And I’ve been thinking about the good news of the axe.
The second passage from Sunday’s lectionary texts is Luke 3:7-18, which brings us back to the story of John the Baptist.
It is fitting that the season of Advent gives a lot of attention to John. As we wait for the coming Christ, we acknowledge him as the lead anticipator and the primary voice of preparation. He is a voice in our wilderness.
At the beginning of Luke 3, John stands near a river baptizing the crowds, he ministers to a people representing all walks of life. Religious leaders, tax collectors, soldiers, etc.
Sensing their arrival, he stops baptizing and gives them a word.
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” – Luke 3:7-9
One way of reading this reprimand is that he is not warning them of the coming wrath, but that he is questioning their desire to run from it. As if their motivation to be baptized is driven by a fear of what God might do to them if they don’t.
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Jason Martin 