You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
"So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people." That’s how Luke ends his reporting on the activities of John the Baptizer. I wonder if John's often harsh clarity (“You brood of vipers!”) sounded like good news to his listeners. Yet they went and told others who also came out to see him. Luke speaks of the crowds around John.
There can be something comforting about hearing the truth, being given a prescription for living in God’s way. But we tend to let those prescriptions lapse – the bible would be about a third of its length if people actually listened to God’s word and followed it. And what about us? We’re hardly a crowd in many churches, yet we show up faithfully. Are we listening faithfully? What might John say to us if we were gathered on that riverbank? It could sound like this:
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord” – that means, look out, folks. That means, repent! You think you’re exempt because you “try to be a good person?” You think you’re in the clear because you’re in church? You haven’t stolen, killed, cheated on your spouse? What we do is the least of it; it’s what we think that gets us into trouble.
And what we don’t do. How we don’t protect the poor and the powerless. How we don’t speak up for the voiceless in the richest country on earth – where some children die because they have no medical coverage. Do you live in a nice house in a safe neighborhood? How many TV sets do you own? How many times a week do you eat out? Do you know that there are places where people get maybe a bowl of rice or grain a day and sleep on the ground?
How much of your wealth are you sharing? How much trash do you generate? How much energy do you consume with all your cars and overheated stores and electronics? Do you benefit from privileges just because you may be white or wealthy? Where you have access to resources and positions because someone else is kept away?
You have a choice – you can participate in unjust structures – or you can stand against injustice. You can wring your hands, or really start sharing your wealth. You can keep eating too much and spending too much, or strip down your lifestyle to what you need and stop feeding the consumer culture.
Don’t want to hear this in church? I’ve got a part to play in your life, friend. I’m here to remind you that repentance is a year-round thing, an everyday, every week thing. I stand here to remind you that everything is not hunky-dory in your house – that there is a lot of clutter standing between you and your God.
Do you want more of God in your life? Do you want Jesus to hang out in your heart? Then make some room for Him! Clean up your houses, people! Jesus is coming. The only trick is – we don’t know when. So we need to keep the house cleaned all the time. That’s a drag, isn’t it?
But He sent me. He sent me to be your wake-up call. So here I am, people – WAKE UP! THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND. Turn away from your complacency! Clean it up!
Maybe we want to interrupt that barrage, say, “ Hey – give us a chance. Jesus is coming with fire, but he’s also full of love. Doesn’t it say somewhere that God “desires not the death of a sinner, but that they turn from their wickedness and live?”
And maybe John replies, I just want you to make it real. Real, from the heart. Real repentance, not just talk. That’s what God wants… I guess I’ll be on my way. See you next December, next time you guys take me out and dust me off.
Can we listen to John's good news all year round?
© Kate Heichler, 2024. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
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