A Voice In The Wilderness

A Voice in the Wilderness

January 26th 2020 Luke 3:1-20

• In general, do people like to be told that what they are doing is wrong?

• Wrong according to whom? Who determines right and wrong? Who says one’s ways are the right ways and another’s are bad?

• How do they respond? Good, bad, indifferent, violent?

• People who take a stand for what IS right, that is God’s ways, are often met with negative responses.

• But every now and then, repentant hearts.

• Let’s turn to the Gospel of Luke and read today’s passage in Luke Ch 3 vs 1-20

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

5 Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall become straight,

and the rough places shall become level ways,

6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

7 He 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 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.”

18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

• This passage starts with timing, it gives us the time when these things happened by telling us who’s in power. Luke is writing about the year 29 or 30AD.

• And in that 1st century according to our calendar, people were coming out to hear a guy who dressed in camel’s hair and a leather belt, and who ate locusts and wild honey (see Matt 3).

• They went out from the comforts of their home and went out into the Judean wilderness in the areas around the Jordan River, which flows from the north to the south in Israel, and listened to him berate them about their terrible behaviour.

• He’s a voice crying out in the wilderness, and people come and they respond in humility and in search of forgiveness for their sin. They want to know what they need to do to get right with God.

• Not just a few come, crowds come. Tax collectors, regular folk, soldiers, pharisees and scribes. People from all walks of life, those one might expect to come and those you’d be floored to see in such a crowd.

• And John answers their questions ‘delicately’, by calling them a brood of vipers, ie you children of the devil!