Hope for the Weary (Matthew 3:1-12)
Starting to feel a bit weary in this season of weariness? There’s hope! Be
encouraged. Hope for the weary.
Now, what energizes you when you’re feeling weary? Probably words of
encouragement, right? Words of affirmation.
Which makes you think: “We must have the wrong passage today!” Because,
what words stuck out to you especially in our text this morning? I’d have to say
that, for me, the most striking statement was: “You brood of vipers.” Literally,
“You son of a snake.” Not exactly words of affirmation. Not exactly an
encouraging compliment, is it?
Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.”
A couple of weeks ago Kid President came out with another wonderful video.
How many of you know about youtube sensation, Kid Prez? Well, for those who
don’t, let me introduce you… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5yCOSHeYn4
Kid President, you’re so right. If we’d all follow your advice, this world would be
awesome! None of us would be weary, at all. There’d be so much energy in this
world, we wouldn’t know what to do with it all!
You need to know that Kid Prez hasn’t had an easy life. He’s adopted. Because of
a congenital disability his bones are very brittle. He’s only ten years old, but
already he’s had more than 70 broken bones, 13 surgeries, steel rods put through
both legs. So he knows, personally, how important kind words are.
Why do we get so energized by compliments, and encouragement, and words of
affirmation? Because these words remind us who we are: That we are valuable
human beings. That we belong. That we are loved. So, we thrive on good words!
Thomas Perera took me to work with him one day last week. I watched him doing
group therapy for a large room-full of men who are addicts. What amazed me was
their support and their affirmation. Their kind words for one another made me
cry. It was so life-giving. It was like church. At least, like it should be!
Yet here’s the thing: even though we all know that we Christians, especially,
should be people of affirmation; that we should say nice things rather than critical
things; that we should encourage people, not gossip about them, still… still…
1|Page
Even in the church, gossip is a problem. Even in the church we can feel really
discouraged and weary and de-energized by what others say to us. Or, even
worse, what’s said about us behind our backs. Well, that’s one thing about John
the Baptizer. At least he doesn’t say stuff behind people’s backs. He says it right to
their faces: “You brood of vipers!”
But, what does this text have to do with “Hope for the Weary”? Well, let me tell
you. First of all, it’s been our Christian tradition since basically the beginning of
Christianity to look at the story of John the Baptizer (let’s call him JB for short
today) on the second Sunday of Advent.
See, it’s kind of like we back our way into Christmas. First Sunday of Advent: Jesus
Christ will come again in power and glory and Jesus’ “Second Advent,” his second
coming, will finally put the whole world back to rights. Second Sunday of Advent
(today, not the “Second Advent”!): we look at Jesus coming—into his ministry of
healing and preaching and dying. Jesus was hidden away in Nazareth from age 12
to age 30, but now JB announces his appearing, his advent: Jesus is coming to heal
the world! Next Sunday, Third Advent Sunday, we’ll back in, even further—the
angel Gabriel comes and makes the big announcement, and Mary is pregnant!
Then finally, Fourth Sunday of Advent: Baby Jesus, coming! Christmas, on the
doorstep!
So, today: JB gets us ready for Jesus’ advent, Jesus’ coming. You need to know
that God’s people were terribly weary when JB started preaching. They’re feeling
terribly hopeless. Weary and hopeless. It had been hundreds and hundreds of
years ago since their prophets heard God say anything. Hundreds and hundreds of
years ago since God had promised: “Messiah will come and will rescue you.” Since
then, they’ve been crushed by the Babylonian Empire. Then dominated by the
Persian Empire. Next, trampled upon by the mighty Greek Empire. And now the
most brutal and tyrannical of all: the great world super-power, the Roman
Empire. God’s people are desperately poor. They’re being taxed to death: income
tax, property tax, travel tax, harvest tax, head tax. They’re completely browbeaten by these foreign occupiers, these Roman oppressors. Even their young
girls dare not step out of doors alone, for fear of getting raped by some passing
Roman soldier. But this is not the Romans’ land. This is our land. God had given
this land to our father Abraham.
Now, when you’re terribly weary and discouraged and hopeless, then you really
should stick together so you can encourage one another. But what happens when
2|Page
weariness and hopelessness takes over? Often you split up into factions. You start
quarrelling about who’s right and who’s wrong. “I’m a Bible-believing, Spirit-filled
Christian. I’m with the poor, like Jesus was. I’m a Mennonite, an original
Anabaptist. I’m with the Christian environmentalists—I’m saving creation for
Jesus. Me—I’m hanging with the hipster musician types. I’m rooting for hymns
only. I choose to dress down on Sunday mornings so no one feels embarrassed or
excluded by their dress. I’m with the three-piece suit—Sunday best only—show
respect for God’s house—group.” Pick your group.
