Advent 3C – Good News in the Wilderness

Sermons – St. Brendan's Anglican Church

St. John the Baptist Preaching by Mattia Preti (1665)

Advent 3C 2024
Rev. Doug Floyd
Zephaniah 3:14-20, Luke 3:7-20

They’ve come to see him. They’ve come to hear this voice crying in the wilderness.

Some have come to mock or to criticize. Some are spying on his words and actions. And some are desperate for the Word of the Lord. The sounding Word reverberates into the vast silence of the wilderness.

Israel has suffered…under the rule of Rome, under the rule of Herod. As they struggled and grieved through centuries of oppression, the voice of God was silent. Though the people had returned from exile in Babylon, they felt stuck in the wilderness.

I’ve spent many months in the wilderness. God seems to be silent. No word of hope or encouragement. Just waiting and watching and hope that God has not forsaken me.

Into this vast space of abandonment, a voice cries out. A voice of authority, a voice resounding God’s Word from on high, a voice crying “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” ^[1]

As we meet the crowds in the Gospel of Luke, at first, we’re taken aback. John the Baptist does not sound like a comforting voice. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”^[2] Standing alongside God’s desperate pilgrims are vipers: religious ones. They seek to crush the move of God or anything that might threaten their power.

Then the pilgrims cry out, “What are we to do?”

“Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” ^[3] This sounds a bit like Jesus in the “Sermon on the Mount.”

As we listen to John’s voice, we realize these people are outsiders, marginalized, those whom the city frowns upon. There are tax collectors. “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.”^[4] Soldiers. “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation and be content with your wages.” ^[5]

While John the Baptist is inviting them into the way of repentance, he is primarily pointing beyond himself to the One to Come. Even today, he is pointing beyond himself to the One to Come.

“I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” ^[6]

This sounds a little intimidating, and yet, Luke reminds us that “with many other exhortations John preached good news to the people.”^[7]

As I was rereading and reflecting on this Gospel text, I also reread “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Each year, I encourage my students to read this Gospel-shaped story. In Stave Two, Scrooge comes face to face with his past. He realizes his own brokenness and bitterness.

In Stave Three, he sees a world rejoicing in the gift of Christmas. All through the story, Dickens weaves in Scriptural references and images. Scrooge longs to join in the joy he sees all around him. But these people cannot see or hear him. He is like a ghost. And he has lived his whole adult life like a ghost wandering isolated through the middle of humanity.

He wants to change. He wants to be the man who can truly repent and share his cloak with one in need. But first he must face his true condition. You must remember that when Scrooge meet the Ghost of Christmas Future, he expects to see himself in the future. He keeps looking for himself. Though the reader may realize that Scrooge is dead, Scrooge thinks he is still alive. He sees the way people disrespect the humanity of a dead man, but he does not realize that he is the dead man. When we come to the end of the scene, Scrooge sees his name on the tombstone, and he realizes that he is the dead man.

Scrooge must come face to face with his own hopelessness before he can discover the true gift of grace. This makes me think of Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the Hands if an Angry God.” Or Zephaniah’s opening salvo.

The book of the prophet Zephaniah opens with one of the most terrifying images in Scripture.

The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

² “I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
³ “I will sweep away man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea,
and the rubble with the wicked.
I will cut off mankind
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
⁴ “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal
and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
⁵ those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom,
⁶ those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
⁷ Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near; ^[8]

Zephaniah opens with the unraveling of all creation. Everything is doomed. Nothing will be rescued. Idolatry has corrupted the royal priesthood of God, the people of Judah and Israel. Now all nations, all creation will be crushed under the fiery breath of God’s judgment.

No hope. Only darkness.

Israel’s righteousness will not save her. Scrooge’s pledge to change his will not save him. He is headed for the grave. Our pledges and promises and attempts at self-reformation cannot save us. The people under the words of John the Baptist cannot rescue themselves the howling winds of the wilderness.

This is how John the Baptist prepares the way of the Lord. He does not coddle or cuddle. Your condition is beyond remedy. And yet, One is Coming. And…

Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
⁶ and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.^[9]

The impossible will be made possible.

After seeing the dread judgment on his life and his name on the Tombstone, Scrooge falls downs and cries out for a hope beyond hope. Moments later, he awakes to that hope. Grace has been given. He is raised to newness of life.

This is Gospel.

John the Baptist, the greatest of all prophets born of a woman brings us to the end of all our hope. To a hope beyond hope. The One Who is Coming.

After Zephaniah opens with some of the most frightening words in Scripture, he ends with some of the most comforting words ever written. The Lord is literally dancing in joy over His people.

¹⁴ Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵ The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall never again fear evil.
¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.
¹⁷ The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
¹⁸ I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival,
so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
¹⁹ Behold, at that time I will deal
with all your oppressors.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
²⁰ At that time I will bring you in,
at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes,” says the Lord. ^[10]

We are the outcasts. We are the Scrooges. We are the sinners in the hands of an angry God. We deserve absolute destruction. We are dead men and women walking. We wander this world like ghosts. Far from love. Far from life.

Our heavenly Father in His incomprehensible grace runs to us our helpless estate. In Christ Jesus, He covers us with His robe of righteousness. He puts His ring of authority on our hands. He calls us sons and daughters.

He gives us eyes to see and ears to hear. He lifts us up for all creation to behold. We are the objects of His love in Christ.

We are the lost children who God has gathered as His own. We are the dead men and women who have been recalled to life.

How do we respond to such an unimaginable gift? Maybe like Scrooge, we become silly with joy. For God has not abandoned us in our helpless estate. He speaks comfort, comfort, comfort over us. He forgives us. He heals us. He reveals us as lovers who participate in His great love and great plan of reconciling this world to Himself.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is 40:1.

^[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 3:7.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 3:11.

^[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 3:13.

^[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 3:14.

^[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 3:16–17.

^[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 3:18.

^[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Zep 1:1–7.

^[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 3:5–6.

^[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Zep 3:14–20.