Advent 3C | Luke 3:7-18
Show Notes
The texts for this week are here.
Megan refers to the work of Ernesto Cardenal and the book Gospel in Solentiname. For many years, the peasants in Solentiname, a remote archipelago in Lake Nicaragua, gathered each Sunday to reflect on the gospel reading. Read more here.
Quote from Thomas Merton: “To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. Frenzy destroys our inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.” (quoted in A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants, by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck)
Our Advent prayer this week is from Paul G. Janssen on re:Worship.blogspot.com.
Also, here’s Alicia’s 2021 Advent playlist if you’re looking for a soundtrack for the Advent season.
Other resources on our website: commentaries, discipleship, liturgics, music.
Transcript
Alicia00:10
Hi everyone today, we're reading chapter three for third Sunday of advent preparing the weight free this We light the candle of joy Well John the doctors called people by first So what's that about I'm Alicia McClintic
Megan00:24
and I’m Megan Pardue
Alicia00:26
And this is the A Plain Account podcast.
Megan00:42
today I'm going to read the text for us from the gospel of fluke This is the new international
Luke three seven through 18 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him You brood of Vipers who warned you to flee from the coming wrath produce fruit in keeping with And do not begin to say to yourselves we have Abraham as our father for I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham
The ax is already at the root of the trees and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire What should we do that
The crowd asked John answered anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none and anyone who has food should do the same Even tax collectors came to be baptized teacher They asked what should we do Don't collect any more than you are And told them then some soldiers asked him and what should we do here Applied don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely be content with your pay Uh people were waiting expectedly and we're all wondering in their hearts If John might possibly be the Messiah John answered them all I baptize you with water but one who is more powerful than I will come The straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie He will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire Cause winnowing fork is in his hand to clear this brushing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire And with many other words John extorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them This is the word of the Lord Thanks
Alicia03:04
Thanks Be to God
Wow Uh thank you for reading us through this passage Um with a slow and meditative pace One of the things I immediately recognized is this question of what should we do Um well in fact the entire passage seems to be um moving through these questions John says like who warned you to fleet Like what are you doing here Um and then the people in several groups in several iterations keep asking him what should we do Um and I find these questions these desires really compelling here
Megan03:52
they are And they feel so contemporary
Alicia03:56
Yes This is still the same thing right Our people our congregants they want to know Okay Like linking us back to our conversation last week and the first part of Luke three Okay There's these huge mountains There's these valleys that need to be filled in every mountain and homemade low the crooked roads she'll become straight and the rough ways smooth Uh what should we do then
And I maybe want to zone in on That like the co the few people who are asking right So we have the crowd that kind of general people what should we do And John responds to them like care for your neighbor those who need clothing those who need food care for them Um but I want to talk about these other two groups that particularly as John what should we do Cause I think they're feeling deeply convicted about the mountains of injustice that they're finding themselves now complicit in we've got tax collectors and we've got soldiers right I mean we we might like reframe that for some more contemporary um phrases right Like Jesus isn't Jesus and John and this message Isn't just for people who are employed by the IRS and the U S military right Like tax collectors and soldiers might also include um those who are like gaining significant wealth Right Or or those right Who have to participate in a system that demands violence from them right Like um are there some other ways we might think about the contemporary analogies here for tax collectors and soldiers or or who these people might feel like or be like for them
Megan05:46
I love this question I mean we I think it could be as broad and I I wouldn't want our preachers to be broad I would want you to be specific you know you know you know your people it's your choice If you want to name their profession explicitly or not but you know anyone these are anyone who's holding a place of power
Alicia06:07
Yep
Megan06:08
Um so in this in this time and place Here we have tax collectors those who are willing power over money um and soldiers but you know we could name so many professions people who are um you you mentioned gaining wealth certainly you know it's easy to to throw out oh those who work in the stock market or those who are exchanging money Are those in But we know that there's so many other professions um that are right in these positions of you said like doing violence Um many of us work in industry that is is doing some kind of violence to the earth to um other people And these things are really hard to talk about but so so important like our captivity to the powers and principalities