That’s exactly what happened in JB’s day. The Saduccees set up shop in the
temple, and the Pharisees—they made their little group over here, and the
Essenes—they headed off into the desert, and the Zealots—they went off up into
the hills around Jerusalem to organize their terrorist plots, and the Samaritans
kept to themselves, and so did the Nazarenes. And everybody thought they were
right, and those other guys—they’re missing the point.
No words of affirmation for the other guys. Just lots of criticism!
So, what happens when a man starts preaching down at the Jordan River? A man
dressed exactly like one of the great ancient prophets—dressed like Elijah in a
rough camel’s hair coat. Even eating what Elijah ate: grasshoppers, coated in wild
honey. Even shouting like Elijah shouted. A voice bellowing out, crying out in the
wilderness: “The king is coming! Prepare the way for the king!”
JB becomes an overnight youtube sensation… without youtube! No social media
necessary. Our text (verse 5) says that people from Jerusalem and all Judea and
from the whole region of the Jordan went out to him. The original text is actually
a bit blunter: “Jerusalem went out to see him. All Judea went out to see him. The
whole Jordan region went out to him.”
The thing about weary people is that you’re really hungry for hope. When you’re
totally hopeless, and someone gives you real hope, you grab for it like a
dehydrated man grabs for a glass of water.
But what does JB preach? “You’re not ready for the Messiah to come. You’ve got
to make some big changes, if you’re going to be ready when your King comes!”
So (verse 6), the people publicly, openly, confess their sins. Then JB takes them
into the Jordan River and plunges them under the water.
Wait… what?! JB is baptizing Jews?
3|Page
Two big problems here. First of all, this would be like me saying to you, “Come on
up here, and we’ll make a Canadian citizen out of you.” You’d retort, “I’m already
a Canadian citizen. Why would I need you to remake me what I already am?” See,
Jews don’t need baptism. Baptism is for pagans. If a non-Jew wanted to join God’s
people, then they’d have to undergo this special washing to scrub away their old,
godless life. Plunge down into the water, drown the pagan, and come up a Jew,
one of God’s chosen people!
Second problem: JB is doing it! Up till now, baptism had always been something
you did yourself. You’re an adult. You can give yourself your own bath, can’t you?
But JB says something radically new and different: “You can’t wash yourself. You
can’t baptize yourself. You’re going to have to let me do it. Actually, even better,
let Jesus baptize you! Let Jesus plunge you under the water, drown out your old
life, bring you up a brand new person!”
So, obviously the high-class Pharisees and the elitist Sadducees— they have no
intention of letting John give them a bath in the Jordan. They’ve just come (verse
7) to stand on the sidelines, and observe.
JB looks them straight in the face: “You brood of vipers. You son of a snake.” Why
would he say that? How does that help? Isn’t he supposed to be bringing hope to
the weary?
We need to ask what JB is referring to. Even today, it’s really offensive to call
somebody a snake. But for the ancients it would have been even worse to get
called “brood of vipers… offspring of snakes.” See: they thought that baby vipers,
when they were born, ate their way out of their mother, killing the mother snake.
And there’s no crime more heinous than killing your own parents.
But why does JB call these Jewish bigwigs a “brood of vipers”? Where in the Bible
do we first read about a snake? [Genesis 3.] Adam and Eve are tempted into sin
by the snake. So God said to the snake, “There’s going to be great enmity
between your offspring and the offspring of Adam and Eve, great hatred between
Satan’s brood and Adam and Eve’s brood.
Now, remember The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?
Lucy steps through the wardrobe, into Narnia, for the first time, and meets... [a
faun.] What does the faun ask her? “Are you a… [daughter of Eve]?” And
Edmund—he too steps into Narnia, but he meets… [the White Witch.] And what
does she ask him? “Are you a… [son of Adam]?” Of course, they’re both confused.
4|Page
They never got asked that question in our world. Anybody ever ask you that
question, “Are you human?” Hopefully not!
So now, do you see how terribly offensive JB’s words? “You Sadducees, you
Pharisees, you call yourselves…” What (verse 9)? [Sons of Abraham.] And not just
any run-of-the-mill son of Abraham. A Pharisee son of Abraham!
