LUKE 3:1-22

[3:1] In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

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

[3] And 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 Isaiah the prophet,

            “The voice of one crying 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 become straight,

                        and the rough places shall become level ways,

            [6] and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

[7] He said therefore 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 in keeping with repentance. And 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 for Abraham.

[9] Even now the axe is laid to 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 shall we do?”

[11] And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

[12] Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

[13] And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.”

[14] Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

[15] As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ,

[16] John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. 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 barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

[18] So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.

[19] But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done,

[20] added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

[21] Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened,

[22] and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Are you a pleaser? Some people are pleasers.  In their minds, it’s their job to make everyone happy.  If you’re in a restaurant they’ll insist on picking up the check.  If you’re going to go see a movie they’ll insist that you choose a movie that you want to see.  If you’re feeling a little down in the dumps they’ll do everything they can to cheer you up. Why?  Because they’re a pleaser.  It’s their job to make everyone happy.   Does that sound familiar?  Are you a pleaser? 

Anyone can be a pleaser.  Of course the problem with being a pleaser is that while you’re making everyone else happy you often end up making yourself miserable.  That’s the point that a Christian magazine made when it announced that the perfect pastor had finally been found. According to the magazine, the perfect pastor, “preaches exactly 12 minutes and then sits down.  He always condemns sin, but never hurts anyone’s feelings. He works from 8 in the morning to 10 at night doing everything from saving souls to mopping the floor in the church’s kitchen.  He makes $200 a week and gives $150 of it back to the church in his weekly pledge.  He then uses the rest to drive a new car, wear nice clothes, and pay all his bills.  The perfect pastor is 36 years old and has been preaching for 40 years.  He loves working work with youth and spends all of his time with the elderly.  He makes fifteen pastoral calls each day, spends all his time visiting potential new members and is always in his office when you need him.  Unfortunately, the perfect pastor burned himself out and died when he was 32 years old.”

Welcome to my world!  Well, not exactly but you get the idea.  

It’s easy to fall into the trap of being a pleaser.  It can happen to anyone, anyone except John the Baptist.  John the Baptist wasn’t a pleaser.   When you look at what happened out there in the wilderness it almost looks as though John went out of his way to give people ulcers.

John was out there to prepare the way of the Lord but when the Pharisees came out to the Jordan River to be baptized did John congratulation them? No. He called them a brood of vipers and asked them, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”  John told them to stop being so pompous and to show a little more compassion for the hungry and the poor.  John did the same thing with the tax collectors.  He told them to stop cheating people out of the little money that they had. He also told the soldiers to stop intimidating people and taking advantage of them.  Not only that but John also gave Herod an earful.  He did that by condemning the ruthless ruler for being immoral and for marrying his brother’s wife.

John warned them all and told them that their time was running out.  “Even now,” he said, “the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  Luke then sums it all up with these words: “So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.”   Good news?  That’s good news? If that’s good news I’d hate to run into John when he was having a bad day.

John wasn’t a pleaser.  He didn’t sugar coat things for people.  John was like the little girl who put it all out there when wrote a letter to Santa and said:

Dear Santa,

I was good this year.   Don’t believe my brother Dan because he lies.  He broke the TV remote and says he didn’t.  So give me his presents to. (sic)  I love you. Kirsten

John was like that little girl. John also had a lot in common with David McCullough.  Do you remember him?  David McCullough is the Wellesley high school teacher who gave that commencement speech last year and said to the graduation seniors, “You’re not special.” Do you remember that?  Do you remember how people reacted?  Do you remember how indignant they were? Imagine telling a high school senior that he or she isn’t special.

John the Baptist would have been proud.  John the Baptist wasn’t a pleaser.  He knew that God didn’t put him out there in that wilderness to whisper sweet nothings in the ears of the people who showed up to be baptized.  John knew that God put him out there in that wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord by telling people what they needed to hear.

John the Baptist will tell you that God didn’t put you on this earth to be a pleaser.  God didn’t put you on this earth to please your husband or your wife or your children or your parents or your friends.  You can contribute to their happiness but it’s not your job to make them or anyone else happy.

God doesn’t want you to be a pleaser.  At the same time God doesn’t want you to be like the 86 year old man who was out fishing one day.  While he was sitting there in his boat he heard a voice say, “Pick me up.”  When he looked around the only thing he saw was a frog sitting on a lily pad.  “Are you talking to me?” the old man asked.  “Yes,” the frog said.  “I need your help.  An evil witch cast a spell on me, but if you pick me up and kiss me it will break the spell.  I’ll turn into a beautiful woman and I promise that I’ll marry you and make you happy for the rest of your life.”  The old man smiled as he picked the frog up and put it into his pocket. “What a minute,” the frog shouted. “Didn’t you year what I said?  If you kiss me I’ll turn into a beautiful woman and I’ll marry you.”  The old man opened his pocket and shook his head. “That’s okay,” he said, “at my age I’d rather have a talking frog.”

The problem with being a pleaser isn’t doing nice things for people.  The problem is when you do those nice things because you believe that you have to do them if you want people to love you. if you want people to love you. That’s not what love is all about.

If you want to know what love is all about just look at what happened after Jesus was baptized.  Luke tells us that a voice from heaven said, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  Yes, God was pleased with Jesus but here’s the really amazing thing about those wonderful words of affirmation.  God was pleased with Jesus even though Jesus hadn’t done anything yet.   You see, Jesus was baptized before he began his ministry.  So at this point Jesus hadn’t healed a single person.  He hadn’t performed a single miracle. He hadn’t uttered a single word of wisdom.  At this point Jesus hadn’t done anything to earn God’s love and yet God still says those wonderfully affirming words to him.  “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Love isn’t about pleasing people.  I wish I knew a little more about Randy Spencer because he wrote something that sums it all up beautifully.   His little essay is called “The Rag Doll” and it really makes you think.  

“My daughter, like the typical American girl, has had her share of dolls and stuffed animals. Today, through modern technology, a little girl need not be content with dull, lifeless dolls, but can experience the thrill of owning a life like replica of a baby that can walk and talk, drink and wink, slurp and burp, cry, sigh and laugh-almost anything a real baby does, including wet itself and get diaper rash. After ten years of buying these mechanical marvels, I wondered which of these dolls was my daughter's favorite? To my surprise, I found her favorite was a small rag doll she had received on her third birthday. All the other performing dolls had gone, but this simple rag doll had allowed her to love
it. The other dolls had caught her eye, but the rag doll had won her heart. To my daughter the rag doll was real and was loved just the way it was, and the scars of love showed as the hair was nearly gone, the eyes were missing, and the clothes were soiled and torn. But, missing all these parts, it was still what it had always been, just itself.  We are, too often, like the high-tech dolls of my daughter. We try to impress others with skills, talent, education, speech, or mannerisms when what they want is someone just being themselves. Within all of us lies the innate desire to be loved and accepted. Don't try to be something or someone that you are not. just be yourself. People will not love us for what we do but rather for what we are.”

John the Baptist wasn’t  a pleaser but he would probably be pleased with those words.  So if you’re going to please, be careful if you please.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

January 13, 2013