Alicia07:02
Yes Yes Um I was reading a quote from Thomas Merton this morning that really speaks to this pervasive form of violence That's not just in particular professions but then is I think encompassing so many of us Thomas Merton repeats a suggestion of Douglas Steere that the absence of this tension between our inner world and our outer world um uh uh connection between our convictions and our actions in the world is Producing the most pervasive form of violence present in contemporary society Merton writes to allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns to surrender to too many demands to commit oneself to too many projects to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to viral Frenzy destroys our inner capacity for peace It destroys the faithfulness of our work because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful I read that this morning and I thought oh good Lord That's convicting I feel like the voice of John the Baptist through that quote from Thomas Martin kind of calling me out of my multitude of concerns Uh I mean in Merton's perspective are producing a kind of violence um toward self and community because you're you're fragmented You're not integrated You're not able to be fruitful in the way that God calls us to be fruitful like in this work toward justice and wholeness and peace
Megan08:48
Which is brings us back to verse eight um produce fruit in keeping with repentance Do you not begin to say to yourselves We have Abraham as our father and I read I tried to read that with a tone of sarcasm or because
Alicia09:06
I heard it I heard it
Megan09:08
I mean this is We can we can do a lot of work in our preaching and teaching just in the way that we read scripture Um right I I don't and you you might disagree with me You might ha you might read John here in a very pastoral and do not begin to say to yourselves we have Abraham as our father Right But I I it seems because you know he's just called them a brood of Vipers that perhaps a more uh sarcastic or aggressive reading Feels fitting So I love that the Merton reading literally points to this fruit this repentance Do you not begin to say to yourselves We're all good We have Abraham as our father um because the ax is already at the root of the tree
Alicia09:57
Yeah I love that Um that John keeps pointing to this idea of fruit and fruitfulness that when you have been transformed by God's love and peace and justice then you are Producing that fruit not only in your own life but in your community Right All of the directions that John gives to the people who say like okay but like what do we do about this are all about the way that we treat other people right They're all like really practical aren't they just like
Megan10:30
they're so material
Alicia10:33
Yeah Yeah If you have extra shirts if you have extra food give it to folks who need them like don't extort other people um be content with your own pay they're super material
Megan10:45
in this season That is It can be over spiritualized uh whether that is our broader cultural narratives around what happens at the holidays you know these warm feelings and this week being the week of joy um it's you know Emotional joy as often Like it's supposed to be a feeling It seems um in place of that in place of these kind of spiritual which is not to say that the material realities are not spiritual spiritual is not material I don't mean that I don't want to bracket them out more than they need to be What I want to point us to as you've just said is these are like practical concrete material things So for those of us who are Congregations that have been formed to think about the work of following Christ as spiritual work here John is pushing against that No this is not like this is not just like my you know private prayer time or devotional life This has to do with your money how you spend your money
Alicia11:58
It's absolutely about money
Megan12:00
It's about money again you know And so you even started with this question about the tax collectors and um And soldiers these people who will power but but really regardless of your profession or not so many of us contain power um as a results of money and what we choose to do with
Alicia12:26
Yep Yeah Yes absolutely Um and I think the more I really carefully read Jesus's words and I it's not like I'm new to Jesus's words but the more I keep pulling back a layer after layer then the more I realize it's almost always about Very concrete material resources that are deeply tied into our spiritual wellbeing and wholeness right Who who has power and wealth influence Um all of these things deeply impact who we are in the world how we behave toward others how um We bear God's image in the world Right And so I'm deeply convicted by this idea that to bear the fruit of repentance to show for the fruit of repentance in your life has very concretely like to do with financial practices
Megan13:30
Yes I mean this is not you know I'm kind of chuckling because this is like not nobody wants to preach this sermon and advent
Alicia13:39
I know I know
Megan13:41
but why haven't like why isn't and you know we're going to get to this um next week as we move into Mary's song Um but why not Like why aren't we talking about money in a season of rampant consumerism and waste You know why aren't we talking about money Um In when this is what the lectionary gives us what should we do What should we do What should we do And all of the answers you know have to do with money um or at least the first one with you know material possessions food and clothes
