Year A
Matthew 3:1-12
The Rev. Denise Vaughn
The Christ Child Fulfills the Promises of God
Over the centuries, the Church has come to understand that Christians need time set aside in the year to consider again the full significance of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We need to do this because the meaning and joy of Christmas can easily elude us unless we take this time during Advent to focus on the promises of God that have come to fulfillment in the birth of the Christ child. This time of preparing in the Church year stands in direct tension with our contemporary world and for most it has been displaced by our consumer society. What is important now for many is the hanging of twinkling Christmas lights, parties and the gazing at an abundance of material goods all for the buying. Our hope is that these things will bring us the joy and happiness that we all long for and need, leading us to focus on our own ideals and longings which often can be in stark contrast to the promises of God.
To help us consider again what God has promised and done for us we hear from John the Baptist today, one of my favorite biblical characters, who calls the people of Israel and us to a different preparation. His message is hard hitting: Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. John asks us to examine ourselves, rather than bask in holiday wonder. We should bear good fruit, instead of worrying about what material things we will give or get. A rather comical figure, but for Matthew, John’s strange clothes and harsh sayings are all necessary to communicate the meaning of the gospel. Last week, I reminded us that during this new church year, our focus would be in the gospel of Matthew. Matthew, the tax collector who was one of Jesus’ disciples, was Jewish and he was writing for the Jewish community. His purpose was to present Jesus as the Messiah his people had been waiting for. Having been trained in the Jewish tradition and scriptures, his gospel is all about making the connections between the Old Testament prophecies of Jesus and the life of Jesus.
Knowing this about Matthew, helps us to understand his focus on John the Baptist who has one foot in the old age or the old covenant that was coming to an end and the other foot in the new age, the new covenant that was being born in Jesus Christ. John is a bridge between eras in Israel’s history. He was on the margins but clearly described by Matthew as a prophetic figure speaking with a prophetic voice, speaking of things to come and performing a prophetic action-baptism. His prophetic witness was a direct challenge to the authorities and his baptism was for those who were flocking to the wilderness to confess their sins and turn once again to the God of their ancestors.
Matthew’s gospel makes it clear that we all need to be on our toes because this God that John announces arrives with the most astonishing combination of acceptance, admonition and judgment. What we discover from this combination during Advent is that we are loved and cherished for who we are and also responsible for what we do. I believe this is good news because if God loves us enough to continually seek us and welcome us into God’s family through baptism, than surely God expects something from us. John says we are to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” God desires us to turn again, to repent and realign ourselves in accord with Jesus’ life – turn our lives back over to the Lord.
Using several images in the text today, Matthew helps us enlarge our vision and capture the full picture of what God has done for us in becoming human flesh and gives us an idea of what it looks like to realign our lives with Christ. One image is the wilderness. John is preaching in the wilderness and is a voice crying out in the wilderness. Wilderness evokes memories of the history of Israel, its joys and its troubles. God led the people of Israel out of Egypt, out of bondage into the wilderness. They sinned and rebelled against God yet, it was there in the wilderness that they learned how to trust and obey God. If you have had an opportunity to read anything written by the great mystics of the church, like Julian of Norwich, you will find they all talk about those wilderness times because we all wander at times in the wilderness when we are not sure if God is with us or hears us. Yet, God promises to keep with us pointing the way ahead. God is Emmanuel which means God is with us. I have experienced wilderness times in my life; as I’m sure you have also. For me, they are always difficult times but end up to be times of growth and learning to once again trust God and turn my life back to God. Advent calls us to remember and affirm that Christ has brought each one of us out of bondage, this wilderness, through the cross and has set us in a new direction for our lives.
Another key image for Matthew is baptism. John’s baptism called people to repentance and points forward to a more radical baptism in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This new baptism, the one we experienced, represents God’s act of claiming us as members of this new life in Christ. It calls us to repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We are given a new identity and adopted into the family of God becoming inheritors of the kingdom of God called to the work of spreading God’s kingdom. This new kingdom of God brings a break with the past. The world can no longer go about its business as usual. The ax is being laid to the root of the trees; every tree without good fruit will be thrown into the fire. The old is passing away. In Christ the new has come. God has fulfilled God’s promises in Jesus.
Remembering these promises helps us to trust that Christ is with us, and faithful service to the world affirms it. We are a people of God who have been entrusted with the ministry of servanthood and hospitality; we have the responsibility to continue to invite others to our table. We are to be ready to love all of God’s people and when we show God’s love to one another and others, we are affirming not only our baptismal promises, but we are affirming that God is with us. What a witness to the world that looks for fulfillment in everything but the Christ child. We are responsible for preparing ourselves and the world for the advent of Jesus.
Advent is a time we need for remembering not only that Christ will come again at the end of time but also, affirming Christ’s incarnation, God’s coming to earth in human flesh as a babe in the manger and remembering this God who loves us so much that God took on our flesh all the way to the cross. Our Advent preparation of wilderness, of waiting, and remembering prepares us for the Christmas joy and for the way of life that should flow out of Christmas. That should remind us and others every day of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”