“Big whooping deal!” says JB. “Look at all these stones out here. (That whole
wilderness landscape—one great stone pile!) God could turn every one of these
stones into a son of Abraham. Son of Abraham? Why you’re not even a son of
Adam! You are a son of the snake.”
Why would JB say that? Why so harsh? Because when you think you’re really
somebody, what you need is a big shake. When you look around at other people
and you start comparing, and you say, “Wow, I’m pretty special” then you need a
John the Baptizer to wake you up.
What’s my identity? Who am I? “I’m a son of Abraham. You’re only a son of
Adam. I’m a Pharisee son of Abraham… You: who are you?” And JB shouts:
“Wake up! Who are you, really?” If your identity all about having Abraham’s
blood running through your veins, that’s hopeless. It’s a dead end. You’ll actually
find yourself acting like a son of the snake. Trying to make yourself somebody by
treating others like a nobody—that’s viper identity, that’s what the snake does.”
This is tough love speaking, for sure. But sometimes we really need a good shake.
“Wake up! It’s not all about you! Wake up! Stop the comparisons already! And
the gossip. And the criticism. Wake up: you really need somebody to give you a
bath!”
So, who am I? What’s my real identity? It’s one of the biggest, most important,
questions you’ll ever ask. Your answer to that question will determine whether
you are a hopeful person, or a negative person; whether you give energy, or drain
energy; whether you are hope for the weary, or just more weariness to the
weary.
So what’s your true identity? Who are you, really? Well, you have to keep
reading. See, JB’s just clearing the path, getting all the junk out of the way for
Jesus. He’s just telling you what your identity is not. Confess that stuff. Repent of
it!
But if we keep reading chapter 3, look what happens when Jesus shows up.
“Baptize me, John!”
5|Page
“What?” JB protests. “I need you to baptize me, not me baptize you.”
But Jesus insists: “I must be baptized.” So, down into the water goes Jesus, and
when he comes out of the water what does he hear? “You are my beloved son. I
love you so much!”
No wonder JB wants to get baptized by Jesus. No wonder he says, “Jesus’ baptism
is better. Join Jesus in his baptism. Be baptized into Jesus! Plunge into Jesus.
Become one with Jesus in his baptism. Be drowned in Jesus. Come up into new
life in Jesus!” Son of Adam, fine. Son of Abraham… sure, it might be nice to be
Jewish. But what really matters is that we are daughters of God, loved by God.
Sons of God, dearly beloved.
That’s the cure for your weariness. You need to know who you are, and whose
you are. “You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until
they find their rest in you!” (St. Augustine)
When you know the answer to your basic question—when you know who you
are, and who you belong to… you know you are loved—you won’t even be able to
try to make someone else feel unloved. When love flows in, love flows out. We
receive it; we gotta give it.
It’s love that makes you hopeful. Love that takes away your weariness. Know who
you truly are: you just can’t be negative or unkind. Know who you are, and you lift
people up. You can’t put them down.
See, it’s when I’m not sure that I am loved—that’s when I go all negative on
others. It’s when I’m insecure about my identity in Christ—that’s when I become
judgmental and critical and gossipy. Muckraking reveals a profound insecurity in
my own identity. If I’m slinging mud around, it shows I don’t know who I truly am.
Christmas is coming. We’ll be getting together with our families. For some of us,
it’s not going to be easy. See: some of our relatives have had a great year. They’re
so successful. They’re so popular. They’re so enviable. And maybe you’re
struggling. Maybe you’re feeling unsuccessful, insecure. Maybe you’re even
wondering, “Who am I, really?” Remember your baptism. You’re one with Jesus,
plunged into Jesus. The Spirit of Jesus has been poured all over you. You are
inextricably bound up in Christ. What God said to Jesus, God says directly to you:
“My daughter, my beloved; my son whom I love so very, very much.”
6|Page
When you’re loved, and you know it, you just can’t help being a person of hope.
Hope comes in; hope pours out. It's not just “20 Things You Should Say More
Often,” anymore. No: it’s 20 Things you just want to say more often.
See when you've openly confessed your sins, when you're plunged into Jesus,
when you know how you are loved, you will be thankful, you will be able to say,
“I’m sorry.” Your words will be kind. You’ll be telling people they’re awesome,
and mean it! You’ll dance (inside, at least)! Who knows? You might even start
handing out corndogs!
Isn’t that the sort of person you want to be this Christmas, 2013? You are so
loved. You’re the beloved child of God. God help us live like it!
7|Page