WHAT GOOD NEWS?
A sermon by George R. Pasley
Isaiah 12:2-6; Luke 3:7-1
You broo-ood of vipers!
YOU BROOD OF VIPERS!
You nasty brood of vipers!
I have to wonder how that was perceived as good news by the people who were coming out to be baptized.
You brood of vipers- people could be hurt by that greeting.
I’ve actually seen people sitting in worship, hurt, damaged, made small by the words of condemnation they heard in church.
They were people had already been put down by their situations in life,
People already aware of their limitations, weaknesses and flaws,
People whose self-esteem had already been taken away by an assortment of I-know-better-than-you people they were in relationship with,
People who desperately needed hope.
“You brood of vipers” would likely not help their situation.
You brood of VIPERS!
Some people could be angered by hearing those words.
I’ll freely confess that I have an irreverent sense of humor, but sometimes humor goes too far, and I have been provoked.
In particular, I’m thinking of two times when acquaintances of mine made jokes that were extremely denigrating to women and their place in our society.
Both times I said something.
One time my response was received with repentance.
The other time it was received with disdain and anger.
Suppose someone told me my manner of thinking- my words- my way of life was poisonous. I suppose it would make me angry!
But they came out to be baptized by John, and it seems they wanted to hear what he had to say!
Was it entertaining? Perhaps.
Was it disturbing? Probably.
Was it insulting? Duh!
Was it the truth? Aah- that’s the important question.
If the doctor come into the examination room, sits down, and tells you, “It’s cancer,” that could be most disturbing.
If he made a joke out of it, that would be insulting and you would be justified if you responded with anger.
But if it was the truth, that would be the thing that mattered the most.
Yes, yes it would, because then you would no where you stood, and knowing that, you might ask- you ought to ask- what can I do?
So let’s be brave enough to hear the bad news…
We are sinners, and we live in a sinful nation, part of a sinful world.
There is no way of escaping our sin.
Our sin- it tears families apart, and communities apart, and nations apart.
It even tears people apart, emotionally and physically.
We know that in
So let’s say it: those things are wrong. They ought not be condoned. We need to root them out, however we can.
But even little sins hurt.
I watched a video with the kids at the correctional facility on Thursday, and there was a woman in the video, getting off a plane and going to her car, and we could all tell by the expression on her face that her spirit was carrying some emotional baggage.
Maybe she had some serious regrets,
Or maybe someone had done something very wrong to her.
Maybe it was her sin, maybe it was somebody else’s sin, but either way it was messing with her countenance.
That’s what sin does. Sometimes we’re very aware of that, but it does it all the time, whether we are aware of it or not.
So, how come we can’t avoid it? Because it’s too overwhelming, like a giant ocean storm, and because we’re all bound in life together.
So is there any good news?
What were the people going out to see John for? To be baptized, which means to throw yourself at God’s mercy.
What did John tell them? That Jesus was coming. Now look- he had already told them they were fleeing “the wrath to come,” and the image of vipers crawling anxiously across the ground suggests that the wrath to come was a prairie fire.
Then he said Jesus would baptize them with fire- and you know that firefighters- fighting forest fires and prairie fires both- use fire to fight fire.
Baptism is symbolic of the cleansing we want God to do in our lives, and the Holy Spirit, symbolized by fire, GOD IN US, is the way God does that cleansing.
So the bad news is that our sin is inescapable, but the good news is that God has it trapped.
But we should have noticed something about the good news that John preached: it’s not enough to leave it up to God.
If you’ve ever had a serious medical ailment, you know the doctor expects some help from you.
Take your medicine, work with your therapist, do your exercise, at the right diet. You know the drill.
But with God, it’s different. Only God can cure our cancer, but if we don’t do our part in terms of NOT continuing in sin, then the effects of sin continue to multiply.
Families and communities continue to be torn apart, and lives continue to be torn down.
We need to take our sin and its consequences as seriously as God does.
But there’s something else that John said, and I think it has three major implications.
John gave the crowds some positive things to do.
Share your coats, share your food.
Here’s implication number 1: It’s not enough to STOP doing something negative, we need to do some positive things. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
Generosity and mercy were always part of God’s law, but the Israelites were good at forgetting them- just as Americans are.
On the other hand, generosity and mercy were certainly not part of the norm in any of
So John’s instructions, when followed, became culture changing- and they did! There are plenty of people who don’t practice mercy and generosity, but around the world those qualities ARE now cultural norms, no matter the faith of the culture, and sometimes even despite a culture’s lack of faith.
That’s implication number two. But God’s expectation of fruits of repentance means something else.
It means that God’s redemption, given to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is sufficient and complete because in doing deeds of mercy we are working hand in hand with God!
It means that once we were nobody, vipers fleeing the coming wrath, but now we are somebody, building up what sin once tore down.
Here’s an example:
The other night when I was jogging I saw four young women of our community working with a group of about 15 school girls from
They were part of a nationwide program called Girls on the Run. Their running goal is to do a 5 kilometer run, and I believe they did it yesterday. But they have a larger goal, and that is to build up the self-esteem of those grade-school girls.
While I watched, they did a relay, and each leg of the relay filled a letter in on a Wheel of Fortune style puzzle. When they had finished the relay drill, the puzzle revealed their creed: GIRLS ROCK! WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY. WE ARE PROUD TO BE PART OF GIRLS ON THE RUN. SPREAD THE WORLD.
Boys and girls with good self-esteem will make better decisions in life.
Boys and girls with good self-esteem will be less likely to give up in the face of tough challenges.
Boys and girls with good self-esteem will help build stronger, healthier, more generous, more merciful families, neighborhoods, communities and nations.
So look around you- and choose something positive to do. Then let’s repeat our own chant:
JESUS ROCKS!
THANK YOU JESUS
FOLLOWERS OF JESUS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
And let’s borrow our final lines from the prophet Isaiah:
SING PRAISES TO THE LORD,
GOD HAS SIN ON THE RUN!
LET THIS BE KNOWN IN ALL THE EARTH!
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
