A Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent
The Rev. Patricia Gillespie

Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 15:4-13
Matthew 3:1-12
Psalm 72 or 72:1-8

"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

John the Baptist's evangelism technique leaves something to be desired.

Just imagine if I, as your priest, were to dress in animal skins and wander around town greeting folks with "You brood of vipers! Who do you think you are? Repent because the kingdom is near!" Do you think that everyone would flock to our church like they flocked to John in the wilderness? Much better that I dress up in as Santa Claus, or better yet wear bishop's clothing like St. Nicholas, whose feast day is today, and throw around money and chocolate. That's more like the good news we expect this time of year. It may be more like what we expect from the kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of heaven is near, but instead of saying simply "good news!" John is announcing a call to repentance "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near"

What a great Christmas greeting! There will never be a Hallmark Christmas card featuring John the Baptist. Even when he speaks of the powerful one who is to come after him this guy doesn't sound too nice either: The one to come will baptize not with water but with fire and the Holy Spirit

Water seems preferable to fire for baptism, especially if by immersion. The other references here to fire are not too pleasant. We don't want to be among those "thrown into the fire." And John tells us that the one who is to come after him will burn "the chaff" "with unquenchable fire."

Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit any more comfortable? Baptism in the Spirit has got to be better than baptism by fire. Spirit and breath are the same word in the original biblical text. And this is even acted out liturgically In the Early Church when the baptizing bishop breathes onto those being baptized, saying: "Receive the spirit" Baptism with the breath.

This spirit/breath is powerful. It seems as if this messiah sprung from the "stump" or "root of Jesse" can do some dangerous stuff by breathing: Isaiah writes: "with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked" Baptism of the spirit sounds like dangerous business, at least for the wicked.

But John the Baptist & Isaiah the Prophet do seem to share this message: something's gotta go, something needs to be left behind. This is "clean up your act Sunday." It is time to prepare: take out the garbage and do some housecleaning, to make room for a special guest.

But just what does all this unsettling clean-up-your-act stuff have to do with the picture of hope that Isaiah presents?:

"The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together" And there is even a more Minnesotan-type combination: "The cow and the bear shall graze, and their young shall lie down together."

This vision might be a picture of the repentant cleanup that John is asking of us. This might be a hint at how to prepare the way for God to come into our lives. We could take this "peaceable kingdom" personally and think of it as a picture of our inner life:

Can you imagine that the "wolf" of anger & frightening emotions inside you might ever be at rest with the more passive, gentle part of you? Can you imagine that your "inner child," that contemporary psychologists theorize about, might be the part of you that is able to lead your inner life into this kind of peace?

That inner child just might be the part of you that is able to play with the "dangerous serpents" in our lives. When Isaiah writes about the wolf & the lamb living peaceably together it is a little child that shall lead them.

Think about how children approach God. They seem often to be without fear. Children who have been brought up in a loving family haven't yet learned that serpents and people can hurt them. Most children don't worry that God might burn them up with unquenchable fire.

They can be open to newness, listening, ready to be filled. Perhaps they are the ones who are truly "full of the knowledge of the Lord." For adults that knowledge has been hidden behind the brokenness and sin of the world.

Isaiah writes, "They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

And St. Paul writing to the Romans echoes the importance of knowledge: "Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope."

True knowledge of God leads to hope.

Listen, be attentive. Practice childlike openness. And you will have knowledge of God. You will know what a child knows: a child may not know the facts, but what a child does know is about relationships. This is the knowledge that offers hope.

The good news proclaimed here is that the foundation of our faith is Relationship not Law. We can't hope in the law because we seem always to fail those standards. It's like when Santa comes along "He knows if you've been bad or good ...." That's not a hopeful song for most of us.

Our hope is not in trying to keep the law and "to be good for goodness' sake." Our hope is in our relationship with God. And that is why John is calling us to repentance. Repent -- it means turn around: turn toward relationship with God.

The Apostle Paul understands what happens when we repent and turn toward God. When we are in right relationship with God, we are also in relationship with God's people. "Welcome one another, therefore," Paul tells us "just as Christ has welcomed [us].

It is in relationships of loving, open childlike welcome with God and with one another and even within ourselves that we are most open to receive Jesus, who is the one who will come to baptize us with fire and the Holy Spirit. God comes to breathe new life into us and to burn away the garbage in our lives. It's time to clean up our acts, but we don't have to do it ourselves. We simply turn toward God, and the fire and spirit blow it all away or burn it up.

A child born in a stable comes to us like the child in Isaiah playing among the serpents. God came to us like a child into a nest of snakes. And we, the brood of vipers, childlike turn toward the Child -- that's repentance.

It's not the law but our relationship with the Child Jesus that brings us life

Yes, God does know if you've been bad or good, but saints like John the Baptist and Nicholas the Bishop know God loves you anyway. None of us deserves that kind of loving relationship anymore than we deserve to find gold or chocolate in our church pew.

The kingdom of God is at hand, so turn around: people are handing out treats. John baptized and washed clean those sinners who simply turned toward God. Nicholas tossed gold into the stockings of impoverished young women. The Child plays among serpents and forgiveness is scattered freely everywhere, just waiting for us to turn and find it.

You brood of vipers! Turn around because God has a treat for you.