Here’s Hope: The Kingdom of God Among Us

Matthew 3:1-12

St. John’s United Church of Christ
Greeley, Colorado
December 3, 2023
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes

Matthew’s introduction of John the Baptist to the Jewish people.

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 Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, and 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 ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and 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.”

Mathew gives us a glimpse of the character of John the Baptist. Luke takes a different approach; he takes us back to the time of his birth.

His parents were both descendants from priests. Elizabeth and Zachariah were older, had not children, and one day an angel came and told Zachariah he would be a father. Zachariah was skeptical of that and as a result, he was struck speechless, mute for the duration of the pregnancy. And in fact he never spoke until the day of John’s circumcision, but when he spoke, he spoke of blessing over the John as a newborn baby.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.

Because of the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79).

Isn’t it interesting, it says, “to guide our feet into the way of peace,” because the nature of his message does not seem all that peaceful.

But what we do know is that peace comes after there has been a bit of disruption.

Matthew introduces us to John the Baptist to establish his credibility. It might seem out of the ordinary to be dressed with camel’s hair with a belt around the waist, but that clothing in many ways legitimize him as a prophet.

If you read in the book of 2nd Kings, that’s similar to how Elijah dressed and references to Elijah happen again and again in the story of advent. In fact, Jesus talks about John the Baptist being as Elijah. So that was part of his validation or establishing of his credibility.

He also quotes from the prophet of Isaiah. The words of comfort from chapter 40 were originally given for those people coming out of exile. God was about doing a new thing with the people and they needed to be prepared.

All four of the gospel writers quote Isaiah in referencing John the Baptist. What Matthew does is to clarify. He says, “This is the one of whom Isaiah spoke, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

So his validation came from his attire and his connection to the old testaments prophecy. For that Jewish audience, that would be important.

We go from the man to the message and the message we have today is two-fold: the first is short and clear, it says “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Now Matthew uses the “kingdom of heaven” interchangeably with the “Kingdom of God.”  First he says “repent.” English teachers will tell us this word is an active verb, it’s imperative, it’s a command. What repent means is not just feeling sorry, but turning from the way you think and act, whatever that is in your life that is sinful, turning away from that and turning toward God. It’s an action, it not just in our mind, it’s an action.

We’re called to repent. Why is that? As we repent, we open up space for God to do a new thing. That’s exactly what God was about to do: Jesus was going to embark on his earthly ministry, in that process there was something new about to happen. Then the response of the people, which is quite interesting in verses five and six was this: Jerusalem and all Judea, all the surrounding area was drawn to this prophet, drawn to his message, they were responding by confessing their sins. The baptism that John was offering was symbolic of the repentance in their lives.

Verse seven begins with a conjunction, “but,” and anytime you see a “but” you know something is going to change. But there was another group that came and they were religious leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees who weren’t with each other great friends, they seldom agreed politically, socially, theologically. But on this occasion they are together. Why? Because they have a common threat. They are coming to check John the Baptist, why are people thronging to him, that was worrisome to them, he was messing with their system.

John obviously knew who they were and we don’t have them saying anything. Matthew says they were coming for baptism, so we can assume they came asking to be baptized.

John’s immediate response was alarming, harsh, sarcastic. He calls them a brood of vipers!

Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase of God’s word calls them “a bunch of slithering snakes.” And he also says, “Do you think by throwing a little water on a snake skin that you are going to change anything?”

Who warned you about the wrath of God? What’s going to evoke the wrath of God is coming and acting like faking your repentance, wanting to go through the ritual without having the heart relationship and John says, “I’m not having it.” And He goes on to say, “Therefore, you got to bear some fruit, you got to show by your actions, by your attitudes and your words that you’ve repented, that you’ve had a heart change.

And if that was not enough, he gives them another warning: There is an ax lying at the foot of the tree and if it gets cut down it gets thrown in the fire.

