(Luke 3: 1 – 20)

1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. 3He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight,  the rough ways smooth. 6And all mankind will see God's salvation.' " 7John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."  10"What should we do then?" the crowd asked. 11John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." 12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" 13"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. 14Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay." 15The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. 16John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 18And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.

I have recently had an idea. This may not sound a lot but good ideas are far and few between – I would be happy with just one idea in a year. I took this idea to the people who would be able to do something about it – they were the bureaucrats, the systems people, the faceless people who sit behind their desks and organise others. As soon as I had explained to them what I thought they had to decide what to do about it. They had a choice – either they were going to open up and let me in or else they were going to close ranks against me. In this instance they felt threatened and they drew back. They did not think that it was my place to make suggestions – the responsibility for what I was saying lay with them.

They began to distance themselves from my idea. It was in their interest to keep me at arms length because the crabby individual, the stranger in their midst is the person who teaches others most about themselves. My idea was criticised in order for them to establish their own authority - for them to be right they needed me to be wrong. My idea was being shredded in front of my eyes – a dream crucified on the cross of institutionalism.

I had hoped that the powers that be would absorb and expand the idea; instead of this they chewed it and used it to reinforce their own way of doing things. If people can identify something or someone as being different to them then they are reinforcing their own sense of who they understand themselves to be. This is a process known as scapegoating - the goat that was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:8-26). Two goats were sacrificed to atone for the sins of the Jewish people. One was killed in the temple, the other left to wander in the wilderness, symbolically bearing the sins of the Israelites; thereby, the Israelites were able to reinforce the moral authority of the Temple. Scapegoating is when attacking one idea is in reality defending another; it is a way of people replaying back to themselves what they consider to be important. It is easier for people to define themselves by disagreeing with something - people can reinforce their sense of belonging together by arbitrarily identifying someone or something else as being wrong. Sometimes people react aggressively towards the scapegoat; they see their own situations reflected back at them through the scapegoat and therefore they will often criticise harshly in order to defend their own position.

John the Baptist had an idea – “Repent and change your life. God's kingdom is here." John was a relative of Jesus and only a few months older – they grew up together and would eventually share the same fate – John beheaded and Jesus crucified. John’s role in the salvation story was to challenge people to get people ready for the appearance of Jesus. John the Baptist had a colourful life. He was dressed in clothes made of camel's hair and had a leather belt around his waist. He lived in the desert and ate locusts and wild honey. He was born to Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth who were both very old to be parents. The Angel Gabriel had appeared to Zacharias and told him that they would have a son named John, and that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother's womb. Zacharias had quibbled and Gabriel told Zacharias that he would be unable to speak until his son was born. When Zacharias left the temple, he was mute, and all who knew him realized he had seen a vision. When John was born, his relatives wanted to call him Zacharias, after his father. They came to his father, who wrote as follows, "His name is John." Immediately Zacharias was able to speak.

He was eventually imprisoned and executed by Herod for preaching against his adulterous marriage. John spoke against Herod because he married his brother's wife, Herodias. Herod imprisoned John for the sake of Herodias. She held a grudge against John, and wanted him put to death. But Herod protected John because he enjoyed listening to him, and because his subjects thought John the Baptist was a prophet. Herod celebrated his birthday by hosting a banquet. During the feast, the daughter of Herodias danced before Herod and his guests. She so pleased Herod that he swore to give her anything she requested, up to half of his kingdom. The young woman went to her mother for guidance in what she should request. Herodias told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist. She asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod was sorry when he heard this. But because of his oath, and because of his dinner guests, Herod ordered the beheading of John. When John's disciples learned of his death, they took his body and laid it in a tomb. Then they went and told Jesus, who departed with his disciples to a deserted place.

John told people that they must live in a right way. They asked him what they should do. He said that if they had two coats, they should share with a person who did not have a coat, and if they had food, they should share with those who did not. The tax collectors asked what they should do, and he told them to be honest in their collection of taxes and to not collect more than they were required to. The soldiers asked what they should do, and he told them to not take money from people illegally, to always tell the truth and not falsely accuse people. They were to be content with their pay and not grumble about it.

Underpinning all of what John says is the challenge to people to repent. In the New Testament, the word translated as 'repentance' is the Greek word metanoia, - this is a compound word of the preposition 'meta' (after, with), and the verb 'noeo' (to perceive, to think, the result of perceiving or observing). The word combines the two meanings of time and change, which may be denoted by 'after' and 'different'; so that the whole compound means: 'to think differently after'. Metanoia is therefore primarily an afterwards-thought, different from the former thought; a change of mind accompanied by regret and change of conduct, "change of mind and heart", or, "change of consciousness". When the prodigal son who had squandered his father’s inheritance came to his senses, he said,

'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father (Lk 15:17-20)

So how do you respond to John’s idea? Are you going to be like the dull-faced bureaucrats who want everything laid out in order and don’t like the idea of change. Are you going to shut your ears because you don’t think that there is anything you need to repent of?

15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Rev 3:15-16)

Are you prepared to consider the idea that there may be something during this advent season that you need to repent of and grasp the challenge of living more simply?