Alicia14:22
Yeah Yes I mean and I mean why why not Like if we can't if we can't talk about this at advent when can we talk about this Like this posture of untangling like you said that tingling from that system of consumerism right Man when you were reading I double underlined be content with your pay How many of us are overextending at Christmas time Because we long to be generous with onto give good gifts We we enjoy the process of gift-giving None of those are bad things but how many of us have um overextended or gone into debt or I mean statistics show that this is this is a huge a huge reality for the for the average Family in the United States right That like that they get caught up in in the consumerism And not necessarily for bad reasons I guess is what I'm trying to say is that we can find ourselves tangled up in these systems that are really bad for us that we need to repent from And we don't always know that we're Doing it wrong Like we don't always we don't always know that we've um that we've wandered into a wrong path And so if we can't issue the call to repentance to come out from those old systems and to lean into a more faithful way of living if we can't do that I've been when
Megan15:48
Well as you're talking I love this that you said you know we've wandered into this path as again this is this reading is connected to our reading from last week prepare the way of the Lord make straight paths for him but so much of that over spending and the consumption Um so much of that people will say things like and I know I've said them too like oh it just gives me Joel Um just makes me feel good And so here we have this advent theme This is the candle of joy that the rose colored candle the pink candle week three Here we we're SU you know doing this uh this frenzy to use Martin's word um this frenzy towards joy and actually what should we do then What should we do then What should we do then You know it John has a really different vision for what the path towards joy looks like
Alicia16:54
Yes Oh my gosh Thanks for helping us build that bridge Right The Clarion call to somebody like me I won't speak for anybody else but this is confessions from Alicia The Clarion call for me during this season is treat yourself right Like like offer uh like find find a sweet treat for the For the Christmas holiday season like lean lean in like it brings you joy Like self-care all of these sorts of things like that that kind of call of treat yourself is directly combated by John Call and his advice is like no not true yourself Share with share with those who need it Right Like um it's it's the exact opposite of what our culture says will bring us joy And this is the paradox of fruitful kingdom living that the the things that we think might be Joy from like our cultures perspective are actually hollow and empty Right And on the way to true joy is this like hard work of justice compassion empathy sharing redistributing of resources um widening the table like and and we've talked about this um last week and several times before like this work of justice isn't easy work Necessarily smooth right Like we're making straight paths as we prepare the way for the Lord But as we do this work I mean this is this is again the paradox that as we do this work we find that it is the way of life and of peace And this is where the where our true joy is coming from
Megan18:33
Right
Alicia18:34
At least that's my this is my prayer This is my hope This is this is what I continue to believe about the Christian life
Megan18:41
Well I often think about As in in contrast to some of the other words we have for advent you know I'm specifically thinking of the candle themes um hope peace joy and love I I often think of joy as connected to freedom and and so you know Joy and freedom When we're thinking about the ways we're captive to the powers and principalities captive to money like the best way to be free of that calf captivity the best way to experience the joy that comes in freedom from being captive to money is to give it away Like that's where we find John pushing us What should we do then What should we do then What should we do Like this it's this kind of letting go which you know is part of our joining and the work that Christ has already done in in setting us free
Alicia19:52
That's beautiful Megan thank you so much I can't wait to return to that with some more application questions When we come back after a short break for an advent
Listen to this advent prayer for justice Lord our God You have revealed yourself as one wishes to bring about justice and true peace among people in the world that looks away from injustice You cast your eyes on the destitute the poor and the wrong You've called us to follow you to preach good news to the poor to proclaim peace for the top days and recovery of sight for the blind to set Those who are oppressed to proclaim the time of your blood center Be present with your church Lord As we respond to call open our eyes to the downtrodden fill us with compassion for the plight of the refugee immigrant Lead us into ministries that help orphans give us courage to block the pods of the ungodly exploited for set us free from pies exercises The true worship You choose sharing bread with the hungry sharing homes with the unsheltered sharing clothes with them and sharing hearts with our own kids So may the justice roll down like waters your righteousness like an ever flowing stream Lead our footsteps to stand with the poor that we might stand with You have mercy Scatter the proud put down the mighty lift up the low weight So up the hungry and sent the rich away
