Sermon - Advent 2 - Luke 3:1-14

Luke 3:1–14

“The Fruits of Repentance”

I honestly thought of introducing this sermon with the greeting of John the Baptist this morning, “You brood of vipers!”  but then I thought better of it. 

I think most of you would probably know what I was doing if I did that, but maybe it would ruffle some feathers.  And maybe John’s hearers got bothered by it, too.  He said this to the crowds that came to him – not just to the Pharisees.  He called his hearers, his congregation, if you will, a bunch of poisonous snakes.

Maybe this is why so many of us think of John the Baptist as a harsh preacher of the law.  If you had to put his character and person into one word, that word might be, “REPENT!”

And maybe that’s fair.  John did certainly preach repentance.  Soon, we’ll hear from him also about the fruits of repentance.  But sometimes, it seems, we forget the whole message of John as St. Luke summarizes it:

“And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

Ah, so John proclaimed really a baptism of repentance FOR the forgiveness of sin.  John was a preacher of both law and gospel!  And why should we expect any different? 

Sure he was a prophet – sometimes called the last of the Old Testament prophets.  But the prophets, too, were preachers of law and gospel.  That’s what God’s word is all about.  Repentance and forgiveness of sins.

That’s what John’s baptism was about – and what Christian baptism is about – repentance and forgiveness of sins.  And it’s what we are about today.

And looking at John a little more broadly, John also preached Christ.  He prepared the way for Christ.  He fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Without Jesus, there is no John.  Without Jesus, there is no baptism.  Without Jesus, there is no repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

John certainly called the crowds to repentance, and he would say the same to us.  Turn from your sins, first of all.  That’s the first part of repentance.  Confessing, admitting you are a sinner – and not just in a general sense.  It’s not just “aw shucks, everyone’s a sinner, no one’s perfect”. 

The kind of repentance we want admits we are poor, miserable sinners.  It confesses we are a brood of vipers.  We are full of poison and viciousness – in our thoughts and words and deeds.  Sin isn’t a lack of knowledge, or a harmless character flaw, an annoying but mostly benign condition that we can work around or pretend it’s just fine.  Repentance means coming square up against the mirror of God’s law and seeing in stark and certain terms – the rot staring back at us. 

And to show how serious it is… John paints a picture. 

“Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

The implication is clear.  God is the lumberjack and we are the trees.  And he’s cutting down the bad ones – throwing them into fire.  Destruction, condemnation, hell. 

John’s cry to bear fruits in keeping with repentance is a clarion call to avoid such a disastrous spiritual end.  And we do well to listen as well.

Now.  Let’s talk about the phrase, “fruits in keeping with repentance”.  We might think that it’s the fruits that count here.  But that would be a mistake.  Let’s read John in the wider context of his own preaching, and of the Gospels and the entire Scriptures.

In Scripture, fruits are always the outward effects of the inward reality.  A fig tree that bears no fruit is still a fig tree, just not a good one.  But a good tree bears good fruit.

To borrow from Jesus own fruit “tree parables”, we must remember he’s not just the lumberjack, he’s also the farmer.  He sows the seed – the seed of his word by his Spirit.  He tends the trees, waters and prunes them, applies fertilizer.  He cares for the trees – and if they are any good at all – it is to his credit, and not their own.

Rather, he suffered the judgment of being cut off and cut down – at the tree of the cross.  There he bore the brunt of God’s fiery wrath for our sins.  And there, he was forsaken by the Father in our place.  But the fruits of his work there are of great benefit to you and me.  We partake of those fruits in the sacrament even today – the crucified and now risen body and blood of Christ, for the forgiveness of sins. 

So also, baptism, repentance and forgiveness are what make Christians into good trees.  The fruits are just outward evidence of what has happened within.  What he has done, really.  John wants to see the effects of faith in the lives of his people, and we want to see the effects of faith in our own lives. 

So his hearers ask the next sensible question, “now what?”  And we could do the same.  Now, and only now in light of faith, we talk about the fruits in keeping with repentance.

Here a helpful theological category might be the “3^rd use of the Law”.  Remember, first, the law curbs sin – keeps sin from getting out of hand, even among unbelievers.  The threat of punishment keeps sin in check.  Secondly, as I already mentioned earlier, the mirror function of the law always shows us our sin.  It evokes in us self-reflection, a mirror to the soul.  God says, “thou shalt not” and you must face the reality - thou does it anyway.

But the Third Use is the “now what?” function.  It is where the Christian who knows his sin, and knows his forgiveness in Christ, asks himself, “how then shall I live?”  The law, in this way, gives us moral guidance and direction.  It teaches us how to live as Christians – especially how to love our neighbor.  When John calls for “fruits in keeping with repentance”, he wants to see the outward evidence of faith lived out in the actions of the believers.  And he gives us a couple of clues of how to apply it.

Notice he speaks to the specific actions of both tax collectors and soldiers.  He tailors his moral guidance to these 2 common professions of the day – 2 notorious for corruption and extortion.  But these are only examples.  The wider principle is one we Lutherans should know well – vocation.

Exercise your faith according to your vocation.  Show your good works toward your neighbor within the vocations to which he has called you.

And so the fruits of repentance will look different according to the vocation. 

Here’s how this works:  If you are a worker, your vocation calls you to do your job well.  If you’re a boss, treat your employees well.  If you’re a parent, love and discipline your children.  If you’re a teacher, teach your children faithfully.  If you are a student, study well and learn as you ought.  If you are a citizen, participate in your civic duties.  If you are a friend, be a good one.  If you are a child, honor your parents. If you are rich, share with those who have less.  If you are a pastor, preach faithfully and care for the sheep.  If you are a hearer of the word, receive it with joy, and support the preaching of it. 

Vocation becomes the lens through which we answer John’s call to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.  How do I know what good works I should do?  Well, where has God placed me?  How has he called me?  And in this or that vocation, who is my neighbor, and what are his needs?  Thus vocation gives shape to our love, and teaches us how to love our neighbor.

Will we fail in our vocations?  Certainly.  Will we still sin against our neighbor?  Without a doubt.  And so the life of baptism goes – repentance and forgives, ever again, and spinning out from them the fruits of faith.

All this is just another way of saying – be Christians.  How do we prepare, this Advent, for the celebration of Christ’s birth?  By being Christians.  By doing what Christians do.  Responding to the call of repentance.  Receiving the forgiveness Christ continually bestows.  Living in baptism and receiving Christ’s holy meal.  And yes, being the good trees who produce the good fruit that follows it all.