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The Not-Quite-Ready-for-Prime-Time Messiah

Lectionary reflections on Luke 3:7-18

by Elizabeth Kaeton

Readings for Advent 3, Year C, Dec. 14, 2003

Zephaniah 3:14-20
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18

The words of John the Baptist in Luke's gospel go down sideways in the throat. "You brood of vipers!" he yelled at the crowds that had come out to be baptized by him. "Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

The Day of Reckoning draws nigh. Why keep two coats when you'll only need one? Share your abundance. Clean up your act, because the judgment is coming. This gospel pericope ends with the words, "So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people."

The end of the world as we now know it is unmistakably on the mind of this prophet. The later of the two most popular messianic scenarios . . . that the Christ would return to reclaim the Davidic throne, or, that the coming of the Christ would signal the apocalypse . . . is clearly operative in this gospel scene. The Day of Reckoning draws nigh. Why keep two coats when you'll only need one? Share your abundance. Clean up your act, because the judgment is coming. This gospel pericope ends with the words, "So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people."

That John the Baptist! What a guy, huh? The not-quite-ready-for-prime-time Messiah is the self-identified warm-up act for The Star, "Éone who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Even John the Baptist, wild-man hermit and prophet, didn't fully understand the nature of the Messiah-ship of his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth. Who could? Who does, still?

What child is this who came to turn the tables on traditional notions of power and authority? Who is this who came to bring justice and peace? Reconciliation and judgment? Who is this who glorified God with his vulnerability, overturned the tables in the Temple, broke all the purity codes by welcoming the stranger and the sinner, healing lepers and women with issues of blood, and elevating the status of widows with the mite of a penny, as well as children who had no cultural status or value, saying, "If you want to enter the Realm of God, be like one of these."

The world is still not ready for this Messiah, Jesus . . . most especially those who profess to follow him. Has Jesus already come? Have we missed him? Did you see him in the homeless man who hustled you for change at the subway and walked away? Did you walk past her in front of the heating grate outside your favorite department store on your way in to purchase a Christmas present for someone "who has everything"? Have you made false accusations? Taken more than you deserve or are owed? How many coats do you have in your closet?

You brood of vipers! "Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, has turned away your enemies!" So says the prophet Zephaniah to the ancient community of Israel, whose words resound and echo in the community of the early church gathered at Philippi: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near."

Rejoice! We got it all wrong. The Lord is near . . . not the end of the world as we now know it. Not the King of Glory, but the Lord of Lowliness. Not the justice of the powerful, but that of the oppressed. Not the peace of the world, but that which "passes all understanding."

The Good News preached by John is this: Jesus is as close as your next act of justice and mercy.

The Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton is a regular contributor to The Witness online. She writes a monthly column called Another Word for Justice, and may be reached by email at emkaeton@aol.com