The Jewish people to whom John the Baptist was speaking in today's Gospel reading (Luke 3.7-18) thought that they were God’s people because of their birth; because they were Abraham’s ancestors (v 8). John the Baptist tells them that that isn’t the case. If the people of Israel are like a tree, he says, then God can cut that tree down at its roots.
Many of us will have grown up in Christian families, just as all those to whom John was speaking had grown up as Jews. Like them we may well have attended services for the worship of God since we were children and we, like them, might think that that makes us a part of God’s family. John’s message is that that is not the case.
There are two things that matter says John. Two things that make all the difference and family roots and traditions are not included. The two things that matter, says John, are firstly how we respond to Jesus, the coming Messiah and secondly whether our response involves actions as well as words.
John pictures Jesus, the coming Messiah, with a winnowing shovel separating the wheat from the chaff. He is saying that the coming of Jesus will separate out the true people of God from the false and it is by our reaction to Jesus that this will become apparent. Isaiah speaks about God being like a stone over which people stumble and, in the New Testament, both Paul and Peter apply this image to Jesus. Jesus himself says that he did not bring peace but a sword and came to set sons against fathers, daughters against mothers and so on. What he is talking about is the reality that as the coming Messiah he would be a controversial figure about whom people would be divided, even in the same family.
It is by our reactions and responses to Jesus, John says, that we can see who are God’s people and who are not. The question for us this morning then is who do we believe Jesus to be. Is he the Messiah, the son of God and saviour of the world, or was he just a good man but a man nonetheless? What we believe is important because, John says, if we reject Jesus then we reject God.
But within our response to Jesus as God’s son, as the Messiah there is also a further level of consideration. Is our response to Jesus just about words that we speak and beliefs that we keep in mind or do those words and those beliefs change our lives; do they affect the way in which we live? Our actions reveal our true beliefs. Do those things that will show that you have turned from your sins, John says to the crowd in verse 8. Don’t just mouth meaningless words but put your money where your mouth is and do the things that will demonstrate that your life has been turned around by your encounter with Jesus.
What are we to do, the crowd, the tax collectors and the soldiers ask John in verses 10 – 14. His response is not actually that demanding; do your job well, do it fairly and honestly and be generous with what you have.
Working hard and well and being generous are signs that we have changed from people who are out for ourselves to people with a concern for God and for others. It is that change that God is looking for in our lives. It is that change that shows Him and other people that we have had a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ that has changed our heart and not just our mind or our words.
These then are the two things that John the Baptist says matter when we stand before God; our response to Jesus and a response that involves practical change in our lives to show that we have genuinely encountered Jesus and accepted him as God’s son, the Saviour of the World. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nirvana - Lord, Up Above.
No comments:
Post a Comment