There Is Hope in Judgment

            This Sunday I’m preaching on a very familiar figure during the Advent season, but I’m asking a question that I have never really explored before.  John the Baptist was sent by God to spiritually prepare the way for Jesus to come as the Messiah. 

            Matthew 3: 1-12 tells us that “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’”  John appeared as a wild man in the wilderness.  He wore clothing made from camel’s hair, and he primarily ate grasshoppers and wild honey.  Yet, despite his eccentric dress and diet, John the Baptist became something of a celebrity in his day.  In Jerusalem and throughout the area of Judea, people were talking about this weird man in the wilderness.  Among the Jewish people, all the “buzz” in the marketplace and in people’s homes was about this weird man, who was preaching in the wilderness.

            So, people began to flock to the river Jordan to see and hear this new prophet.  When they found John in the wilderness, he would preach to them about repenting from all of their sins.  When he was finished each day, most people would confess their sins and then be baptized by John in the Jordan River.  John was especially hard on the leaders of the Jewish religion, calling them “a brood of vipers”! 

After he baptized people, John would always caution them by saying, “‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but  one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’”

I have preached on John the Baptist many times over the course of my ministry.  In the past, I have always focused on John’s message of judgment and his call for all of us to repent before it’s too late.  In those previous sermons, I have asked how John would judge contemporary Christians and what he would condemn about our contemporary lifestyles. 

This weekend (December 7th and 8th), I intend to bring a new question to the story about John the Baptist.  This new question is simple:  Why did all of those people take a day off from their lives and go to the wilderness to hear John?  This really is a perplexing question, when you think about it.  In general, most of us do not like to have all of our sins and weaknesses pointed out to us.  And, we especially don’t like to be condemned for our sinfulness.  For instance, most of us have a bit of dread and anxiety when we have to sit through a performance review at work or school. 

So, given that most of us do not exactly cherish being condemned for our shortcomings, why would hard-working people voluntarily take a day off from their busy lives and; take a difficult hike through the dangerous wilderness, in order to be condemned by a strange man with bizarre habits?  Why would so many people do this?

What I will suggest in my proclamation this weekend is that people went out to hear John because they discovered a renewed hope for their lives in his message of judgment and doom.  There was hope in judgment.  Further, I will suggest that most Christians today are not all that different from the crowds who journeyed into the wilderness to hear John.  For us today, there is hope in judgment.

If you live in the Meriden-area and do not have a regular church home, please consider attending Meriden United Methodist Church.  Come this weekend to hear how there is hope for you, even if you’re not perfect.  Meriden United Methodist Church is located at the corner of Dawson and Main Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  We have two worship services each weekend:

Ø  Our contemporary service starts at 6 pm on Saturday evenings.

Ø  Our classic service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.