theological pedigree.  Then he warned them “Do not begin to say to yourselves 'We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” (RSV)

 

Things haven’t really changed much since then have they? When someone throws a little criticism your all you have to do is make sure you have a good excuse or a good explanation. Many years ago the Toronto Sun  ran a story that looked at some of the accident reports that people had filed with their insurance companies.  Well, some of the excuses and explanations were very creative to say the least.  How about this one? “Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don’t have.” Here’s another one. “The telephone pole was approaching fast; I was attempting to swerve out of its path when it struck me.”  This one I think is the best one of all.  “The pedestrian had no idea of which way to go, so I ran over him.”

 

It’s hard when someone throws a little criticism your way.  That’s what makes following Jesus challenging sometimes. Sometimes when you follow him it leads you to the grace and the peace that you find in that Bethlehem stable. Sometimes when you follow him though, it leads you out in to the wilderness for a gut wrenching rendezvous with John the Baptist. It leads you to a moment of decision where you have to take an honest look at yourself, at your life, at your relationships, at your values, at your past or your future.