ADVENT SERIES Bob Reid

ADVENT SERIES Bob Reid University Place Presbyterian Church Adult Study Text: Matthew 3:1-12 (NRSV)

SCENE 1: JOHN’S MINISTRY OF BAPTISM {1} 1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, THE BAPTIST’S {2} proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." MESSAGE: REPENT {3} 2 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.'" PREPARED YE! {4} 1’ Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt JOHN’S APPERANCE around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5} 2’ Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, JOHN’S APPEAL and all the region along the Jordan, {6} and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, BAPTISM FOR confessing their sins. CONFESS SINS

SCENE 2: JOHN’S MINISTRY OF JUDGMENT {7} A But when he1 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? FLEE WRATH {8} Bear fruit worthy of repentance. REPENT {9} B Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; B’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. {10} A’ Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; AGRICULTURAL every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit ANALOGY is cut down and thrown into the fire. FIRE

SCENE 1’: CHRIST’S MINISTRY OF BAPTISM {11} A "I baptize you with water for repentance, JOHN’S BAPTISM B but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; B’ I am not worthy to carry his sandals. A’ He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. CHRIST’S BAPTISM

SCENE 2’: CHRIST’S MINISTRY OF JUDGMENT {12} 1 His winnowing fork is in his hand, AGRICULTURAL 2 and he will clear his threshing floor ANALOGY 1’ and will gather his wheat into the granary; 2’ but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." FIRE A Study freely adapted from reflections by Barbara Brown Taylor I Identification move: Invite study group to respond to the question: “How have you heard the message of repentance? What’s exactly is it all about?” A. e.g., Tales from the Crypt....and other stories of our rottenness? B. e.g., Threats of “Hellfire and Damnation” ? C. As a way of holding up a mirror to our life?

II The Doberman pinscher of the Gospels: Every single Gospel writer starts out with this guy A. We start out in the Gospels to hear the story of Jesus (and two of them give us the lovely Christmas story) but then this big old doberman pinscher runs out and chomps on our ankle: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 1. A guard dog there to test everyone who thinks they want in: “What are you doing here?” 2. “You say you’re coming here because you want grace? Well, let me tell you something, buster, there’s no cozying up to grace unless you feel the fire of judgment. If you can’t feel the fire of judgment, then you won’t feel the balm of grace either?” B. John’s business: NOT Christian baptism BUT...... Let’s look at the text.... C. What does the chiastic analysis reveal? 1. What is the main idea in each division and how does the structure help put that idea in high relief? 2. 2 divisions--- a. Two Scenes describing John’s ministry of Baptism and Judgment b. Two scene’s describing the ministry of the one who is to come re: Baptism and Judgment c. One parallels the other: What we know from John can be theologically extrapolated to Jesus 3. So what do we know about John? And What do we therefore know about Jesus

III OUR ADVENT CONCERN: REPENT! Should this be read as a Threat or a Promise? Barbara Brown Taylor argues that John’s offer is “The past will lose its power over you.” A. Repent!-- The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, meant to change one’s mind, to turn from one’s former ideas or choices toward new ideas and choices. But we hear the word as a threat rather than a promise of new possibilities. 1. The way most of us were taught, repentance means owning up to how rotton you are. It means saying aloud, if only in the privacy of our own thoughts, that we are selfish, sinful, deeply defective human beings who grieve the heart of God. So repentance is not just saying your sorry, but its also admitting that you are a sorry lot as a person. Repentance is about dumping whatever pride you have on the ground and stomping on it, since pride-- ego and arrogance-- are the root of all of our evil. 2. But what if pride isn’t the problem, or ego? or arrogance? or being a sorry lot? 3. What if what most of us need to repent of is not arrogance, but our utter despair that there is any hope that things could ever change for us? Don’t most of us really believe, deep down, that no matter what we say or what we do, nothing really changes. That when push comes to shove, the leopard really can’t change his spots and nothing really will change for us either... That deep down we know we’ve made a mess of it and there really isn’t any hope, no beginning again, no chance for new possibilities. What if it is really despair we need to repent of? B. In an age of cynicism, do you think more people are dead to wanting God’s changes in their lives or dead to belief that anything can really change who and what they are? How many people do you know who are cynics and all but dead with despair? Which do you think is the greater problem people face concerning God’s promises: pride? or despair? 1. Examples.... 2. Like a cure for the common cold, what’s needed is a cure for all too common despair C. Think of the kind of vows we make in baptism: Q: “Will you persevere in resisting evil and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?” A: “I will, with God’s help.” a. Notice that this vow is not about keeping an eye on our rottenness. b. It’s about keeping our eye on despair and never letting it get the better of us. IV. Committed to a life of Repentance A. What should repentance mean for us? Those committed to a life of repentance are people who will not give up on themselves, no matter how many times we have to repeat the process. We are committed to telling the truth to ourselves and then turning around to face God’s possibilities. And if that means every day anew, then every day anew it is, because God doesn’t run out of possibilities. 1. It means we give up on the word “never”-- that we’ll never say never about God’s possibilities. 2. E.g., “I’ll never recover,” “I’ll never get it,” “I’ll never learn,” etc.) B. Why? Because we believe in God’s goodness more than we believe in our own badness. 1. One message of repentance, the revolting kind, is focused on the sin: Its the kind of repentance that most of us shrink from that is all about us, all about us as miserable sinners 2. The other message of Repentance, the healing kind, is focused on God: Its the kind of repentance that spends more time looking to the kingdom than looking in the mirror. It has more faith in God’s power to make new than in our power to mess up. C. And it is this second kind of repentance, the repentance of a fresh start, that John the Bpatist offered as a way to prepare for the coming of the Lord. 1. He offered it as a beginning not an end, as an opportunity not a threat. 2. He knew that someone was comming who had something much more potent to offer 3. So he was content to be the watchdog, nipping at our heels to get our attention: “Wake up buddy! There’s a train comming through and you better make the decision to shape up if you want to catch a ride...” 4. Do you think anyone was more surprised than John, when he looked up a short time latter to see who was wading to him through the water-- not the ax- wielding lumberjack he expected, not the pitchfork-wielding farm hand, not even a bigger, meaner, guard dog, but a man whose words were so filled with God’s possibilities of newness that even John saw in him all the hope he needed for himself. He said, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" And Jesus replied "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill God’s righteousness." 5. We only get confused about why Jesus needed John’s baptism when we see repentance as a response to threat. When we see repentance as a response to promise, especially God’s promise, we wonder whether Jesus could have begun the ministry in any other way.