Heartbeat of Justice

  As we were working through our stewardship drive last Sunday, we missed the story of John the Baptist. In Matthew's Gospel, there is no family relationship between John and Jesus written into their births. But John warns and extols and baptizes with a similar zeal. He proclaims, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!" He also calls the Pharisees and Sadducees 'broods of vipers' and warns them to bear fruits worthy of repentance for the Messiah is coming with an axe to cut down every tree, i.e. person, who doesn't have good fruit. John is telling then the Messiah is coming to separate the wheat from the chaff and the chaff will be burned. When Jesus shows up to be baptized, John tells him that Jesus ought to baptize him, but Jesus demurs and says this is the righteous thing to do. After Jesus is baptized and led to the wilderness, John continues his ministry of baptism and proclamation. It is said that all of Judea and Jerusalem comes out to him in with wilderness to be baptized in the Jordan River. John's ministry grows quite large that he has his own disciples, and, in his zeal for righteousness, he calls out King Herod who has taken his brother's wife as his own and is arrested for it. 

While John is languishing in prison, his disciples bring him food and share with him the latest news. If you remember, in prison during that era, the government didn't feed you, so your basic needs were provided by family or friends or people of charity. John waits for the axe, the winnowing fork, the burning of the chaff, and the kingdom of God to overthrow the Romans and any corrupt religious orders. He probably heard about the 'Sermon on the Mount' and he has heard about the healings and the crowds who are now following Jesus, who many are proclaiming to the Messiah, or Christ. But he is waiting, maybe anxiously because of his imprisonment, for things to really get going. He decided to send some of his disciples to Jesus to get confirmation, or clarification, about who he is and what is going on. 

So that catches us up to today's story. The disciples of John come and ask on his behalf, "Are you the chosen one, or shall we look for another?" Can you imagine that during Advent, instead of Christmas Trees and greenery and lights and carols of peace on earth, we prepared and decorated with axes, with winnowing forks, and huge bonfires kept going 24/7 and sang songs of broods of vipers and repentance that really means something? "You better watch out, you better not cry, you better be good, I'm telling you why!" would have a very different meaning. However, Jesus seems unperturbed by this question, and tells them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see..." There is no cutting down of people, there is no fiery hell, there is no separating of people into the good and the bad. Though Jesus does call all to repentance, and often clashes with the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus strives to change people's hearts and to change their actions more than their beliefs. He tells the disciples of John what they see and hear if they follow Jesus, "blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news brought to them." And, and "Blessed are those who take no offence at Jesus." This is the heart of Jesus' ministry, to heal and bring the gospel. Whether John got his wires crossed or he was a little over zealous, it's not turning out as he envisioned.

However, Jesus continues his ministry of God's kin-dom filled with healing, reconciliation, and good news, good news to the poor. In another translation, good news isn't preached, but it is 'brought'. Meaning it isn't just a nice sermon or even a hard warning, it is something real and tangible. Even though the writer of Matthew softens Jesus in the Beatitudes that 'Blessed are the poor in spirit' rather than 'Blessed are the poor'; Jesus still calls for justice and the uplifting of the poor, Jesus still calls for the systems of exploitation and oppression to be overturned, and Jesus here proclaims the good news is for the poor. 

Matthew begins Jesus' teaching with the Sermon on the Mount which tells them and us not so much about what we should think and believe, but what we should do and how we should act. Jesus ends his ministry with the telling of the story of the separating of the sheep and the goats, again, not because of who they are or what they think or believe, but what they do, those who see someone hungry or thirsty and gives them food and drink, gives those clothing who need it, visits those who are sick and in prison and presumably brings food and drink to them as well. The kingdom that is at hand is not wars and punishment, but it is living with different values, with a different focus, and with love and compassion that moves us to be present, to heal, and bear fruit that is worthy. Amen?