Judgment Day

Third Sunday of Advent
December 16, 2018

⁷John 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? ⁸Bear 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. ⁹Even 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.”
  ¹⁰And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” ¹¹In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” ¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³John said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” ¹⁴Soldiers 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.”
  ¹⁵As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷With a winnowing fork in hand, he will clear the threshing floor and gather the wheat into his granary, burning the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
  ¹⁸So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. – Luke 3:7-18    

You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?!

Actually, no one had to. I imagine that even in John’s time people could feel judgment day coming. They feel the weight of broken lives and a broken world.

Maybe we no longer fear lightning bolts from heaven or fire and brimstone from above to cast judgment on us. But we are people who know judgment. We live in a world in which we are constantly evaluated. Bad service at a restaurant? Write a Yelp review and watch their reputation plummet. Make the kind of mistake that goes public? The internet can make sure that never really goes away. Have a disagreement with someone? Watch email or social media blow it out of proportion in no time. Judgment abounds.

Even if, despite John’s prophecy, we don’t spend a lot of time in our day worrying about Jesus coming back winnowing fork in hand to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire, we do recognize the reality that there are enough nuclear weapons to destroy life as we know it on the whole planet many times over. We recognize that the rate of climate change is unprecedented and threatens to undermine civilization. It’s the potential of a collective judgment day just on the horizon.

And maybe we don’t literally keep a record of our wrongs, but even before we’ve put our hand all the way into the cookie jar, we feel within ourselves the wrongness of what we are doing. It doesn’t stop us from doing what isn’t right, what isn’t good for us or for our neighbor, but we physically feel the judgment within our bodies when we do it.

And most of us have internalized not just that we have done things wrong but that we are wrong. We are the kind of people who do wrong things. For whatever reason, most of us have some part of us that has been shamed into hiding, some part of us we are convinced makes us bad people or at least not good enough people. We have voices, actual or imagined, that tell us we are not worthy. Too often, we imagine it is God’s voice speaking judgment upon us. Too often we mix up our own harsh inner voice, the world’s harsh critiques with God’s voice calling us to a new reality, a new kingdom.

In a sense the coming wrath is already here. We already know judgment. It’s a constant part of our lives. No one had to come tell us to flee from it. We’re already running from it when we wake up in the morning.

Even when we try to offer praise, genuine appreciation of someone else’s gifts, we often offer a judgment statement in its place. There have been studies that suggest that if we, for instance, praise someone for being smart, that the person takes it in as a value judgment. They recognize they have been evaluated, even if they’ve come out to the good. They are less likely to try something new because they wonder if the judgment will come out positive the next time. If instead the praise takes the form of observing accomplishments, naming effort and engagement, especially celebrating appropriate risk-taking, then the person is more likely to try something new, to take another risk.

It’s not that we can’t ever say something nice about someone – compliments are well and good. But it’s to say that we quickly fall into evaluative mode and that most of us can be a little afraid to try something new because we are afraid to fail. The possibility of judgment, the possibility that we will be thrown out with the chaff into the unquenchable fire, often leads us to a place of fear. And fear tends to make us shut down, turn inward, pull whatever we can in close and hope for the best. Like the crowds in our reading clinging to their ancestry in Abraham, we resort to tribalism, to holding on to our in-group mentality. Judgment tends not to make us generous, because that requires a willingness to enter into vulnerability.

Which brings us back to John’s fiery sermon in the wilderness. “Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” The judgment they have been fleeing is being reflected back to them yet again. But John’s response is simple: If you have two coats, give one away to someone who has none. If you have two items of food, give one away to someone who has none. Whatever your vocation in the world, do it with integrity.

Really? The ax is at the root of the tree and you just want us to share our coats? It’s as simple and as complicated as that. It’s complicated because at least some of you are thinking what I’m thinking… there’s the early fall jacket, the late fall fleece, the heavy winter coat, the spring raincoat…as long as I only have one of each….And we’ve already missed the point. Many of us rightly fear judgment day because for God’s reality to take hold in our broken world most of us are going to have to give some stuff up. For many of us some actual stuff, like some food and coats so that everyone has enough. But also our pride, our wealth, our power, our self-righteousness, our self-centeredness, our prejudice. There is plenty of chaff to throw into the fire in order for God’s kingdom to grow into reality.

But John’s advice is not to hunker down, to dig deeper, to try harder, to be somebody you’re not, to wall off the world, to count your losses and hope for the best. It’s to open yourself up. Make yourself vulnerable. Live now with the kind of freedom that exists in God’s kingdom, in the place where everyone has enough and everyone is valued, where everyone knows that they are God’s priceless treasures. If only, John says, we could live in that freedom now. If only the coming judgment would set us free instead of making us a prisoner to fear. If only we could let go of all the judgment that has already come our way and live free again.

Because that’s how God approaches the world of judgment. When the ax is at the root of the tree, when the fire and brimstone are stoked hot as they can get, when judgment is about to overwhelm the world, God offers a part of God’s self. God sends the Christ in human flesh, as a tiny child. Into a world that judges his generosity with harshness, that disregards him and his refusal to operate by the world’s harsh rules. In the face of judgment God offers us generosity more than we can imagine. That’s what John is doing in the wilderness, that’s his invitation to us: Rejoice! God’s generosity is pouring out again in your midst. So get ready. Open yourselves up. Participate in the kind of life-giving, freedom-creating generosity that God is already using to bring the world to a new reality. Because the time is here, the time is now, God’s love is poured out for you.

-Pastor Steven Wilco