December 1998 Issue

Is 11:1-10; Rm 15:4-13; Mt 3:1-12

Religious fanatic. How else do you explain John the Baptist's arm-waving and raging? How else do you explain his shouting himself blue in the face out there in the wilderness?

It takes me back to the days when I was 15. That summer, I rode my bike to every house for miles around to sell raffle tickets for a car so that my high school band could buy new uniforms. I'll never forget knocking on the door of one farmhouse. The gruff old farmer who stood on the other side of the screen door gave me a lecture about the dangers of going to hell for gambling, and asked me an unnerving question: "Are you saved?" I wasn't sure what he meant. But it was a question which startled me so much and frightened me so much that I rode my bike furiously out of there as fast as I could go. Religious fanatic! That was the only way you could explain that old farmer. I dumped his tract along the side of the road as soon as I was out of his sight.

Reading the account of John the Baptist takes me back to many such experiences. People in the park, with their signs describing the lake of fire. People on the street corners, raging and preaching, even when no one listens. A lady riding the trolley from one stop to the next, preaching on roller skates, with the words, "Roller skaters for Jesus" stenciled on her t-shirt. It takes me back to the day in the parking lot at First Presbyterian Church, downtown San Diego, as an ordained minister, in my reserved parking spot -- I came to my car, late one afternoon, only to discover a tract tucked under my window wiper -- with the words, "Turn or burn." The words on my lips were: "Religious fanatic!" But the question in my mind was, "Who, me, turn or burn?" And, I was glad to see that similar tracts had been placed under the wiper blades of every car! Whoever had left the tracts apparently thought that all us Presbyterians needed to hear that.

John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness. He looked like a religious fanatic. He won first prize in the People Magazine contest for the top ten worst dressed people of 29 AD. Wore camel fur, and it still smelled a bit like the animal who wore it originally. Ate grasshoppers. He was more than a little strange. Spent his days shouting himself blue in the face, whether anyone listened or not.

The writer of our Gospel lesson today, Matthew, begins his story about John, "at that time." The Gospel writer Luke sets dates for us. He tells us that this was about 28 or 29 AD, during the reign of Tiberius Caesar, that Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, that the high priests were Annas and Caiaphas.

This is a time in history when the people of God were living in their own kind of wilderness. Not the physical wilderness from which John came, but a wilderness of not knowing God. It had been over 400 years since the word of God had been heard from the prophets. Except for 80 years of that time, the people had been oppressed and treated badly, ruled by other nations. At the time John came to speak these words, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Rome ruled the whole known world, and it seemed, to the people of God, that God had washed God's hands of them, and left them, instead, in the hands of the pagans.

So when John came raging out of the wilderness, waving his arms and yelling himself blue in the face, saying that he had a word from God, you can imagine that people listened. Even a religious fanatic was a welcome sight. People flocked around John. To some of them he was an object of curiosity, to some, he was to be feared or avoided. You can bet that John got the attention of the people. And, some of them responded.

But, some of them only said: Repentance? Who needs it?

These were the religious leaders, the ones who thought they had their act together. The Pharisees who thought they had a special in with God, because they kept the rules and the Sadducees, who were the priests. These were people from good religious families. They could trace their roots back to Abraham.

Repentance? Who needs it? Not them, they thought. Repentance was something for pagans. It was an insult that John would insist that THEY repent. They were outraged. Called John a religious fanatic.

But, it is these people, these people who think that they do not need to hear John's message -- who think that repentance is not for them -- whom the Gospel writer Matthew is most concerned about. We aren't told much at all about those who responded. The ones who do not respond are the ones who bring out John's prophetic best, the ones who raise his fury and his urgency to a passionate pitch. The ones who said: "Repentance? Who needs it?" are the objects of John's prophetic passion. If John sounds harsh, it is because he cares so much, because he sees these religious leaders bringing judgement on themselves.

Repentance, for the religious people of John's day, was not a popular idea.

Nor, is it today.

Listen to the Webster's definition of repentance:

"To feel sorry for what one has done or failed to do; be conscience-stricken, or contrite-to feel such regret or dissatisfaction over some past action, intention, etc., as to change ...."

Now, you can hear for yourself what it is about repentance, defined that way, understood that way, that bothers us.