Now that we're back let's talk about how we would apply Are there any sermon ideas or talking points that come to mind We've talked about some of John the Baptist questions um and some of the questions that the people are asking John the Baptist are there other questions that are popping up in our own minds As we think about bringing this text to a particular people at a particular time whether that's preaching or um around tables how are we Discussing and applying some of these really like concrete applications from the scripture
Megan22:14
Great question Alicia you know I'm still really wondering about this connection between the anger that we see in John the Baptist you brood of Vipers you know later we've got the winnowing for And this
Alicia22:31
and that the ax is already
Megan22:36
at the root of the trees Nobody has to go get it It's already there So you know uh I I'm just wondering about how we might invite folks into some of the righteous and I'm going to even say holy anger that we hear from John the Baptist alongside Joy like how do these go together You know we talked about this a bit last week with the prophets and of course here we have again more from the same profit Um you know profits are often angry and for really good reason And I guess I'm wondering about What what do the people in your congregation feel angry about Uh and what are your neighbors angry about and why And if you cannot easily answer that question I'm wondering about that too
Alicia23:36
Yeah Yes And and some of the follow-up questions I have are like um Where are we discerning between holy and righteous anger and just like offense and Diggnation because those are different you know like I like if if we can name things that that we're angry about that aren't um that aren't healthy or holy or good or yeah I mean I'm I'm curious about Here and and the things that are breaking our hearts as a community that the things the things that we're we're um the things that are prompting us to say how long have Lord like these are these are some of the roots of holy anger I think um I think our community is angry about violence I think our I think our community is really angry about the loneliness and the isolation Um of this pandemic season I think our community is um yeah it is is really angry about um uh we we have a significant community of agricultural labors in my community I think our folks are really angry that it's that it's hard for them to work the land in a healthy and sustainable way I think that that is the root of a lot of anger How about how about you where where's some of the holy anger growing for you community
Megan25:16
Well before we jump ahead I I'm just struck by you naming um you know the the anger amongst folks who work the land there I feel like that anger is often like because of the literal pain in a person's body Right And so I'm I'm just curious about that too Like the way that anger Comes from like literal physical pain from right Working in conditions for hours and days And that are not sustainable Yes exactly Well and then on the flip side the anger from from small time folks working small plots of land in the face of giant corporations Right Um and this uh that reminds me of that kind of tax collector idea Right Um that John had mentioned that that there that there are these powers and principalities at play um yeah That God is good that God is bringing down I wonder if if there's a kind of um you know you made the distinction between like indignation and then like holy anger I'm wondering about the distinction That which makes you or makes us angry Is it about like my PR if it's is it about me personally Now I'm speaking as a person with a stable income and you know the power that comes with being a white woman and educated Um if I think for for those who op occupy similar um Similar a similar place to myself you know is is that what I'm angry Is it about me Because if I'm already a person holding power then I probably need to kind of recalibrate what it is is making me angry If it's just something that's affecting me as an individual Right And I'm thinking Naturally about some of the many debates that we've had at least in the us context um over the last year or so related to the pandemic in particular if if that's what all we can offer us things that are making us angry and you're already holding up a place of power and privilege we've got a problem Yeah Right So then how but then like the anger you spoke about it Um a person who maybe doesn't have access to the healthcare that they need or the sustainability of work over a long period of time that that kind of anger is coming from a different place right Not from a place of power and privilege but from a place of dependence on a system that often doesn't value um this person and their full Full humanity right Child of God So I I'm just I wonder if that might be a kind of place for our preachers um to do some some careful work and maybe those leading up a Bible study or having a discussion about this passage as well Like what does make you angry And and then that could be kind of a a checkpoint Okay The things that I'm listening to feel really individual or really about me And also yes Okay So then where do we need to kind of uh make some adjustments because perhaps John is in fact talking to me when he says you brood of Vipers
Alicia28:45
Yeah Yeah That those are some really really great reflection questions I think Um the only other like addition I would possibly make is that um uh my counselor my therapist reminds me that anger often comes from boundaries that are crossed Like when when you're healthy good boundaries are trans By others like anger is a tool to kind of identify where those like healthy good boundaries are being crossed or disregarded Um and so maybe that's another reflection point to say like okay where are the things that are making us angry in the way that healthy good sustainable holistic boundaries might be transcribing Um or crossed in some way