It matters if our hearts are changed, if we truly repented and by the way, repentance is not a one and done kind of thing. It’s a process every day, Why? Because we sin. We have to be made aware through the power of the Holy Spirit of the things and attitudes and the things that we’re holding on to that need to repented of because as those things are pushed away, as our sins are forgiven, God is freed up to work in our hearts, we give him space to work.

The next thing he tells them, “Don’t rely that you are descendants of Abraham, you’re not entitled. God has the same expectation of you as he does of the rest of the people so we need to be aware that we’re all in the same playing field. We all need to bring our sin before God, repent, as God opens space for us to work.

The last verses, eleven and twelve are as if John wants to establish who he is. One of the things about John is that because he is such God aware, he is also self-aware and all of these people thronging to him, you can imagine, could have been a temptation to be pulled aside from his mission and ministry, but he clarifies, “I baptize with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat through the granary and the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

We’ve heard the word “fire” a few times. The second time that he mentions fire is interesting. He mentions his own baptism that is for repentance of sin, but what he says is that there is someone coming after me that is more powerful than I that will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire. I kind of like to look at that fire as when we say, “You need a fire lit under you…” That’s what the holy spirit does, he lights the fire in our souls, in our hearts, and empowers to do the work of God, to live in the kingdom of God with victory and that’s what Jesus was coming to do and John wants to clarify: There’s one coming, get ready, that’s why I’m preaching this!

What seemed to be a harsh message was John saying, “I’m not here to win friends, I’m here to prepare the way, and there’s only one way for that and I’m trusting that you will listen to this message.

He knows their heart, he knows where they are and wants them to come to a place where God can do a new thing in their lives.

The very last verse is a word of judgment as we think of the second coming of Christ. The image, of course is the thrashing floor. That particular image is not common to us, but he says, “He’s got a fork on his hand and he’s going to throw that grain up in the air and what isn’t good grain will be blown away and burned up. He’s looking for those who are truly followers, those who are living with victory in the kingdom.

As we think about the hope in the kingdom of God and the peace that comes because we live in the kingdom, I want to give you a couple of examples from Jesus teaching about what the kingdom of God is like. Dallas Willard says, “The kingdom of God is simply God at work among us and in us and God’s work has all kinds of manifestations. Certainly it is about the confession of sin and the forgiveness of sin, but it is also about his love, and his care and his nurture and his comfort, all of the things that he provides for us as we allow him to work in our hearts.”

Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed and you plant it and you don’t even realize it, but what seems so inconsequential grows into this tree-like shrub and we don’t even know how. Or it’s like the leaven that is placed in the flour. It’s hidden away and we don’t even realize that is there until the dough rises up, ready to be baked into bread. It’s also like the laborer who’s in the field and he finds a hidden treasure, that’s how the kingdom of God is like, it’s like a hidden treasure and what does he do with that? Initially, he buries it again, and then what does he do? He goes and sells everything he has and buys the whole field. Or it’s like the merchant who finds the pearl of great price. He sells all the other jewels so that he can buy that one. What is he saying? It’s worth investing our lives in the kingdom.

Everything else is temporal, the kingdom of God is forever. It’s here, it’s now, it’s God at work in each one of us as we open up space for him to do his work. Its good news. Living in the kingdom is good news. How does it look, though, for us personally, or what is it that maybe gets in the way of living in the kingdom? It shouldn’t be that hard.

Theologian Ben Witherington III says it like this:

What the reign of God entering our hearts does it take us out of a circus-like hall of mirrors where we are perpetually looking at and admiring various configurations of ourselves and places us out in the fresh air of God’s world where we may see the world as it is and understand our place in it.”

At carnivals and amusements parks we often feature “The Fun House,” a space with multiple mirrors that give you a distorted view of who you are and provides a maze so that you struggle to get out. We live in our own echo chamber and hall of mirrors and often times the message that we give ourselves, is not that we can do anything we want, it’s the opposite. We say, “God is through with me, there is nothing else I can do for God.” As we invest time in prayer, worship, and service, we find that we give God space to work in us in His kingdom.

The kingdom of God is among us. Come alive and live in victory through Jesus Christ.