You Brood of Vipers!

Luke 3:7-18

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 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.” And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 

In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

On Easter, I get to say, “Christ is Risen!” and you all say, “He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!” At Christmas I get to say, “A light shines in the darkness” and you all get to respond with, “A light no darkness can overcome!” So, why is it during Advent I don’t ever get to say, “You brood of vipers!” to which you would respond, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come!” I suppose it’s because calling people “A brood of vipers” and telling them to “flee from the wrath that is to come” is hilarious, right up to the very moment, out of the corner of our eye, we just happen to catch a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror and wonder… “Could it be that all this time, I’ve been one of the snakes calling everyone else a brood of vipers?” 

When we end up seeing our own snake-like reflection in that mirror, we humans often respond with the intricate, deep, and theologically nuanced reflection of, “NUH UH!”  Nuh uh! I am NOT a snake in the grass!  Nuh uh! I grew up in the church!  Nuh uh! But John cut that argument right off, reminding them that God could make better church members out of a box of rocks, so that just wasn’t going to fly. 

The other reaction to realizing our slithery-ness is to ask the question the folks in this lesson asked, “What then should we do?” John’s answer was that they should stop slithering!  Stop living a reptilian life… stop running from, or eating everyone you met, and stop spewing venom!  John’s answer boils down to a classic… love one another! Share what you have, don’t steal… particularly from the weak and poor, don’t use might to make whatever you want right. You know… Love one another!  

But John knew, even here, right at the beginning, even before Jesus showed up on the scene, that you and I, even doing our very best to not act like a bunch of snakes is good, but it’s not a permanent solution. John knew that we humans, in spite of our best efforts, would eventually, inevitably, have days where the venom leaks out. You and I trying our best was important, but it was the One who was coming… the One who would walk through the orchard of our lives with an ax… the one who would go into the harvest of our lives with a winnowing fork and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire… THAT’S the one who had the power to finally transform us from our snakey-snake-ness into the human beings we were created to be.

John KNEW, that you and I… we’re all both Saints AND Sinners… each of us with trees in our personal orchards that give wonderful fruit AND each and every one of us have some trees that just make bad apples. He KNEW that our darkness was impossibly wrapped up around our light, like the chaff is impossibly wrapped around a grain of wheat.  

On our own, John knew that we could try… and John was clear… we REALLY ought to try! But John knew on our own we did not have the power to clear the dead wood from the orchards of our lives… and we would never be able to separate the wheat of abundant life from the chaff of our brokenness.  Without the One who was coming, we would always have sour apple days, crusty chaff-like times and spew a bit of venom when we weren’t able to be our best selves.

To change who we are THAT deeply we needed the One who’s sandals John was not worthy to carry.  To be transformed from a brood of vipers into Children of God, we needed the One who would Baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire!  The Good News that John proclaimed was THAT One was coming!  The Good News for us, is THAT One has COME!  And… Christmas Eve spoiler alert here… His name is Jesus, and with power beyond you and me and with even more power than the bug and honey fueled John the Baptist could ever muster, God in Christ has removes the dead wood from the orchards of our lives in the waters of Baptism.  Through Jesus's life, death and resurrection, God in Christ has separated the wheat from the chaff of our beings and feeds us now with the bread of life.  

There’s an icon of the resurrection that shows Jesus reaching into the grave and pulling out Adam and Eve. But the part of it I love the very most, is that it shows Jesus pulling them out… pulling humanity out… pulling you and me out… by the wrist! We may WANT to help… and John the Baptist insists that we should do all we can to TRY to help… but in the end, it is not our work that gives us new life. It is the work of the life, death and resurrection of the One who is coming and the One who has already come. It is Christ who, each and every day grabs us by the wrist, cleans out the dead wood from our lives, who burns the chaff that binds us in our brokenness… who transforms you and me and all of creation from a brood of vipers into Children of God!  Thanks be to God for the One who is coming… the one who has come… the One is Good News for all people. Amen.