1 I m Soorryy!! (sermon on Matthew 3:1-12) In the new TV show "Samantha Who?" Samantha is a 30-something year old woman who has awaken from a 2 week coma after a car accident and she discovers that she has amnesia. She can't remember anything about her life. As the plot unfolds she begins to realize that she was a horrible person. She has mistreated her parents, her friends, and just about everyone she comes across. She decides that she does not want to be who she was. She wants a fresh start. For every sin she discovers she tries to apologize and show that she is a different person. She starts to realize that she will never correct all her wrongs. She puts on her answering machine, "I'm sooooorrryyyy!". The amnesia essentially hit the reset button on Samantha's sins. She has no memory of them and is not burdened by them. This enabled her to start fresh. It doesn't stop her from making some of the same mistakes, but she was given the freedom to try. The sin that had become normal in her life now looks so wrong to her. I wonder what sin in our lives we would see if we woke up to a new life? What sin have we justified enough times to make it seem normal? The Jewish people had little by little strayed from God's will. They were relying too much on their lineage for their salvation. They were believing that because they were related to Abraham they would be saved. It didn't matter how they lived so much, but they were God's elect and were therefore safe from judgment. The whole history of Israel is a cycle of the people forgetting who they were and God sending a prophet to remind them of their true identity. God sent Moses to bring Israel out of Egypt and to restore their identity as God's chosen people. God sent Elijah to call Israel away from the worship of Baal under King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and
2 reestablish the worship of the God of Israel their true God. He sent them Ezekiel while Israel was in exile in Babylon to remind them of the Lord's promises to Israel. He sent them Malachi after they had been release from Babylonian exile and rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple to renew the priests and the people to faithfulness to God's covenant. But now it had been over 400 years since God had sent a prophet. The people were tired of being ruled by foreign empires. They were tired of a dying religion based mainly on rules, that were starting to seem arbitrary. They were getting off track. The Greeks made them like Greeks and the Romans were making them more like Romans. But they were Jews, ancestors of Abraham, the chosen people of God. But what did that mean? Who were they? What is their true identity? How do they get back to themselves? John the Baptist brought the answer to them: repentance. God sent John to prepare the way for the true identity of Israel and for the whole world. But first they must shed their false identities. They must repent, turn about, confess their sins and be cleansed of them. Just like our TV friend Samantha they must start fresh and see their sinfulness with new eyes. They must realize that they are on a path that only leads to destruction. One way that chefs prepare lobster to boil is by lulling them to sleep in warm water and then they turn up the heat. The Jews of the time were being lulled to sleep by their reliance on being children of Abraham, their ticket to heaven (or so they thought). John came to wake them up and get them out of the pot before the heat got turned up. John called Israel to repent, but not just a shallow "I'm sorry." He called for a true change of heart that actually means that people live differently. That's why he was upset at the Pharisees and Sadducees who were coming to get baptized. They were not interested in changes their lives they just wanted some extra insurance against eternal damnation. He
3 compares them to a fleeing pack of snakes. When a field is being harvested or burned the snakes flee. These folks are just trying to avoid damnation, they don't care about be prepared to receive God by making real changes in their lives. John's purpose was not only to make people better, but to prepare people to receive the Messiah. He is the voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight! John himself wasn't the savior, although some thought so, he was the one who got people ready. And the way to do that is repentance and cleansing. So he called people to confess their sins and then he used baptism with water to as a symbol of repentance. But the true cleansing was yet to come. Like our TV friend Samantha, she knew she needed to be better, but she still didn't know how. Or like a nurse who preps a patient for surgery. John was preparing people for the surgeon, the one who could truly repair what has gone wrong. The Pharisees and Sadducees were mistaking the preparation with the cure. They weren't interested in this one to come. John was, though. He recognized Jesus as one who was so much greater than him that he was not even worthy to be his disciple, he could only be his slave. While he baptized with water, Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire more than a mere symbol, but something that could actually remove impurity and reshape people into the creation that God intended. John got people ready, but Jesus would be the one who would enter hearts like a barn and clean it out. He would separate the sinful parts from the pure parts within people. He would restore not just Israel but all of God's chosen around the world to their true identity by showing us our true selves within himself. Advent is a time to prepare the way of the Lord and to make his paths straight.
