Looking for the Word: Reflections on “Looking for God in Repentance” Luke 3: 7-18

I preached this sermon two weeks ago but forgot to post it. I always enjoy preaching the John the Baptist story. I found the distinction between Matthew, who connects the "brood of vipers" directly to the Sadducees and Pharisees, and Luke, who connects "brood of vipers" to the crowds to be very interesting.

I was not sure whether to include the Nasser story. It is so dramatic and awful, I didn't want to make it seem like repentance was only for those who committed vile acts. But, I was glad I included it when a woman thanked me for calling out sexual abuse, particularly since she noted she had never heard that in a sermon previously.

“Looking for God in Repentance”, December 15, 2024; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; Luke 3: 7-18

7 John 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 axe 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.’

10 And 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?’ ¹³He 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.’

15 As 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; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

Introduction: when we follow the lectionary, those biblical passages each week of Advent that prepare us to meet the Christ-child and anticipate his second coming, we run into the stories of John the Baptist.

You cannot get to the christ-child without going through John the Baptist and his call for repentance.

I invite you this morning to reflect on how we find God in the call to repentance.

Move 1: the Claim of repentance is a claim about God and a comment about the need all of us have for repentance.

a. An old friend of mine sent me a cartoon this week. He is Presbyterian, but I don’t think he had repentance in his mind when he sent it, but it hit me as a pretty good description of our need for repentance.

1. Cartoon of stern-looking Santa. If you look closely, you can see it’s a stern looking John Calvin, the great reformer’s face with a Santa Claus hat. The title reads: “Calvinist Santa”.

the caption underneath reads: “Everyone is on the naughty list.”

1. We hear John the Baptist harshly call those who gather, “you brood of vipers,” and we are pretty sure John is talking to someone besides us!

2. The Gospel of Matthew connects the “brood of vipers” directly to the Sadducees and Pharisees which gives us some cover to say John it talking to those other people.

4. But, the Gospel of Luke, did you notice, links the “brood of vipers” to the crowds that gathered.

Any of those who showed up.

All of those who showed up.

those other people.

and us.

4.Repentance is for all of us.

we all need to examine our lives more closely and hear God’s call to change.

b. It is when we discover God that we discover our need for repentance.

1. As we anticipate the coming of Christ, we are looking not just for the Messiah, but we are looking for the one who shows us what it means to live perfectly.

2. We would not even know our need to repent unless we saw the disconnect between how Jesus lived his life and how we live ours.

3. John’s call to share our coats and food,

or for the tax-collectors to not collect more than they should

or for the soldiers to accept their wage instead of plundering others

only makes sense in the context of God calling us to repent and shape our lives after the way Christ lives.

As we look for God, we find God ever before as the one who knows our sinfulness and our need for repentance.

Move 2: in repentance, We also discover God as the one who desires our change.

a. We heard the words of the prophet Zephaniah this morning. we seldom read Zephaniah except during Advent.

1. context - Zephaniah prophesied in the 7th century BCE during the reign of king Josiah, who was considered by some to be the last last great king of God’s people.

2. Zephaniah is probably an outsider, he is referred to as a Cushite, prophesying to people who see defeat or Babylonian conquest on the horizon, or it has already taken place (depending on when you date the prophecy of Zephaniah)

3. When we hear Zephaniah’s word, we need to remember it is in the context of a defeated nation,

Judah has been embarrassed on the international world scene, without the power to be anything more than be a pawn in the movement of the world powers of Babylon and Assyria.

4. Clearly, our own context of being part of the United States, a country with power and prestige on the world scene is much different.

4. Before the passage we read this morning, The prophet has been railing against the corruption and injustice of Judah’s leadership;

the oppressed are fearful and ashamed, while the powerful are haughty and corrupt.

5. but then we hear the radical message from Zephaniah and recognize its truth, no matter what our context.

God demands repentance and transformation, both as individuals and collectively….

b. You may recall the sexual abuse of Dr. Larry Nassau, who abused gymnasts competing for the United states and student athletes at Michigan State University.

Rachel Den Hollander was the first woman to accuse Dr. Larry Nassar of sexual abuse. She was also the last of more than 150 women and girls to confront him in court during Nassar’s sentencing hearing for criminal sexual conduct.”

Rachel den Hollander to Larry Nasser, physician who sexually abused gymnasts. AT his trial he sometimes brought his Bible with him.

“You spoke of praying for forgiveness. But Larry, if you have read the Bible you carry, you know forgiveness does not come from doing good things, as if good deeds can erase what you have done. It comes from repentance which requires facing and acknowledging the truth about what you have done in all of its utter depravity and horror without mitigation, without excuse, without acting as if good deeds can erase what you have seen this courtroom today.”https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/24/us/rachael-denhollander-full-statement/)

1. Our lives of discipleship are more than seeing what good things we can do.

2. Discipleship is about changing, about giving up that sin which separates us from God, and being changed by God in the process.

3. As we seek repentance, we discover God in our midst demanding we change.

move 3: in the midst of our repentance, we meet God, who offers us new life and new opportunities.

a. We hear again the words of the prophet Zephaniah:

1. “The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.”

2. God desires our transformation so much, God is in our midst working to change us.

b. Hear again the words of John the Baptist: “Bear fruits worthy of repentance”

1. Repentance is not just about our sinfulness, but about our restoration.

2. Repentance brings with it the promise and hope of new life.

new life and transformation that God offers to us.

3. Luke tell us that soldiers asked John the Baptist how they need to respond.

4. Tax collectors asked him how they should change their lives.

5. Indeed, we even hear that the crowds ask John what they must do.

6. Repentance opens us up to new ways of living.

7. All categories of people could have been listed because all of us are in need of change.

The changes are specific to their lives.

8. Repentance is about new possibilities.

possibilities for our lives we can only discover as we repent and return to God.

possibilities we can only discover in the new direction God sends us.

Conclusion: One of the the ongoing questions I’ve had through the years when hearing the story of John the Baptist is “Why?”

Why would a crowd of people show up to hear John the Baptist when they’ve probably already heard from others the strong message John was preaching?

why show up to be called a “brood of vipers?”

Why show up to hear this strong call to change their ways and repent?

Better yet, why would we acknowledge our own sinfulness and our need for repentance?

Why? Because they were looking for God;

Because we are looking for God and we know deep down that when we find God, we find the one who loves us enough to point out our sinfulness,

we find the one who loves us enough to call us to repent;

we find the one who loves us enough to invite us to new life.

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!