First preached 7th December 2003 Advent 2 ( C )
Zeph 3.14-20 : [Phil 4.4-7] : Luke 3.7-18
The Bear & the atheist Joke [See end notes]
The moral of the story is that it does not pay to think that you have all the answers and it does not pay to mess to take God for granted..
That basically is the message of John the Baptist; though as he delivered it is nothing to laugh about.
He attacks the Jewish complacency in thinking that they had God taped. He does not simply say as I have represented him sometimes – you call yourself God’s people, so behave as though you were. It goes deeper than that and more threatening. You are not God’s people unless you behave in a godly way. A most important biblical criterion for a righteous nation is that it does not oppress or exploit the poor. Do not presume that you are Abraham’s children because you genetically are. The heirs to his promises are those God will judge to be truly Abrahams children, because they display the same character as Abraham
And God will not have mercy on all regardless, on the contrary, there is a sharp division and John is there to make it. It is those who will respond, not just by coming hear him but by change of life will be saved.
Today it is not the Jews who think they are the chosen people it is (In a secularised way the Western democracies. The Jews gloried in their election, we glory in elections. And tell the world this is all they need. John would say what signs are you that you are making people honest conscientious and upright? You leave 1/3 of your population in poverty. Up to 20% of people experience symptoms of depression. 10 times more people suffer from major depression now than in 1945
It is easy to boast of liberty, but if there is no personal honesty its basis is threatened. Eg. Mat cartoon. Calling off Bae enquiry.
[The illustrations of political chicanery given here are of course to longer current. The sad thing is that, whenever you are reading this, if you look in the papers you will soon come up with an up-to-date list.]
John interestingly does not call for social reform (We always do and hence shuffle off the problem.) He calls for difficult and costly personal reformation. (Hard for A tax collector or a soldier to do as he said)
Strangely Luke describes this as good news. It is good news that there is a God who judges justly, who does not just let the world go its own sweet way. It is good news that righteousness will be rewarded. For without that life has no meaning. And meaninglessness is a source of depression.
Notes:
The Atheist and the Bear!
An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that the evolution had created. “What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!”, he said to himself.
As he was walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing.
He ran even faster, so scared that tears were coming to his eyes. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pumping frantically and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.
At that instant the Atheist cried out “Oh my God!….”
Time stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
Even the river stopped moving.
As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, “You deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don’t exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?”
The atheist looked directly into the light “It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?”
“Very well,” said the voice.
The light went out.
The river ran again.
And the sounds of the forest resumed.
And then the bear dropped his right paw ….. brought both paws together…bowed his head and spoke:
“Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful…AMEN!”
Tags: Advent 3 C, John the Baptist, Judgement., Luke 3:7-18