Zephaniah 3:14-20 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke 3:7-18 Canticle 9

“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.”

Our Gospel lesson is a continuation of last week’s lesson in which we read of John baptizing in the River Jordan.  John the Baptist is speaking to a Jewish audience who are the chosen people of God by virtue of being descendants of Abraham.  The Jews who encountered John the Baptist as he was baptizing and demanding repentance felt entitled to their posterity as God’s chosen heirs.  That designation, certainly, is one of which to be proud and for which Christians from every generation since the birth of Christ should be thankful.  

But John wants these people of God who have come seeking baptism to know that with the title comes the responsibility – the title of descendant of Abraham in and of itself has no value if it bears no fruit.   Being chosen meant carrying the responsibility of preserving the word of God and seeking to abide in God’s will from generation to generation.   John’s words are harsh – “You brood of vipers! Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”  There is wrath to come for those who do not bear fruit – “the ax is lying at the root of the trees” that do not bear good fruit.    

Bear fruit worthy of repentance.  John speaks directly to those in the crowd who are wealthy – If you have more than you need, share with those who have less than they need to survive.  He admonishes the tax collectors for their dishonesty; tax collectors in this society would likely be of Jewish descent, but Jews in cahoots with the Roman oppressors.  They were known to be greedy self-serving connivers who skimmed more than their fair share of the profits.   Thirdly, John directs his reprimands at the soldiers; these would have been pagan Roman soldiers.  John instructs them to cease persecuting others to satisfy their need for power and greed.

John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and repeated the prophecy of the one who was to come for which all should be prepared.  In verse 17 of today’s lesson, we learn that the one who is to come has the winnowing fork in his hand to clear the threshing floor.  

If you have not done so thus far in your life, I invite you to experience threshing in a way that allows us to relate to the imagery of the threshing floor.  Experience the exhilaration of the bounty of good grain as it flows into the granary – the good fruit of the tenuous growing season and the tortuous threshing process as the good grains are ripped from their stalks, culled upon the threshing floor, and set aside for God’s purpose.

This exhilaration that follows the threshing is not something we can describe accurately to those who have not experienced it.  The rejoicing like that about which Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians is also difficult for us to describe to those who have not experienced it.   The Philippians were suffering great trials and tribulations – ongoing persecutions from many of the same groups against whom John is preaching.  How is it that they and we can “rejoice in the Lord always?”  What is it to feel the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding guarding our hearts and our minds even through the torturous threshing process?

This 3^rd Sunday of Advent is Gaudete Sunday – gaudete being the Latin word for Rejoice.  Today we relax a bit from the intensity of our penitence in preparation for the first and second coming of Christ to rejoice in the foretaste of Christmas joy.  On this the 3^rd Sunday of Advent, we light our celebratory rose candle, which we will light to signal the beginning of Holy Eucharist.  Our Old Testament lesson from the prophet Zephaniah and our canticle from the First Song of Isaiah share this theme of rejoicing that Paul expresses in our epistle lesson from Philippians.

Explaining joy is beyond our human limitation of language and understanding.  But we can site some characteristics.  Joy brings us patience in our trials and tribulations, as we remain confident that God stirs the threshing process, separating the good grain from the chaff in God’s time on God’s terms.  There is a sense of longing in our joy, in that we long patiently for an ever-deepening relationship with God and with our neighbors in need.  

Our joy brings a non-anxious presence that allows us to move calmly through the trials of each day.  We come to God in prayerful humility, accepting that God is all-powerful – omnipotent, and that we are dependent upon His grace for our salvation.  And we come to God in thanksgiving, coming worthily though aware of our unworthiness.   Joy comes when we can with gratitude successfully lay our cares and anxieties in God’s hands – when we can say along with Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Joy brings peace.  Peace – positive peace, not simply the absence of violence or conflict, like joy, is beyond our human understanding and articulation.  When we have come through our own threshing process – the process of a difficult decision or the acceptance of grievous circumstances that cannot be changed, we say we are at peace.  This peace of God that passes our human understanding is placed mercifully within our reach as we seek a right relationship with God.

Joy brings patience; joy brings release from our anxieties; and joy brings peace to our hearts.

Like the Jewish people of John’s audience, our title (in our case, our title as Christian) has no value if it bears no fruit.  The title as Christian in and of itself does not entitle us to joy.   Our joy comes from the experience of God’s bountiful grace; our joy comes in the bearing of the good fruit; our joy comes in the accepting of the responsibility of our title as God’s children commissioned to spread the Good News of the Gospel to all the ends of the earth.  

Bear fruit worthy of repentance.  Bear fruit worthy of your title as Christian and the responsibility that it brings.  Make joy your focus.  It is not God who is the brood of vipers, but those who would malign our desire for joy and exploit God’s message of unconditional love for each and every one of us.  

Be patient with God’s time, non-anxious and at peace, trusting God even through the great threshing process of life.  And with great joy and exaltation, proclaim with John the Good News of salvation.  Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say, rejoice.