Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Have you ever anticipated the arrival of someone important or a loved one?

I know that I have.

When I was in the air force, we once had a visit at our military college from Paul Hellyer who was Minister of National Defense at the time.

Many years later I met him at a concert in Toronto.

When I mentioned his visit to Royal Roads, he remembered it well and told me how an admiral that he met in the college library was not too impressed when he pointed out a book in the library with the chronicles of Nelson was in the fiction section!

As a child growing up in Saskatchewan, we once had a brief visit from the Governor General of Canada.

I have forgotten his name but do remember that he gave us the day off from school.

Of course there were other times when my family in Toronto had visits from relatives living in Western Canada.

That included my mother, an aunt, one of my brothers and my sister after my late wife's passing.

The theme for this third Sunday of Advent week is the arrival of God.

There are several scriptures that herald the arrival of God.

Zephaniah speaks words of comfort about God's arrival - bringing the people home, saving the lame and gathering the outcast.

Zephaniah 3:14-17 (ESV)

14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!

15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies.

The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.

16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.

17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Isaiah also speaks about the day of God's arrival, when they will "draw water from the wells of salvation."

Isaiah 12:2-6 (ESV)

2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."

3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

4 And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.

5 "Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.

Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

Philippians talks about how the Lord is near, and we should let our gentleness be known to all, not pointing to ourselves, but to him.

These words anticipate the arrival of God, when his Spirit moves unmistakably, and we can only stand back in awe.

Philippians 4:4-7 (ESV)

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Luke 3, on which this message is based, tells us about John the Baptist, or "Crazy John" as he's been called.

John's great moment was to announce the arrival of God and get off the stage.

He announced that arrival, and Jesus appeared.

Luke 3:7-17 (ESV)

7 He (John) said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers!

Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'

For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

10 And the crowds asked him, "What then shall we do?" 11 And he answered them, "Whoever has two tunics[a] is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise."

12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" 13 And he said to them, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do." 14 Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?"

And he said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation and be content with your wages."

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Have you ever had one of those friends who was maybe a little strange?

An eccentric who lived out of sync with the rest of the world?

Someone who perpetually wore styles a decade old.

Went barefoot in the winter?

Was always off in their head?

And yet also spoke truth?

Sometimes outsider folks like this have insight the rest of us don't.

My late brother-in-law was like that.

Sometimes he would dress up in a pilot's uniform though he had never flown a plane.

He sported a beard when most of the men around him were clean shaven.

He would wear a vest and tie on the hottest day in summer while working in the garden.

The frames for his glasses were 30 years out of style.

His favorite activity was tending to his archives that served to record every significant and insignificant event in his life.

In spite of his eccentricities he was a brilliant pianist who appeared on the local television channel in Peterborough, ON and was given the Kiwanis Musical Festival award for outstanding performer.

But back to an eccentric character and cousin of Jesus.

"Crazy John" is what they called him on the popular TV series "The Chosen."

He looked the part - hair going out in all directions, eyes a little crossed, and, other than the occasional baptism, no bath in quite a while.

Most of the time, when we see John the Baptist portrayed in a movie or art, Crazy John is an accurate description.

He's certainly not someone we think about at Christmas, especially passages like the lectionary reading this week.

Brood of vipers, ax at the root of the tree, unquenchable fire - not exactly the "good tidings we bring" choruses we are used to hearing this time of year.

But it's important to keep the whole life of Jesus out in front us, not just stick to some favorite parts.

The manger led to the cross; his baptism led to his crown of thorns.

And, in a similar way, his brutal death had his resurrection on its heels; his anguished night prayers became songs of glory.

In the end, Crazy John is a perfect reading for Advent for a few reasons, and that's what we'll explore today:

* Crazy John spoke in riddles.

* Crazy John was insanely bold.

* Crazy John lived upside down.

1. Crazy John spoke in riddles

Stones.

Trees.

Threshing wheat.

These were the concrete metaphors that were all around the people in the ancient world.

These were the riddles that Crazy John used to get people's attention.

If we push back further, we can see that some of these riddles connected with the story of Israel.

The ax is already at the root of the trees (v.

9).

John is connecting them with the Israel narrative, specifically from Isaiah.

(Isaiah 6:13 ESV)

And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.

The holy seed is its stump.

Isaiah, and John by quoting Isaiah, speaks to them of God's judgment when Israel strays from him.

Cut down the mighty tree, in this case Israel, and the remnant remains.

The issue in John's era, among others, was that God's people were relying on their heritage instead of acting like God's people.

Many times, John and Jesus reminded the people of Israel that knowing God is a matter of heart, not heritage.

(Luke 3:8 ESV)

For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

The ax is at the root of the tree because the people had strayed from God and relied instead on their rituals and heritage.

God himself is on the move and about to come and set things straight-in person.

Finally, a threshing floor.

In Jesus' day, you had to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The wheat was the kernel that could be eaten or made into bread; the chaff was the useless shell that needed to be thrown away.