January 5, 2020 Christmas 2 Matthew 3-4

            By now I’m sure you’re sick of Christmas songs, at least I am, but it’s January 5 and the twelve-day Christmas season goes until tomorrow.  So indulge me in one more Christmas song, albeit a secular one.  I’m sure you know it well:

You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town
He's making a list
He's checking it twice
He's going to find out
Who's naughty and nice, Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows when you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake

            Though this is a secular song it mixes in old ideas about the Christian saint: Nicholas, Bishop of Myra.  Legends give St. Nicholas almost God-like qualities.  Every year St. Nicholas reviews the lives of people and uses Christmas as a time to give an annual update about one’s place in heaven. 

St. Nicholas was believed to travel into hell before he made his rounds to people’s homes.  While in hell he would grab a demon – which became the source of Santa having elves – and take that demon with him on his world tour.  The demon was to frighten “naughty” people into better behavior.  Coal in one’s stocking was originally a fiery ember taken from hell.  Getting one in your stocking meant that as of that moment, without repentance, to hell is where you were going!

            Along that line of thinking, John the Baptist appears at the beginning of our gospel reading today.  He says, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  His message goes along the lines of Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  He teaches that the Messiah is coming soon as a great avenger of wrongdoing.  He sees all and knows all.  His winnowing fork is in his hand and he’s going to clear the threshing floor.  The good will be kept.  The rest will be swept away.  So as if Christmas is coming, now’s the time to shape up.  You’d better do it before it’s too late.

            And John the Baptist is pulling no punches.  Many believed that a Jewish bloodline made them God’s chosen and therefore somehow having the inside track into God’s love.  They were “children of Abraham” by bloodline.  John says that means nothing.  God could raise up children to Abraham from the stones laying around.  He also calls the religious leaders a brood of vipers.  That’s more than just an insult.  It has theological meaning too.  In those days vipers, or snakes, were believed to be born by eating their way out of their mother’s womb.  So the image is that they have eaten their way out of the maternal covenant they originally had.

            Yes, John the Baptist presents the coming Messiah as a great and ferocious warrior.  He says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!  The naughty and nice lists are about to be acted upon.

            But then Jesus comes on the scene.  And when John is arrested Jesus begins his public ministry.  And notice that Jesus’ words are absolutely identical to those of John the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  These are the very same words, but a very different intent.  Will Jesus be the kind of Messiah John the Baptist predicted?  Will he be the kind of Messiah anyone expected? 

Will Jesus bring out his lists of who’s naughty and who’s nice and set up a court of law to judge? 

            What is this “kingdom of heaven” that has come near?

            In ways that are subtle, but very notable, Jesus is going to turn things upside down.

            Remember John saying that God could raise children to Abraham from the stones?  And if you can remember it, to whom does Matthew trace Jesus’ genealogy?  Back to Abraham.  But here the Abraham covenant is remembered differently from the way the Jewish leaders understood it.  Children of Abraham did not have to do with blood lines.  It had to do with God’s covenant – new agreement with people.  God made unconditional promises to Abraham.  Abraham struggled to believe those promises but they came about.  And now Jesus is going back to them to show people how to establish righteousness with God.  It will be about relationship, not bloodline.

            Jesus’ baptism can be understood as the moment he becomes public in his role as Savior.  But he does not immediately take center stage.  First he is driven into the wilderness to be tested by evil.  The tests get at one simple point.  How will Jesus use his powers and his role of Savior?  Will he use them the way the world would use them?  After all, don’t we say things like the Army’s advertising slogan, “Be all you can be!”  Social media is full of inspirational memes that encourage us to reach for the stars and grab hold of what we deserve.

            I haven’t seen the movie Frozen 2 but it reminds me of the scene in the first Frozen movie where Elsa (being afraid of and hiding her miraculous powers to create ice and snow) has hidden them and put herself in seclusion.  And then when all is discovered she flees to the mountains and lets it all go.  If you’ve seen the movie you surely remember the inspiring scene where she sings Let it Go and creates for herself a colossal and stunning ice palace.  We share in her exhilaration of freedom and wish we could free ourselves from every burden and expectation that binds our true selves.

            But…

            But… unbeknownst to Elsa she has thrown the entire land into a snowy, deep, and permanent freeze.  Few people pick up on that lesson from the movie.  Using your own powers for your own purposes hurts a lot of others and destroys things.  As the movie progresses Elsa will learn to control her powers for the good of all.

