12.9.12--Sermon on Luke 3:1-18

In the summer of 2000, my family took a vacation to a beach house in Port Aransas. This was the first time that we had gone to the beach as a family since we had moved back to Texas from Hawaii, and I have to tell you, I was extremely excited about it. We had a large group of family and friends going with us, and I couldn’t wait to play in the waves, find amazing-looking seashells, and go snorkeling in the midst of all of the beautifully colored fish in the bays.

I kept telling everyone in the car with us how excited I was, talking about all I wanted to do and bragging about my expert-level boogie boarding skills.

I was a mean boogie boarder.

Everyone with us, though, kept looking at me funny, like they were not understanding what I was talking about. My cousins and friends—who had all been to Port A before—didn’t seem to share in my excitement about snorkeling in the clear blue ocean water or about the chance to dive in and out of eight foot waves. I could not understand why they weren’t jumping up and down like I was, how they were able to contain their pent-up excitement so well.

Then we arrived at the beach, and it all made sense.

You see, the Gulf of Mexico is not exactly known for its tubular waves or clear blue waters. It is not known for beautifully-shaped shells or brightly-colored tropical fish. Its waters are more of a brownish color, with breakers rarely peaking over a couple feet, and the most colorful fish you are likely to find are red fish, which are great for fishing, but lousy for snorkeling.

As beaches go, the Gulf is left wanting.

I was so disappointed! My hopes were dashed, and I felt betrayed. The beaches I had grown up around were the tropical paradises of Guam and Hawaii. In my head, all beaches are pristine, beautifully clear, just the perfect temperature, and surf-ready. Port Aransas had none of these things. How could I go from picture perfection to this?!

I spent the first few days that we were there complaining to anyone and everyone around me. While everyone else was enjoying themselves and soaking up as much sun and sand as possible, I was nostalgically and annoyingly reminiscing of the good old days of yore. Finally one of my uncles had enough of it. He called me over and told me stop moping around and go have fun. He said I was ruining the vacation for myself and others.

And he was right.

I had been so wrapped up in the past—so wrapped up in how great and amazing and beautiful things were—that I was missing out on the chance to enjoy and engage the wonderful time of fun and fellowship around me right then.

The beach at Port Aransas was not the white-sanded surf spot that I had grown up loving, but it was full of my friends and family, full of sunshine and water, and had the potential to be an amazing adventure. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was just as amazing for completely different reasons.

That’s how life works sometimes, isn’t it? We spend so much of our energy focusing on what was while something with the potential to be just as amazing is happening around us now. You know, now that I think about it, that’s how God works too, isn’t it?

Take our Gospel lesson from today. The third chapter of Luke’s account of the Gospel of Christ opens almost like the beginning of a history record. “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the rejoin of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas…” It is full of empirical detail that serves a couple of purposes.

The first is to center this in a specific date in history. Even if calendars change, even if a number of records are damaged due to war or weather and are lost, it will not be too hard for future generations to situate the following events in the greater historical timeline. Emperor Tiberius reigned over the largest kingdom in the known world. Rome was not going anywhere for a long time, so using this fact as a marker is pretty smart. In the same way, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas, and Caiaphas are all real people whose rule is recorded in the annals of Jewish history. First century readers and all the way through twenty-first century readers can historically place the following events with fair accuracy.

This is the obvious purpose of this text, but there is a second, hidden purpose as well. In this historical introduction, we also read of the current plight of the Jews. They are no longer the free people of the promise that they were when David was their king. Their hay day is long past. Now, after centuries of oppression from the Persians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, they are still under someone else’s rule. This is the fifteenth year in the reign of Emperor Tiberius, the ruler of Rome. Even though he has never set foot in Jerusalem, he is without a doubt their sovereign, and he rules through his governor, Pontius Pilate, and his Jewish puppet kings Herod, Philip, and Lysanias. It is not an easy time to be a Jew. Even the priesthood has been compromised, for Annas and Caiaphas were two priests who used the Temple treasury to by their appointments to the highest religious position.

Things are not looking good for the people of God.

But out of this oppression and desolation, God speaks. And God speaks—as God usually does—in the most interesting and unexpected of places to the most interesting and unexpected of people. God speaks to John, the son of Zechariah the priest, in the middle of the wilderness.

And John takes this message and shares it with the people throughout the Judean region. To these people living in oppression and depression, he preaches a message of change. He urges them to repent and prepare themselves, for the Messiah is coming. He goes on to say the Lord is going to lower every mountain and hill, raise up every valley. God is going to do something new in the midst of the injustice around them.

I can imagine that some people responded really well to this. Crowds flocked to John, following him from place to place and being baptized by him in the Jordan River. They probably loved his message that God was going to do something new and they probably actively engaged the joyous work of helping make that happen.

I’m also pretty sure that some people didn’t respond so well. I’m sure that some looked around them, saw how bad it was, and decided that there was nothing that could be done to change things. I’m sure that some people spoke out and railed against John, saying things like “It’s too late! We’re too far gone.” or maybe “You don’t understand how far we’ve fallen!” or even “It’s not our fault that we are like this! It’s because of how we’ve been treated by others! What can we do to fix their mess? Why should we?”

Holy Scripture contains a number of places where people turn away because the Good News seems too good to be true. Maybe this is one of those places. The truth, though, is that every time someone focuses so hard on how good it used to be compared to how bad it seems now they miss out the amazing things that are happening around them.

John’s message was meant to prepare the world for the coming of Christ. God was doing an amazing new thing in the world, and John was chosen to prepare the way for it. He gave the people a chance to embrace the miracle that was happening around them, and he even warned them what would happen if they continued to focus on how good it used to be and bad it was now.

“Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives. And don’t even think about saying to yourselves, Abraham is our father. I tell you that God is able to raise up Abraham’s children from these stones. The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and tossed into the fire.”

John was urging the Israelites to step up and engage with God in bringing about God’s kingdom. Too long, the people of God has been oppressed by others and living nostalgically through tales of their ancestor’s valor during “the good old days.” It was high time that they realized that God had work for them to do now, a new work, and good work, a work that would produce good fruit and help bring about the everlasting kingdom of God on earth.

Friends, we have the same choice today. Just like so many years ago, we have to make the choice: do we dwell on the past and focus on how bad things seem to be, or do we joyfully join God in the work of making all things new?

I received an email this week from Pastor Jere, the wonderful woman who was kind enough to preach for me last week while we were checking James out of the hospital. She spoke of how much fun she had with all of you and how great it was to spend time with this wonderful congregation. She ended her message, though, by sharing with me that at both Ellisdale and Crosswicks, people came up to her after the service and lamented to her the hardships that these churches have had to endure because of the past pastors and because of poor choices by the greater church leadership. She said that it was sad to hear such bitter complaint and congregational scarring so many years later in casual conversation after worship.

Brothers and sisters, I know that many here feel hurt and slighted about the church’s current situation and our recent history, but let me share with you a very important word: God is doing something new in this place. The piece of our past does not define our future, for our God is so much bigger than this and God’s church has endured so much greater hardship. We can move from this place and this situation to growth, to health, to a flourishing ministry.

But we have to choose to do so.

The words of John the Baptist ring true for us today. We must choose to produce fruit that shows our lives and our hearts have been changed and ignited by the Spirit of God. Too long, we as God’s people here have dwelt on perceived oppressions and focused only on the nostalgia of what was. It is time that we realize that God has work for us to do now, a new work, and good work, a work that would produce good fruit and help bring about the everlasting kingdom of God on earth.

May we all choose well. Amen.