Advent 2 Year A

Matt 3:1-12

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” The opening of the Baptist’s sermon to the Pharisees and Sadducees is certainly as memorable as it is uncompromising. What is the most memorable sermon you have ever heard, and maybe more importantly, what was it that makes you remember it. In my early twenties I recall being told about a preacher coming to the town where I was living. I am not sure what made me go along – probably curiosity. So I went along to the venue, a camp, and I made sure I was well toward the back leaning against a gum tree. In many ways I felt out of place and wanted to remain as inconspicuous as possible. While I arrived more or less on time, time itself was quite a fluid concept in that context, so about 45 minutes later the preacher arrived. He was part of the same group as most of the audience, the Noongar people of the south western part of Western Australia. He was dressed in a pair of old jeans and a slightly tatty t-shirt, on his feet where a pair of flip-flops (or thongs as they are known in Australia), and his hair was long and unkempt, but his eyes shone like points of dark fire. For the first minute (although it felt longer) he said nothing, he simply looked us up-and-down, I am not sure if he was praying about what to say, or thinking that we looked like a particularly unpromising congregation. Then he commenced, “Yous fellas, you is not good fellas.” He continued, “I know some of you fellas” then he stopped and looked several people straight in the eyes, “you hit your women and beat the kids. Jesus, he be angry with you, but he doesn’t beat you.” Then he turned his attention elsewhere, “and some of yous women are not good either. Some of you forget your man and go off with other fellas. Jesus he never go off with those who are not his.” And so it continued, with grown men and women reduced to tears and wailing. Then the tone changed, the preacher started speaking about the type of people Jesus wanted these men and women to be. What started out as harsh, uncompromising, and uncomfortable, then become tender, nuanced and compassionate. He said he knew that changing would be hard, but they had to trust Jesus, they were to help one another, and not judge each other when they failed, but to get up again and to do better the next time. It was a long sermon – even longer than one of mine, but for some reason it did not feel long. However, more importantly, it was transforming the lives of those who heard the fiery words, which nonetheless offered comfort and a new and better way of living.

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea about five hundred years after the last of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible had uttered their final oracles. Although unexpected, this fiery prophet, dressed in a garment of camel hair and with a belt made from animal skins, appeared preaching a message of unflinching personal and eschatological judgment. He called-out the supposedly religious people of his day, the Pharisees and Sadducees, addressing them as the spawn of snakes. Personally, I picture the Pharisees and Sadducees as the type of people who stand in the background, maybe leaning on a tree, thinking they are just passive observers. However, John will have none of that, he refutes their sense of self-assured privilege. He tells them, “Don’t say, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” For John, ancestry or lineage is not a guarantee of right relationship with God and certainly not a sign of genuine repentance. Rather, John called each individual to change, to do better, and to turn away from actions that harm others or diminish oneself. However, John was not just an angry prophet berating people. Instead, he offered a message of hope albeit predicated upon sincere repentance. Luke’s version of John’s preaching is slightly different from what we read in Matthew. In Luke’s gospel it is the crowds in general who are addressed as a “brood of vipers” (Lk 3:7). When they responded to John’s call to repentance, they asked for further instruction about what to do in order to demonstrate their own sincerity. John did not tell them to pray more, or even to be more regular attendees at synagogue. Instead, the advice given concerned how to interact with fellow human beings. Those with excess clothing or food were to share those resources, and those in positions of power such as tax-collectors or soldiers were not to abuse those roles to line their own pockets. Luke presents the Baptist calling for some very practical and people-centred ethical behaviours. For John, true repentance was demonstrated through acts of kindness and compassion toward all those with whom one interacts.

The other striking thing about the presentation of John is his own sense of humility in regard to his own status. When introducing the figure of John, Matthew provides a citation of a text from Isaiah to help people understand the identity of John – he is the one preparing the way for another, the one ensuring that paths are set in order. This depiction as a fore-runner is not just a later reflection on John’s role, but according to the words attributed to him in the gospel it is a status that John himself recognizes. While acknowledging his own function as one who baptizes with water in order to lead the people to repentance, John describes the one who will come after him. While John’s water baptism is a powerful symbol of repentance and purification, the one for whom he prepares the way will bring a more powerful baptism that will be administered with the Holy Spirit and fire. This description suggests a total purification, one which gives a deeper, lasting cleansing.

