December 13, 2009
What About Them? - Luke 3:7-18
Pastor: Luke Maybry
DownloadWhether you’re ready or not, whether you like it or not, Christmas will be here in less than two weeks, one week from this Friday. If you haven’t done anything at all about that (bought presents, wrapped them, sent Christmas cards, gotten the house all decorated), then we need to talk because I need to feel better about myself. If you have already done all that, then just don’t tell me. I’ve been busy lately, honestly. As far as the Church goes, there is no busier time than Christmas. Holy Week and Easter might give it some competition, but not much. And yet, in two, short measly weeks, it will all be over. Our Christmas trees will be sitting on the curb waiting to be picked up by the garbage man. The turkey will be cold. The gifts will already be in the drawer. Two weeks from today, the Clemson Tigers will be just hours away from losing their bowl game (which is becoming a holiday tradition).
All of which is to ask, what difference does any of it make? We have worked tirelessly for Christmas. Do you know how long it took to put that Christmas breakfast together, or the VIP lunch last week, or the Disciples’ & Voices of Praise concert last week, or the Hanging of the Greens service two weeks ago, or the choir cantata next week, or the Christmas Eve services the week after that? It was hot as blazes outside, in the dead of summer, when we started all of that. So in January, after all of this, what difference will Christmas have made? Is it just that we’ll have a few more possessions? Is it just that we’ll be, as Ebenezer Scrooge said, “a year older (and at least five pounds heavier) and not a penny richer?” If that’s all we have to show for it, then what’s the point? It seems to me that the biggest holiday out of the entire year ought to make some tangible, significant difference. It ought to change us. But does it? We’ll be depressed in January, and our credit cards will be overdrawn, and we’ll be on a diet (we always are in January), but will we be transformed?
We should be, at least according to John. If Christmas means anything at all, if the Savior coming means anything at all, then it has to make some sort of tangible difference. First of all, we know that it needs to make a difference. We may not talk about it, and it may not give us that warm and fuzzy feeling that we like at Christmas, but down deep, we know that we need to change. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come,” John asked the people who came to him. It is obvious that something is off and they knew it, or why would they have gone to John to begin with? We know it, too.
“What then should we do?” the people asked. John told them repent. If you have two coats, give one of them away. Keep in mind, now, that if you only have one coat left and something happens to that one, then you’ll be cold yourself. If you’re a tax collector, then take no more than what the Romans say you should take. Don’t make a profit off of it, John said. If you’re a soldier, be satisfied with your pidly wages and don’t abuse your power. Don’t take advantage of people. Those are three very tangible examples of repentance. If Christmas means anything at all to us, if it’s anything more than a time to find ourselves a few pounds fatter and not a penny richer, then that’s what we’ve got to do.
We may not be tax collectors or soldiers, but we all know what repentance means for us, at least as John defines it: Give away our security blanket, literally. Drastically change our way of thinking so that it is no longer about me, and not even about us, but about them. Our Church is about them. Everything that we do here is for people who aren’t even here yet. Do you see those empty spaces in the pews this morning? What we do is largely for people who aren’t pews yet, but will be. It’s about them before it’s about us. My life is about them. That kind of repentance is very costly, too costly in some ways. As Jesus said seven chapters later, “whoever will save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
My all time favorite movie is “A Christmas Carol” with George C. Scott. I usually watch it every Christmas. One of my favorite lines in that movie is when Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s old business partner who was seven years dead, comes back to visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve. Marley told Scrooge that while it was too late for him (for Marley) to repent, that it was not too late for Scrooge. So therefore, Scrooge would be visited by three ghosts that night. Scrooge had already had a long night, and he hadn’t even gone to bed yet. Three more ghosts was not Scrooge’s idea of a good time. “I think I’d rather not,” Scrooge said.
John is to us a little bit like Marley’s ghost was to Scrooge. John is telling us to change, and that the stakes are high, so therefore the urgency of changing is high. The ax, he says, is at the root of the trees. It’s about to get whacked down, unless it changes, unless we change right now. So whatever path we are on, we need to get off of it and on another one. When Leah and I were in Washington, we flew in and out of Baltimore. On the way back, we had to take a train to get to the Baltimore airport. We didn’t know what train to get on, though, or where to get on it, or what time to get on it, or how to buy a ticket for it. So sure enough, we went to Union Station in Washington and got in the wrong line, for the wrong train, at the wrong time. Fortunately, we discovered that we needed to change lines before it was too late. That’s what John is saying to us, that we’re in the wrong place right now, going in the wrong direction. That’s the whole point. But we, like Scrooge, think to ourselves that we’re not that bad off, and the cost of changing is very high, so we’d really rather not.
Unlike Scrooge, we don’t get three ghosts to come by and scare the daylights out of us. All we get is this strange interruption during the Christmas season named John, who tells us to change, and how to change. We don’t much like John, do we? Christmas puts us in a great mood. It is a busy time of year, but it’s a wonderful time of year. I have not gone Christmas shopping yet. Shopping is not my thing. But even I like to Christmas shop. I like Christmas trees. I like Christmas carols. I like Santa Clause. I do not, however, like John. What are we supposed to do with John? Why can’t we just skip over John? Why does John have to be so weird? Have you read about John in Mark? And he’s so fussy. Why can’t John get with the program and spirit of the holiday season?
By the way, there is no way to get to Jesus without going through John. All four of the Gospels make a big deal out of John. Everybody says that we need to put Christ back in Christmas, which is true. But if we’re going to do that, then we have to talk about John. And we need to talk about John. The way that we celebrate Christmas is almost like a dream. We can escape the world’s harsh realities and blissfully talk about peace on earth, when in fact, there is no peace on earth, and one of the reasons why is that we need to repent. Maybe John makes a lot of sense.
And maybe John isn’t all that bad. John gives us some concrete advice here. All three of John’s examples are about them. Maybe that’s the key. I’ll have to say that my world this Christmas is pretty good. My children are getting to be the perfect age for Christmas. This Christmas will be wonderful for us. I’m doing pretty good this Christmas. They are not doing so good. And frankly, their wellbeing has not bothered me all that much. I think John is saying that it should. I hear that children are giving Santa Clause different kinds of wishes this year. Instead of an MP3 player, they’re asking Santa to give their fathers a job, or their asking Santa if they can stay in their houses because the bank has foreclosed on it. Many children are asking Santa for clean water this year, and it they don’t get it, they will die. Some children are asking Santa for peace, honestly, because if peace does not come to their region of the world, they will die.
I’m not asking for any of that. Oh, I guess I am, but it’s not all that urgent for me. And yet for most of the world, it is. Maybe that’s what repentance means for me. Maybe we ought to be asking, “what about them?” this Christmas. I’m glad to see that we actually are. The Mighty Acts Sunday School class is getting Christmas gifts for almost a hundred children who would otherwise not get anything. We’re going to meet those children on Tuesday night. We’d love to have you. We just sent a whole slew of things up to Gary. In fact, we’re sending one those kids up there to college.
I think if we’re going to take John seriously, I think if we’re going to take Christmas seriously, if we’re going to gain anything other than five extra pounds and an overdrawn credit card this Christmas, then we’ve got to concern ourselves a whole lot about them. We’ve done a good job of that here, but we can always do more. There is no such thing as a Church that is too concerned about them. Everything we do here at Central Steele Creek must have an element of them in it. And by the way, it may not sound Christmassy and all, but the ax is at the root of trees, right now. So go deck them halls, best of luck on the diet, beware of the hidden credit card fees, and whatever you do, do not forget about them.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