4 We do this first with a true desire to repent. This begins with the Bible. The Bible reveals to us what God expects of us by the law. We look at the law and we see how far off we are. We see that we do not honor our parents. We see that we do not keep the Sabbath holy. We gossip, we want what is not ours, we lie all the time sometimes without even thinking twice. We do not love God with our whole selves. We do not treat our neighbors as we would want to be treated. We make idols out of everything from money, to football, to our own egos. When we look to the Bible we realize we are off. The law serves as Samantha's car accident. She wakes up from it and starts to see how far off her life has been. The law shakes us up and convicts us of our sins. So we have the desire to be better. So we try, but it seems like the more we try the more we fail. So we turn to God and say, "Forgive me. Help me to get better. I can't do it. I have no power over the sin in my life." This is actually the first step in the twelve step program for people that have dangerous compulsions. The first step is admitting that you have a problem. That's confession. We all have a problem: we are sinners. Often we think that baptism will take care of it. The sin has been removed, but that doesn't mean that we won't sin again. It does free us from our past sins, though. And when we get out from under that burden we are freed up to deal with the present. Have you ever gotten so behind on your work, or your bill paying, or schoolwork or Christmas shopping that you feel paralyzed. You just can't seem to do anything and it just piles up and piles up? Sin is the same way. It builds and builds and pretty soon we become paralyzed to do anything about it. The guilt ties us up and eventually we just try to avoid the guilt. It's
5 like tearing up a collection notice. If we don't open it up, it doesn't exist. But the bill must be paid. When I was in my early twenties, I put myself in a really tough spot. My life seemed to be crumbling around me. The marriage I was in at the time was failing, we owed money all over the place, we could barely keep the electricity on. She left and took what money we had with her. Rent was due. The eviction notice was on the door. I had been keeping my struggles quite from friends and family. I was too ashamed. I worked with a guy named John who I knew was well off so I asked him if he could help. He said, "Meet me at such and such a coffee shop tonight." When John sat down across from me he slid over an amount to pay a whole month's rent. Then he said, "Tell me what's going on." I spilled my guts. I confessed everything. It felt so good to tell someone. I told him it might take me a long time to pay him back. He said, "You're a good man. I know you will." When I paid him the last dollar over a year later he pulled open a draw and took out an envelope and said, "Here is all the money you have paid back. Do you need it again?" This was the beginning of rebuilding my life. I reconnected with my parents. I began repay my debts. And I began afresh with my God and my Savior. It all started with opening up and confessing. This is how Christ receives us in our confession. When we turn to Christ, he pays the price we cannot pay. He trusts us. He doesn't ask us to justify ourselves to him. He just wants to hear us and love us. Read the Bible that is not just law, it is also grace. Examine ourselves. Save yourself the trouble of trying to do it alone. Get help right away. Tell a loved one what's going on in your life. Turn back to Christ and ask him to forgive you. He will be glad that
6 you came to him. He has already paid the bill with his own life. He allowed himself to suffer the fire meant for us. He says to us, "Tell me what's going on. You're a good person. You can pay me back with your friendship and your love for you are more precious to me than anything you have done wrong. I love you more than your debts. I love you more than your disputes. I love you more than your anger. I love you more than your pride. I love you more than all the troubles in your life." Could John the Baptist have had any idea what kind of Messiah was coming? Allow Christ to take his merciful winnowing shovel and begin to remove those things in your life that lead you to harm. Allow him to help prepare you to receive God. Allow him to make straight the plains of your life. Allow him to give you back yourselves. All it takes is your repentance.