From tumbleweed to Rooted shoot

Isaiah 11:1-10

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around this waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the king’s son; that he may rule your people righteously and the poor with justice; that the mountains may bring prosperity to the people, and the hills, in righteousness. Let him defend the needy among the people, rescue the poor, and crush the oppressor. May he live as long as the sun and moon endure, from one generation to another. Let him come down like rain upon the mown field, like showers that water the earth. In his time may the righteous flourish; and let there be an abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more. Blessed are you, LORD God, the God of Israel; you alone do wondrous deeds! And blessed be your glorious name forever, and may all the earth be filled with your glory. Amen. Amen.

Romans 15:4-13

Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name”; and again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people”; and again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him”; and again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.” May the God of hope will you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming fro baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 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. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

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Alright, then. John the Baptist pulls no punches. Here’s the deal, he proclaims: bear fruit worthy of repentance, or don’t bother pretending to repent. And if we can’t translate from Scripture what that looks like, imagine, if you will, the husband who beats his wife and every time cries apologies. Imagine, if you will, the drunk who spends every paycheck on beer and every night comes home broke and promising to do better next time. Imagine, if you will, the ones who claim to be women’s rights advocates who refuse to let women speak for themselves no matter how many times women tell them that what they are doing is actively harmful to women. Either repent, turn around, change the behavior and stop doing harm, or stop pretending to be right and righteous. John’s basic message is ‘stop pretending to want a better world if you’re not going to do anything different about it.’ People who heard that came to him in droves. They were tired of the oppression, tired of living like they were untouchable, tired of swimming in the accusations and condemnations of their community. At least, that’s why some of them came to him. Others thought it was another great way to check the boxes of righteous living, to earn their brownie points from whatever god might be paying attention, trying to polish up their public image a bit for their fans and for their detractors. It’s a great publicity ploy to show up with vocal support for this kind of righteous loner, but without any real commitment behind it, that showing up is just weaksauce, blown away by the latest breeze, like a tumbleweed.

But John, acting in the line of prophets, was clear about his message: take care of the downtrodden, look after the poor, stop the oppression of God’s people! And while initially that meant only the Jewish people, Paul writes in the letter to the Romans that Jesus has expanded that justice to include even the Gentiles. Even we who were once outsiders. Don’t forget we were not God’s original chosen people. We were not the ones promised a homeland. We were not the first love of God in this story. In fact, we often were the enemy, the conquering power, the “other” people. But as outsiders, we did have a different viewpoint on how lived actions lined up with or diverted from spoken confession of values and morals. This often is how it turns out, the ones on the margins shining the light on the way the masses are moving off course, just as John the Baptizer lived in that disjoined space between civilization and the wild places, wearing wild animal skins and eating those insects which typically devoured the crops in time of famine. John and his proclamation were abrasive at best, and especially so toward those in positions of power.

Because the Kingdom of Heaven come near is amazingly good news for some, and amazingly devastating news for others. But it is the same news, the same equalizing, the same leveling of the playing field. The root of Jesse, the source of the covenant between God and God’s people, the standard from which the Kingdom of God grows in our midst. It is digging deep down and holding on, as stubborn as anything, to break apart that rocky soil of dis-ease and disinterest so that new life can actually, finally, grow up from the rubble of our histories of destruction. The Jesse stump is not dead as once we thought, but thriving in the deep of the dark soil, working beneath the surface, getting at the heart and core of our illness and bringing out justice and equity from the disasters that threaten life at every turn. Rather than tumbleweed faith, John bears witness to the deeply rooted capacity of God to live in our world with active and intentional compassion. Rather than simply stopping by to be the last-minute hero who saves the day after most of the work has been done by those who lost their lives for the cause, John puts his life on the line, his livelihood, his reputation, his safety, for the sake of uprooting those false prophets who proclaim peace when there is no peace, who turn a blind eye whenever it suits their comfort. John is no tumbleweed, but even John only points to the truly steadfast root of Jesse. That Jesus who is coming is not only the deeply rooted covenant promise, but also the soil in which is grows, and the sun and rain which feed it.

As we prayed in the Psalm this morning: Defend the needy. Rescue the poor. Crush the oppressor. Yes, Lord, quickly come. We need this rescuing, and we need the courage to act alongside the God who works among us in uprooting injustice, so that true righteousness may flourish. John’s promise of a harvest come soon is good news, when the baptism of water for repentance is replaced with that baptism by fire that burns the chaff within us to reveal the heart of our worthiness, the core of our validation, the holiness that resides within each of God’s own people to live in that Kingdom way, where justice and equity are as common as bread and wine.

Then will our children be safe to play in the fields freely. Then salvation will be wholly recognized. Then we will know truly our connections in the order of things, when we learn to trust God’s care of the cosmos as though it is true and honest and good, as it was called in the beginning. Come, Emmanuel, God with us, root of Jesse. Come and restore our chaff-encased hearts to beat again with the compassion of your heart, broken open for the sake of the whole world.