In April, I was in Birmingham for the Fourteenth Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament. I know, I know – I get to have all the fun! The theme of the conference was “The Letters of Paul and their Ancient Versions”. Paul’s letters were originally written in Greek, but early on translated into other languages such as Latin, Coptic, Syriac and Gothic. These translations are known as the versions. However, lest you think that is the only excitement we have at the conference, on the final day we were taken on an excursion to Gloucester Cathedral to see the library. While there, I asked if any books of Bishop John Hooper were in the library – the answer was no. For those of you who do not know of John Hooper, he was one of the early reforming bishops appointed during the reign of Edward VI. I suspect Hooper would not have been an easy character to get along with. His appointment as Bishop of Gloucester led to the so-called Vestments Controversy – in which he renounced the wearing of what he called Aaronic Vestments and he refused to be consecrated as bishop wearing vestments. His fellow reforming bishops Cranmer and Ridley tried to persuade him, and in the end, he was incarcerated in the Fleet prison until he agreed to be consecrated as bishop while wearing vestments. However, Hooper proved to be a popular bishop in Gloucester. He renounced any stipend or monetary recompense associated with being bishop. He worked for social justice for the people of Gloucester especially during an economic crisis, he preached powerfully against the interests of the rich, and daily the poor ate at table with him. When Edward VI died and Mary Tudor came to power Hooper, as a representative of radical Protestantism, was the first bishop to be apprehended and be condemned to death. It was decided that he should be burnt in the city of Gloucester. On the 9 February 1555, as he was led to the stake, a man came up to him and requested forgiveness. He said to Hooper, “Sir, I am he who must make the fire.” Hooper responded, “thou dost not offend me; God forgive thee thy act, but do thine office, I pray thee.” The clergy of the cathedral were made to stand at the front of the crowd, no doubt so the death of Hooper would make them fearful of a similar fate. The execution was botched, the fagots were green, new kindling had to be found. Hooper begged to put out of his misery. It took three-quarters of an hour before he died.

While the librarian told me they possessed no books belonging to Hooper, she came back a few minutes later with a small wooden box. She told me I might be interest in it, although they rarely get it out. She told me to read the inscription. I could barely make it out apart from the name of Hooper and the date of his execution, but it did rattle when lightly shaken. Then she told me that inside was a fragment of the stake at which Hooper was burnt. I am not sure the Reforming bishop would have approved of this relic of his death, but I did feel strangely connected to the fiery preacher whose uncompromising message led him to the flames of a pyre outside the cathedral.

The story of John the Baptist ends with him being imprisoned by Herod Antipas, he criticized Herod’s abuse of power and his illicit marriage. We are told elsewhere in the Gospels, that Herod Antipas enjoyed listening to John although John’s preaching baffled him. In the end, however, the gospels tell of John being put to death because of a palace intrigue. Often this is the fate of those who speak out against injustice and advocate of the poor. Their message makes the prevailing powers uncomfortable, and it is more expedient to remove these figures than to endure the call for justice for all.

Frequently it feels like the current social and political climate is at a crossroad. Common decency and respect are too often lacking in public discourse, the marginalized are mere pawns in the machinations of the powerful. And if we might be self-reflective for a moment, at times we the church appear to be more concerned with our own institutional survival than with speaking out for the voiceless in society. This Advent the Baptist reminds us that a central part of our mission is to call out the sinful structures of society, to call for a genuine repentance which is displayed in actions that bring about justice for the forgotten and the neglected, and to call upon the one who by the Holy Spirit and with fire can cleanse and create anew a society that seeks equity for the meek.

In truth, I think we would find John, both John Hooper and John the Baptist, uncomfortable figures to be around. Yet there are times when we need to hear the voices of those who discomfort us and who shake us out of easy complacency. Perhaps their unrelenting challenge would leave us fatigued if we were to hear it every day. However, sometimes, and especially in Advent, we do need not only to hear it but to allow our settled lives to be destabilized by a refusal to be complicit in the prevailing injustices society. With John Hooper we need to make room at our tables and in our hearts for the poor, and with the Baptist we need to be self-critical of false displays of religiosity rather than seeking heartfelt repentance that brings forth works of justice for all humanity. Too often we can become like a broad of vipers, self-protective and lashing out at anything we consider a threat. Today, however, we are called not to act like the offspring of poisonous snakes, but rather to fulfil our vocation as those called to be the children of God. We must cast aside all the works of darkness and follow the example of the one who came to us in great humility, by calling the marginal and the lost ones of society to become the people of the God of justice, this day and always. Amen.