[Propertalk] Sermon points - Matthew 3:1-12 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

What John points to is the God who is not willing to stand by and wag the finger of judgment, tossing the unrighteous into unquenchable fire. It's a God who is willing to enter the burning chaos of human life and save it. John can only talk about those things that stand in the way of our faithful living. He blusters. He yells. He spits out his judgment, but he remains in the wilderness, far away from the lives of those who are streaming to him. 
Jesus, on the other hand, is the one who enters into the heart of human life, takes into himself all those things that separate us from God. He steps into the gap between our inner life and our external behavior. His work ends, not in self-righteous satisfaction at letting those sinners have it. It ends at the cross when the power of sin and separation and self-righteousness is burned off like the morning dew. On Easter morning, what those sinners get is his ongoing life. They may indeed be worthy of judgment, but what they get is new life.

http://day1.org/620-let_us_have_it

Bradley Schmeling, 2004
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He was a rare man. He was an unusual man.  It is not every one who is reared in an orphanage out in the desert with very little contact with human civilization or the city. Not every one is reared without a mother or father, without brothers or sisters. Not every one is reared by a group of old men in a monastery out in the desert far away from the city.  Of course, he would turn out a little strange. Wouldn't you? He was a very unusual man.   
http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_the_city_and_the_wilderness.htm

Edward F. Markquart
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"Just wait 'til your father gets home!"
With these words, Mother would attempt to corral the behavior of my brother Michael and me. After a time those words didn't quite do the trick, so she would say, "Your father will be home any minute."  This was better, but nothing would call us to attention and on some occasions --  repentance like the words, "Your father is pulling into the driveway!"
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The fear we had of "dad" was not a fear that drove us away.  Instead, it drew us to him -- to this day it wraps around our spirits like a warm blanket of security. 
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¹ John the Baptist's movement is mentioned in all four gospels and was strong enough to persist into the earliest days of the Church.  Acts 18:18ff tells of the first days of the church at Ephesus.   Shortly after Paul had begun the work at Ephesus, a charismatic teacher named Apollos came with a teaching ministry that was powerful.  Apollos was a disciple of John the Baptist.  He became a christian teacher...  but the story of the Ephesian church shows the strength of John's movement.  In John 3:25ff the disciples of John come to him concerned that another (Jesus) was drawing people to his movement. John's ministry is frequently understated or not fully understood.  His was a strong call to holiness and renewal that can speak to us today. 

http://www.lectionarysermons.com/ADV2-98.html

John Jewell, 1998
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 The change which came with Jesus was not one that people expected, probably not the one John expected either. But his warning that it was a time for "metanoia," a word meaning "total transformation" was valid for his day. And for ours. We are called upon during advent and indeed through our whole lives to transform ourselves, to break out of our old habits and begin life again as a new person. 

http://www.agreeley.com/hom01/dec09.htm

Andrew M. Greeley, 2001
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Always remember that the call to fruitfulness is not a contradiction of grace, but rather a confirmation of it. Fruit does not call attention to itself as the basis of its life. It doesn't produce itself. Fruit is the result of a good tree, good soil and a wise and skillful gardener. If the wilderness of our lives and of the world we live in is ever to blossom again, it will be the result of God's grace at work. Fruit never points to itself, but rather always points to the source and creator of it. Fruit shows that a tree is alive but it does not point to itself as the basis of its life. So also our confession of sin and our repentance must be adorned with fruit. But we never point to that fruit as the basis of our life; we point only and always to Christ and his work-the work he has done for us and continues to do in us. 

http://www.kerux.com/documents/KeruxV01N1A5.asp

Lawrence Semel
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