3rd Sunday of Advent

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

National Public Radio has a wonderful series on Friday mornings called ‘Story Crops’. It invites family members and friends to interview each other about their lives’ stories. Some of the experiences shared are funny, many are moving, and all a full of love.

Today’s gospel text reminded me of a funny one. Two brothers were talking to each other about their late great-uncle. This uncle was very straight-laced and very religious. The story the brothers were sharing took place on Halloween night 1938, an age where many people got their entertainment from the radio and radio plays were very popular. That night, Orson Wells directed and narrated the radio play “The War of the Worlds”. In news bulletin style, the program pretended to inform listeners of an alien invasion of Martians who were taking over the country and devastating the land and the cities.

Many listeners bought the story as truth and were panicked. Among them was the great-uncle. He got his wife into the car and drove to his brother’s house. They all met in the yard and prepared for the end of the world. They started confessing to each other, in order to avoid eternal damnation. The more they confessed, the more agitated and angry they got. It was quite the scene.

The confessing ended when a neighbor called over the fence and informed the group that the whole thing had been a play; there was no alien invasion and the world was not coming to an end.

The confessors stopped, looked at each other, and without a word the great-uncle grabbed his wife by the elbow, put her in the car, and off they went back home. He was never able to see the humor in this whole episode, and whenever this incident came up in conversation at family gatherings, he stood up and left the room.

The great-uncle thought the end of the world was coming. He wanted to avoid judgment and punishment, and so he confessed his heart out. John the Baptist would have loved him. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”, he greets the crowd coming out to him to the River Jordan for a baptism of repentance. He speaks of winnowing forks and fires, of an ax at the root of the tree; scary images, just like images of  alien invasion scared the crowds in 1938.

And the crowds react with the same frightened question: What can we do? How can we avoid the ax and the fire? What do you want us to do?

At which point John suddenly gets very reasonable, almost pastoral. He speaks to persons representing different professions and gives them advice on how to live the kind of life that will keep them out of trouble with God’s judgment. To the soldiers he says: Don’t blackmail and don’t abuse your power. To the toll collectors he says: Be content with your income and don’t cheat. To the crowd he says: Share your things and your food.

This doesn’t sound too hard, does it? We could write these rules on our walls at home, at work, in church: Share. Be content. Be honest. Don’t abuse power. Be satisfied. These are great rules.

They are rules Jesus would agree with, too. In his ministry, Jesus will say a lot about being generous and caring, honest and content.

Jesus would also agree with John’s overall assertion that these people don’t have to stop what they are doing and start over. Rather, he tells them to continue performing their professions, but to do so in an ethical, moral manner. Keep being a soldier, but to so honorably. Keep being a toll collector, but do so honestly. Keep doing what you are doing, but do it in a generous way.

Yes, Jesus would fully agree with John here. As, incidentally, would Martin Luther. We don’t all have to be monks and priests, Luther wrote, in order to do God’s will. We all have a calling to use our individual gifts and talents and passions for the good of all of God’s people. In fact, Luther wrote, the milk maid who faithfully milks the cow every morning is performing a work just as important in God’s kingdom as the bishop.

John, Jesus, Luther: They all say the same thing: Keep working in your calling. Find what you are good at and passionate about, and do it. Just do it in an honest, honorable, content, generous, and faithful way. That is your service to God.

So far so good. But here is where John and Jesus differ in a very important way: The motivation for living by those rules.

For John, following the advice he gives would prevent people from being cut down with an ax, winnowed out like chaff, and burnt in unquenchable fire. The motivation behind doing the right thing is fear. The crowds are as scared as the great-uncle, and willing to do whatever it takes to escape eternal damnation: confessing, living ethically, whatever; you name it – they’ll do it because they are so afraid.

