SERMON, ADVENT 3C, LUKE 3:7-18

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

And so John lashes out at the crowds around him. This is the John who wore camel skin and ate wild honey and locusts. This is the John who pulled no punches. This is the John who spoke directly and confrontationally to peasants, scholars and kings alike. This is the John who would lose his head because of his words.

It would be easy to get caught up in the emotions of John. It would be easy to talk about hellfire and brimstone, vipers and sin, and a judgment that cuts a path through unrighteousness to burn that which doesn't produce good fruit. It would be easy to talk about sin; and how if you don't repent, you'll spend an eternity in the unquenchable fire.

But you know what? As I've said before, I am not in the business of scaring the hell out of people. And, according to Luke, neither was John. Let's take a look at Luke for a bit, and then we'll come back to John.

Luke's writing is like an iron fist in a velvet glove. Some of our most beautiful, pastoral and comforting stories come from Luke. The Magnificat, for instance, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;" or a tiny baby, born in a stable to a young girl because there was no room at the inn; or the Song of Simeon, "Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised;" and the stories of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are but a few examples of Luke's lovely writing style.

But hidden behind those beautiful, pastoral and comforting stories are images of change, reversals, leveling and inclusion. The Magnificat is one of the most rebellious pieces of poetry ever: "He has scattered the proud, brought down the powerful and lifted up the lowly, he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty." Talk about leveling and reversal.

With the manner of birth, God is changing how we see and relate to him. Jesus is a Savior born in a lowly stable. This isn't the God of thunder and lightning and power from on high; but this is the God who cares enough about his creation to come down and meet us face to face and walk with us as we struggle through this life.

And the Song of Simeon points to the inclusivity of God: "For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior whom you have prepared for all the world to see." All the world. Not just the righteous, or those belonging to the right church, or those of the right political bent, but all the world. Everyone is included and welcomed into his embrace.

Luke, more than any other gospel I think, is especially concerned with the plight of the less fortunate and downtrodden. It seems that this social responsibility infuses everything he writes. He focuses on women, outsiders, the poor, and how those people -- the people not of the majority -- are important to God. And if you can look past John's ranting today, you will see it there as well.

So getting back to John . . . if you look past the vipers and the unquenchable fire you will see change, leveling and inclusion. Change in the form of repentance. It's one thing to scream "REPENT!!" to people, but it's quite another to give examples as John does. Change your attitude. Repent of the complacency that says, "We've always done it this way, so it must be okay." Just because we make claims to Christianity doesn't mean that we can rest on that claim and quit living out our faith.

We hear of the leveling call of John when he talks about sharing our coats and food with those who have none. It's in his call to not charge more than is necessary and to not act in an unethical manner in order to protect what we have.

And John's call for inclusion is all through this passage. Don't rely on your family history or whether you belong to the right church because God can, and will, make disciples from anyone and anything; including rocks. John allowed tax collectors and foreigners in his midst to be baptized because he knew that everyone is welcome into the family of God and the community of faith. We can do no less.

Underneath it all, the thing that drives John's preaching is the act of repentance. The world we live in is full of sin. Sins of war, abuse and neglect are all around us. Sin just isn't the big stuff, though; it's things known and unknown, done and left undone.

What John is asking us to do is to examine our lives and see where we sin. What are we being asked to do to promote the kingdom of God, and how are we sinning by not acting on that request? Are we inviting people to join us? Are we sharing our good fortune with others? Are we focusing only on our wants and not the needs of others?

What God is asking, and what John is proclaiming, is that we turn everything upside down, for us to turn around; in short, for us to repent.

Who warned us to flee from the wrath to come? Why John did, of course. Maybe being a brood of vipers isn't so bad after all; at least they were smart enough to see the danger of the fire and change direction.