12-1-22 - When Love Comes To Town

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

John the Baptizer was scathing toward “good people” who wear their religion on their sleeves but leave their hearts and behaviors untouched. Where would he place us? Need we fear God's judgment? Our culture says so; even Santa Claus, the legend most associated with gift-giving, is also depicted as being the most judgmental: "He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice / gonna find out who’s naughty or nice / Santa Claus is coming to town."

“Good” people can do bad things; can “bad” people do good? Is there such thing as a good or a bad person? Jesus once said that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree good fruit. Judgment seems based on the fruit our lives bear. John the Baptizer was making his audience aware of that judgment… and he wasn’t gentle: “Even 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.”

I give thanks for the promise that, as members of God’s household united with Christ, it is his deeds by which we will ultimately be judged (whew!). Yet Jesus also spoke of a judgment and a sorting. So let’s do another inventory today – let’s look at the fruit we bear, the outward evidence of our life, the good and not-so-good. (Get out the journal...)

What is the fruit of your relationships? Name some.
What is the fruit of your work life? Name some.
Your recreational life? Your financial life?
Your engagement in activities that help people in need?
What is the fruit of your spiritual life – what are the outward manifestations of your faith and prayer?

Are you a healthy tree, emotionally, physically, spiritually? Is any pruning or fertilizing needed? How might you become more fruitful?

Whether we’re singing, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” or “When the Man Comes Around,” a Johnny Cash song based on Revelation with strong Advent themes (and not a whole lot of grace), I thank God for the greatest gift – freedom from the ax and the fire. God is an arborist extraordinaire, who tends the trees we are and makes us trees of love. In fact, today let's give Bono and B.B. King the last word - they say it all in "When Love Comes to Town."

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