For Jesus, living by these rules is the thankful response of faith. As John says, Jesus the Messiah will baptize his people with the Holy Spirit, and with that Holy Spirit comes faith, and our adoption into God’s family, and the promise of our salvation, and our trust in God’s promises, and our becoming part of the body of Christ, the church. Those who are baptized by and through the messiah do not need to fear judgment any longer. Among the followers of Jesus, there is no scary expectation of winnowing forks and axes and unquenchable fire. In Christ, there is no more fear.

Instead, what motivates us to follow the rules of Christian ethics is love and faith and thankfulness, thankfulness that we are already saved and can live without fear.

Jesus does bring fire. But it is not the fire of hellfire and brimstone John was expecting. It is instead the fire of passion, the fire of love. The Holy Spirit sets us on fire with a vision of life in the kingdom of God. We are so excited by that vision that we do what we can to make that vision become reality in this world.

You have a calling. The Messiah has set you on fire with a passion for God and for God’s people. The Lord has gifted you with certain abilities and preferences and skills. You are invited, asked, called to use them for God’s kingdom-work in this world.

So stay at your jobs. In fact, give thanks to God that you have a job or volunteer position. Go about your profession, but do so in a way that reflects your faith. Be honest. Be honorable. Be generous and caring. Be content.

And be joyful. All the other lessons assigned for this Sunday speak of the joy we believers have because God is in our lives, because Jesus has offered us salvation, and because the Holy Spirit has given us faith, hope, and love. Paul writes: Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say, Rejoice!

Here is a real-life example for how the two different motivations work: Take Stewardship. It’s budget time, so stewardship is on our minds. God’s word in the Bible sets out a vision for our giving to God’s mission in the church: 10% of our income. That’s the goal followers of Christ are called to move towards; it’s called tithing.

A disciple of John the Baptist would say: I better tithe, or else God’s wrath will come down on me hard. There is an ax waiting for me, so I better give now.

A disciple of Jesus would say: I am so grateful that God loves me, that Jesus died and rose for me, that the Holy Spirit forgives and revives and guides me daily; I just have to express my thankfulness and joy by giving 10% of what I earn to the church so God can reach even more people with his love.

Fear or love; both motivations lead to the same action, but who finds more joy and fulfillment and meaning in the action?

Because of Jesus our Messiah, living by the rules of the kingdom is not about fear, but about joy. Great joy. Contagious joy. Joy born out of the knowledge and trust that God loves us and welcomes us.

This trust in God’s love is lifegiving as we deal with the ongoing COVID pandemic.

John’s followers would say: This is God’s wrath. Better straighten out your life now before it is too late.

But as Jesus’ followers, we can say: This is not God’s doing, but a reminder that we live in a fallen world. As we struggle, we can lean on the comfort of a loving God. We can share the love of Christ with each other. We can rely on the Holy Spirit to give us strength and hope for each new day. We can use our faith and skills and passions to make this world a better and godlier place.

Let us not be discouraged by the news we hear daily, by the financial worries of our families and our nation, by our over-exhausted environment, by difficult diagnoses, by the many worries and challenges that we face. Let us not be overwhelmed, but let us go about our work and follow our calling and serve God to the best of our ability and live in the joy and peace that only God can give and that passes all understanding.

I began with a story, now I will finish with a story; a story that illustrated how the absence of fear gives us room to serve God in our work.

About 230 years ago, the Connecticut House of Representatives was in session on a bright day in May; the delegates were able to do their work by natural light. But then something happened that nobody expected. Right in the middle of debate, the day turned to night. Clouds obliterated the sun, and everything turned to darkness. Some legislators thought it was the Second Coming. So a clamor arose. People wanted to adjourn. People wanted to pray. People wanted to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

But the speaker of the House had a different idea. He was a Christian believer, and he rose to the occasion with good logic and good faith. “We are all upset by the darkness,” he said, “and some of us are afraid. But the Day of the Lord is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. And if the Lord is returning, I, for one, choose to be found doing my duty. I therefore ask that candles be brought."

And men who expected Jesus went back to their desks and resumed their debate.

Let us live like men and women and children who expect Jesus - with joy. Amen.