John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Pastor Ray's imagination was triggered by this description of John the Baptizer's appearance. As a child Pastor Ray was given a wool sweater that he loved but was scratchy. He said jokingly that the itchy camel's hair clothes might have been the cause for John to be cranky when he said to the Pharisees and Sadducees where he was baptizing:
You brood of vipers! Who warned you to
flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our
father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children
for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every
tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into
the fire. My reaction to this description of John's appearance is better expressed in the lyrics of The Who song Join Together:
Do you really think I care
What you eat or what you wear?
We want you to join together with the band
There's a million ways to laugh
And every one's a path
Come on and join together with the band.
Matthew's text definitely conjures to mind a visual representation of John but to focus on this literal description can take us away from important associations and connotations of what is being conveyed here. John quotes Isaiah (40:3) for example:
A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’
Matthew’s details of his clothes, food, quotes and locale signals to his ancient readers that he represents the return of Elijah, which was to occur before the coming of the messiah. The Advent Gospels are taking us back and forth in history, leading us from last week describing the apocalypse back to John who, quoting the prophets, is predicting the apocalypse is near.
Yet John's vision of the Messiah is not as complete as it could be when he states:
I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
In today's First Lesson The Messiah is called a Rod, and a Branch. The words signify a small, tender product; a shoot, such as is easily broken off. He comes forth out of the stem of Jesse; when the royal family was cut down and almost leveled with the ground, it would sprout again. The house of David was brought very low at the time of Christ's birth. The Messiah thus gave early notice that his kingdom was not of this world. But the Holy Spirit, in all his gifts and graces, shall rest and abide upon him; he shall have the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in him.
The Gospel changes the Messiah's nature, and makes those who trampled on the meek of the earth, meek like them, and kind to them. But it shall be more fully shown in the latter days that John will not live to see. God's people shall be delivered, not only from evil, but from the fear of it. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? The better we know the God of love, the more shall we be changed into the same likeness, and the better disposed to all who have any likeness to him.
There certainly is a great gulf between the existing reality of this world and the still-unfolding plan for the Kingdom of God. Advent is a time where that unfolding feels like it is slipping away. We have had moments of what some would see as moves towards inclusiveness and overcoming fear, moments of joy and happiness for some, disappointment for others. Yet moments are just moments. And when you have a moment of real happiness, it's really a most lamentable tragedy indeed to suffocate what joy could be there with wishing that it would never go away. Because it will go away.
John describes the power of his perfect king - as a servant of God, who he sees will judge the people with righteousness and justice. He still cannot describe a perfect king of this world, however. Any governing person or power that defends the poor and helps the needy will always be suspect of promoting something other than the work of lifting yourself by your own bootstraps.
No, John the Baptist is not merely "cranky" because of what he wears. John has seen God's power at work. He will have no truck with "the brood of vipers" and sees the urgency of a moment he is living in. John is pulling no punches in calling for radical repentance and speaking truth to power. He spoke hard truth to hardhearted people: to call out those who use their power to oppress and to empower those who are oppressed." Prophets are called to do this, because only God’s truth has the power to crack the hardness of human hearts.
John has a different understanding of power than Jesus. He prepares the way with justified action and a knowledge of the truth. Holy Scripture and human history both bear witness that in every age God has raised ordinary people up to be messengers of God’s truth. Yet these courageous individuals have often met with a lot of push-back from other people of faith. This was true in Isaiah’s time, it was true in Jesus’ day, and it’s true today.
Sadly, you and I don’t have to look very far to find evidence of the church choosing either to collaborate or to cooperate with the powers-that-be, while dismissing the prophets as worry warts or crybabies or delusional kooks…. As a result, there are too many times when members of the church have looked the other way and failed to stand up and speak out in the face of grave threats to our neighbors. This is NOT what God calls us to be and to do!
As members of Christ’s church, you and I ARE the Body of Christ here on earth in this time between the first and second coming of our Lord, and God has vital work for us to do today. John articulates the voice of our prophets and the church in our day cannot afford to be a “non-prophet” institution. We cannot afford to sit in silence, watching as the darkness of xenophobia and “post-truth” creep up on us…. Like it or not, you and I are the reluctant prophets who are made for this age….
In this “post-truth” time, we’re called to speak the truth—even when—especially when–it’s hard to do so! And the truth we’re called to speak is this: Our God has created all people and all things out of love and for love, so no one has the right to think he or she is better than anyone else, and no one has the right to harm or destroy anything that God has created in love…. As children of God, all human beings are part of something much greater than ourselves:
We’re part of God’s great plan for the still-unfolding new creation. The Good News for today is that in this post-truth world human words don’t get the last word!… Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and his never-ending love for this whole world is the Word that will stand forever. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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