Repentance, by the definition of our culture, says something is wrong with me. I've done something bad. I feel bad. I need to change. To give something up. Who wants to admit to all that? To say, "I'm wrong?" To feel bad? To have to change?

Who needs that?

And, so, many of us in this room, if a poll were taken, would go along with the persons in our scripture lesson today: Repentance? Who needs it?

But that is to miss the meaning of our scripture lesson. That is to misunderstand what repentance means. In the Bible, repentance has little to do with feeling bad, or feeling guilty.

Listen to Buechner’s definition in his ‘Theological ABC":

‘To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much something you do as something that happens. True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, "I’m sorry," than to the future and saying, "Wowl"’1

Buechner picks up some of the biblical meaning of repentance. Repentance comes not so much by your ef forts, but by God's invitation. Repentance is not so much what you do, but a shift in orientation. Repentance is a turning away from the wilderness of self-centeredness and self-sufficiency, and a turning toward God. In the Bible, repentance is not something to be dreaded, but something to be celebrated. A turning of the whole person toward God.

So. What infuriates and outrages John the Baptist and causes him to yell himself blue in the face, is that those who do not repent are looking in the wrong direction. They are turned the wrong way: to wilderness things like their rules, and the keeping of them; to wilderness things like their roots, and the special "in" they think they have with God.

And what John is saying to these religious leaders, the church goers of that day, is not an indictment, but a wonderful invitation. An invitation which comes from the God of love. "Hey!" John says. " You're going in the wrong direction! Turn around, and see what God is doing! The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Your king is coming! Repent! Come out of your wilderness. Turn around and see! Wow!"

John's words thunder down across history to us who are the church goers of today. And, when we listen, we understand that they are not the words of a religious fanatic, but rather, the words of the prophet of God. When we listen, we understand that John's words speak to us, here today.

We're here today, this second Sunday of the Advent season. Christmas in coming soon. Each one of us has lived through some wilderness experience this year, some personal wilderness that is not the desert place from which John came, but the dry and desolate experiences of life lived on the fast track, life lived in the midst of disappointments, hard work, discouragement, soured relationships, job stress and money problems.

Maybe you have been in the wilderness for a long time. Maybe it's been a long time since you've heard a word from God, or felt God's presence in your life. Maybe you feel your prayers stop at the ceiling. Maybe you do not pray at all. John the Baptist speaks God's words of invitation to you: The kingdom of heaven is here, in Jesus Christ. For you. Repent! Turn away from your wilderness. Turn to God. See what God will do.

And, when you do that, John says, your life will show it. Repentance shows up not only in that you look to your future with God,. and say, "Wow!", but also in your everyday life. In fact, John says, repentance bears fruit -- it can change your life.

Repentance can change your life in the way you make decisions.

Like Susan, a new Christian, who went for a job interview. She sensed that the man who wished to hire her had some favors to ask of her which were not job-related. Because Susan's heart was turned toward God, she was able to decline the job and to keep looking.

Repentance bears fruit -- it can your life by healing your soured relationships.

Joe Pennel, in his book, THE WHISPER OF CHRISTMAS, tells the story of a mother and her grown daughter who had not seen each other or spoken to one another for years. The only communication had been through telegrams, to notify each other of a change of address. One day the mother received a telegram informing her that her daughter was about to be married, in some distant city. Joe encouraged the mother to turn away from her personal wilderness of past disappointments and anger with her daughter and instead, to try a first step TOWARD the daughter. She sent a gift for the wedding, instead of a telegram. That was the beginning of a restored relationship. 2 Repentance can change your life.

Repentance: who needs it? You do. I do.

So. Hear the voice of one shouting himself blue in the face out there in the wilderness. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Christmas is coming. Advent is the time to pause and to check the direction of your life. Take some time this week to consider the direction you face. Are you turned toward God? Or, are you turned away from God, stuck in your wilderness of worry and concern and disappointment? If so, God's invitation to you is: Repent! Turn to God, and see what God is doing. It's a real wow! It will change your life by changing the way you make decisions. It will change your life by healing soured relationships. It will change your Christmas! Wow, and amen!

1.Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theolocical ABC. (Harper & Row: New York, 1973), p. 79.
2. Joe E. Pennel, Jr., The Whisper of Christmas. (Nashville, Tennessee: The Upper Room, 1984), pp. 40-41.

Janice W. Hearn