            How will Jesus use his powers?  That is the testing in the wilderness.  Unbridled he would cause terror and destruction.  So before he even takes the stage as Savior we learn that his powers will be controlled for the good of all.

            After John the Baptist is arrested and taken off the scene then and only then does Matthew tell us Jesus begins his public ministry.  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Same words, very different message.

            Jesus immediately starts to collect followers for his movement to bring about the kingdom of heaven here on earth.  But we’ve noted many times in the past that he does not form a search committee or hire head hunters.  He does not go to the prestigious centers of learning of the day, the “ivy-league colleges” if you will, and seek out the brightest and best up and coming talent.  He stays in the unremarkable district of Galilee and starts inviting some fishermen to follow him.  About the only thing these fishermen are good for is that they aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty and work hard.  Certainly no one has ever chosen them for anything special before.  They are mediocrity to the core.

            That is how Jesus begins to bring about the kingdom of God.

            What does all this mean for our day to day lives?  Surely we should all develop the skills we have to do all that we can with them.  But to what end?  To amass for ourselves the most?  No.  To equip ourselves in service to others.  Sometimes that’s easy.  A Boy Scout sees and elderly woman struggling to cross the street and he helps her out.  But often being the most for others is complicated.  It isn’t easy.  Jesus certainly did not have a one-size-fits-all approach to ministry.  Sometimes he got angry.  He harshly criticized and challenged some people.  Some people he met with warmth and abounding forgiveness.  And one size does not fit all for us.

            On my way travels to and from North Dakota the last weeks I had a layover at the train station in Chicago.  With time to kill the kids and I decided to go outside and walk around center city, leaving Nissa to watch the luggage.  Union Station is only a block from the Willis Tower so we decided to walk around it.  And then we were struck by a whim.  Our usual fare for such a layover is to grab something from the McDonalds in the train station.  But kitty corner from the Willis Tower we spotted another McDonalds.  Which one had better prices?  We decided to step inside.  Just as we were about in the door we encountered a beggar jangling a cup of coins and asking for change.

            What to do?  Don’t you hate those moments?  This man was clean, groomed, and warmly dressed.  I’ve met some with matted hair and you could smell them almost before you saw them; smell them because of body odor or because of breath from whatever they had been drinking.

            Everything I’ve ever been taught, and even the Servant or Sucker course we’ve offered here a couple times says not to give anything.  You’re just enabling addictions at worst or preventing them from being a constructive part of society at best.  That course suggests that you support and participate in local efforts and organizations, things like Family Promise.  Then we people ask for help you direct them toward such programs.  It’s a good idea.  You are committed but not you alone and you minimize perpetuating destructive habits.  But what to do when you are face to face with someone begging?

            Certainly don’t throw insults at them.  Just ignore them?  That’s tempting.  Some of my colleagues carry little care kits with like socks and soap and pass them out when someone begs.  That’s a good idea I guess.  But I’ve seen beggars take one glance at those things and chuck them on the ground.  I’ve thought it would be good to load my car with my favorite candy bars and give them out.  That would create a yummy and kind of personal connection.  But it wouldn’t work.  I’d just eat them all myself, plus chocolate melts too easily.

            With that man at that McDonalds staring me in the face asking for spare change, what should I do?  How should I as a child of God and a sinner in need of God’s grace connect with this man who is also made in the image of God and in need of God’s grace?  I confess I think I failed.  I made the briefest eye contact, nodded almost imperceptibly, and hurried past him in discomfort.

            What I should have done, especially given that I had hours of nothing to do ahead of me, is at least given him a couple seconds of my time.  My kids were with me but they are grown enough that I didn’t have to worry about their safety.  Plus we were the sidewalk of a busy street.  There was no danger.  I probably should have stopped, greeted him and shaken his hand, and then simply told him that I don’t give out spare change but I support programs that help people get back on their feet.

            One thing is certain, he wouldn’t have liked me for doing it.  He was counting on people tossing in a few coins without making eye contact and continuing on their way.  But comfortable for him or not, someone who stops, touches him through a hand shake, asks his name and shares his or her own, has given him humanity.  It is noting that he is worthwhile.

            “Repent, the kingdom of heaven has come near,” is not a warning to get off Santa’s naughty list.  It’s a call to use who you are for others; to build them up.  It is difficult, but not amazing.  Through Abraham God has made a covenant of relationship, not rules.  Lots of little things add up to huge piles.  And God’s kingdom is the building of relationships with others.