Forced to do it
Luke 3:7-17
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
Luke 3:7 So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “aYou brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and ado not begin to say 1to yourselves, ‘bWe have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 9 “Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so aevery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Luke 3:10 And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “aThen what shall we do?” 11 And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to ashare with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” 12 And some atax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “1Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” 14 Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or aaccuse anyone falsely, and bbe content with your wages.”
Luke 3:15 Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were 1wondering in their hearts about John, aas to whether he was 2the Christ, 16 aJohn answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you 1with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 “His awinnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with bunquenchable fire.”
In this narrative about John the Baptist starting his ministry, he makes a couple of observations. Three different people come up to him and ask him about what they’re doing, whether it was right or wrong. For example, the soldiers came up to John the Baptist and ask him what they should do differently. John the Baptist advised them not to take money from people by force or falsely accuse them, but rather be contented with their wages.
In those days, the custom was that soldiers received very little payment, certainly not what was promised to them. Most governments in the Near East were bankrupt and did not have the money to pay the soldiers. However, when one became a soldier, you couldn’t leave because you weren’t getting paid enough. What happened was when money was appropriated from the central treasury for the soldiers, it would pass between departments of the government and each one would stick their hands in the till and take some of the money. By the time the money made its way to the soldiers' hands, there was very little left. Therefore, soldiers could raid caravans and force people to pay them money to avoid harm. Since the government did not have the money to pay the soldiers, they looked the other way and allowed them to do it. John the Baptist said that what they were doing was wrong in that they should not be stealing money from people or harming them. Instead, he told them to be happy with whatever they got.
That made me think of things that our culture makes us do we know are wrong, yet we do it. In 2020, we had the COVID-19 scare. Indeed, it was a pandemic, and many people died from COVID 19 and we all needed to be careful. However, this is the first time in history that the entire world shut down, well practically shut down, because of the pandemic. In the long run, it made absolutely no difference because once the mandates were removed, people started contracting the disease again. It also doesn’t matter whether it came from a lab or whether it was naturally created, the point is that we had lockdowns in 2020.
I remember receiving a letter from the bishop of the church telling us we had to shut down when the country shut down. Technically speaking, the bishop had no right to tell us to lock down, but he urged us to do it. All the churches in my area shut down. This also included the church that I was serving. I went online and created live worship services that people could watch and take part in from their homes. I did that until the bishop said to us we could open with all kinds of regulations about spacing, sizes, and, well, you name it; it was there.
In 2021, when I did my self-evaluation for the district superintendent, I wrote that the biggest mistake that I ever made was closing the church during the shutdowns. What happened was a lady came to the church a week after we reopened and told me that she had come to the church during the lockdowns because she had a crisis in her life and was searching for God to help her, but our doors were locked. She got me thinking that the worst thing we could’ve done as a church was to shut down during the lockups. I wrote that on to my evaluation that I felt that was the biggest mistake I ever made. I also wish that I never had done it.
At my yearly evaluation, the superintendent asked me why I put that down since everyone else was shutting down. I said to her we should have been open to anyone who wanted to physically be in the church, and we could’ve easily taken care of the spread of the pandemic. Food stores were open, and a couple of other essential businesses were open. Why wasn’t the church considered essential? I told her I should’ve been broadcasting out of the sanctuary and that if anyone wanted to be in church that day they could come in. I told her that this one lady had come to the church for other reasons, and we were unavailable.
The history of the church was that it never shut down during many of the pandemics that occurred during the last 2000 years. Why did we become scared and shut our doors? We could’ve had distance between each other. We could have sprayed everything down with Lysol, which we did afterward anyway. We should have been open to receive people who were looking for God in Christ. But no, we were not because our bishop told us that we had a shut down.
I look back at that time and I wish that I would’ve said no the church needs to stay open for the people of God and will take precautions. If you could go into a grocery store during the pandemic, then you could go into the church. We could’ve worn masks and we could’ve sat 6 feet apart and we would’ve probably been just fine.
So, the culture at that time said that we could not be open because it was a pandemic. I and every church in my area shut down when we all probably knew in our hearts we should not have shut down. I should’ve said that I am not going to follow the culture but follow what is right. Instead, I followed the culture.
The soldiers probably knew that terrorizing the people and taking money from them for no reason was morally and ethically wrong. However, the culture of that day said it was okay to do. John the Baptist said just because the culture says you can do it does not mean it’s right to do. Just because the culture said shut down your church because we said some authority said so, while we knew it was wrong, it should not have happened.
How many other things can you think of that the culture of our society says is perfectly fine to do that are totally un-biblical and against the laws of God? There are probably so many that I cannot even list them here. But from my experience with the pandemic I learned that I need to evaluate what society says is legal against the ethical and moral laws that are given to us by God and Jesus which are in the Bible. As John the Baptist said, if the culture says it’s okay to do what God said it is not okay to do, we shouldn’t be doing it.