Megan29:33
I love the language of boundaries and how it gets us even It keeps us really faithful to the text actually Um again the paths uh the straight way um I really love that connection
Alicia29:48
that um I and and you uh you also reminded us about this connection between joy and freedom And I think I want to keep asking some questions about that uh this week Um just noticing that My personal joy cannot come at the cost of another's freedom Right Like and that that I cannot experience the fullness of God's joy when there are people who are not Um right And so so I I mean I made a joke a little bit ago about this kind of treat yourself mentality right Like I'm not going to treat myself to chocolate That's not fair trade My personal joy My personal tree is not going to come at the cost of somebody Exploited labor as I'm just not going to do it Right Um and I don't I don't want to place that kind of conviction or those practices on on other people Um but just trying to connect for for myself like like if true biblical joy is connected to true biblical freedom then then I then I must guard against I must keep this boundary I must keep this path My joy cannot come at the cost of another's freedom and that if I am going to continue to cultivate joy in my life it must come with cultivating the freedom of others
Megan31:19
Yes yes yes Amen Alicia I think I would also want to ask uh our our preachers those who will be teaching or leading discussion on this passage Just the really concrete question that the people asked John Yeah what should we do that And we talked about it earlier you know several times what should we do then What should we do then What should we do And just inviting Like our folks into really answering that question in a grounded specific kind of way because that's exactly what John does in response to the question you want to know what to do Let me tell ya And you know I've read a bit um our Nestor Cardinals' commentary in preparation for today and he's really Those he's discussing the scripture with are really pushing yes For that concrete answer that concrete next step That next right thing that we've talked about previously but also that that next right thing is connected Like don't don't disconnect it Like don't don't disconnect the fair trade chocolate from the mountain The justice mountain that is right uh fair treatment of agricultural workers So that they're like there are these next right steps There are these really concrete answers and those answers are connected to the first part of chapter three Every valley shall be filled in every mountain and hill made low So it is uh it is a concrete next right step And that is Probably a step not that is not the destination right There is there is a journey There are steps following that step to get us where we need to go Yeah Yes
Alicia33:07
I love I love that I think that's that's so so helpful I love Coming back to these really concrete applications that that John gives that are still so contemporary and so relevant I was reading again this week I'll need to research and put this more concretely in our show notes but I was reading someone draw the distinction um between Journeying and wandering And that we as people have gotten me to become journeyers and not wanders right That there that there are particular paths that we're walking there like a journey that we are joining as we move toward bringing down the mountains and filling up the valleys and straightening out these paths right That we're not wandering aimlessly Um If the paths are not yet quite straight as we're doing this preparation work we are we're on a journey We're not just like floating around Right And and so so that like that work of like you mentioned Megan drawing us back to these concrete next rate steps is part of like continuing to do to do the work and to take the journey rather than just kind of wandering around aimlessly Okay Because we don't want to get stuck in that place where we're only ever asking like what should we do What should we do What should we do right there there are concrete answers too to keep taking the next Like on the way
Megan34:39
all of our Wesley and listeners will love how Alicia just explained sanctification the journey that we're on Right It's it's that's a wonderful distinction between a kind of wandering about in the Christian life versus what those of us Wesleyans understand to be really deeply like the long formation Uh the long road in which we are consistently and continually formed by the work of the spirit Yes So here we are working on the weight locking on the way
Alicia
Well I think that's all the time that we have for today Um this has been such a rich conversation and I'm so grateful that we can ask these questions and wonder aloud together and seek these next rate things together And we hope It's been helpful for our listeners as well We remind you all to check out the website for more written commentaries for the scriptures this week and to sign up for our newsletter to stay in the know you can connect with us on social media for further conversation and you can subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts If you're enjoying the show please leave us a review Let's get the word out special Thanks to all the writers who can treat it this week until my music editing and production Next week on Sunday