What Should I Do?

Advent 3C  12/13/09

Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:7-18

Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and from his Christ, our savior and Lord—Jesus.

There’s two kinds of people in this world—those who make lists, and those who don’t. Those who go through life organized and efficient, and those others.

List people make lists for everything. Grocery lists, packing lists, lists of pros and cons when they have a decision to make; they see every job as separable into smaller, list-able tasks. They have a list of all their computer passwords and a list of their financial and other information to be used in the event of their sudden demise. Oh. And their favorite part of Letterman is The Top Ten List.

People who don’t make lists, or “non-listers” as they’re called, they entrust any and all kinds of information to memory! Trivial stuff like how many eggs are left in the fridge, or what dvds you’ve already seen (to keep from renting them again). But also fairly important things like who is invited to the wedding ceremony and who is invited to the ceremony and reception. And vital, list-worthy information, like what to have on hand for your daughter’s first slumber party! (Anything Jonas Brothers!)

Now, before we go any further, I must admit—I am a list maker. And that’s a good thing in my book. There is no shame in telling you that. List makers ROCK! As for those “others,” non-listers will give you every excuse under the sun for preferring not to use lists. I just so happen to have a list of them! Too constricting. Stifles spontaneity. Can’t find a pen. DO you really think I can’t remember three things to get at the market? I could go on and on—but I won’t—because it’s on my list of things not to do during this sermon. (Along with going on too long.)

No, I’m not ashamed to be a list maker. Lists are important. If, for example, you entrust your spouse with the job of packing the suitcases, and she is a non-lister, then don’t be surprised when you get to your destination and find you have no underwear for the week! You’d rather be prepped for surgery by an orderly who’s working from a list, wouldn’t you? And you’d never catch NASA doing things spontaneously on the shuttle—they are master list makers.

God, I really think, is the, master list maker. For starters there’s those Ten Commandments. Written on tablets of stone! Sweet! And the Beatitudes—they’re very list like. And you can’t help but wonder if that whole creation deal—maybe God first made a list, so he’s get it in the right order. Otherwise, God might have made the animals before he created the dry ground! (blub, blub). Yeah, I think of it as God’s “To Do” list.

And he’s still working on it.

Do you have a “To Do” list?  You know—a list of the chores you need to finish, and errands you need to run, and repairs you need to accomplish, and calls you need to make, and things…well, things you need to do! Sometimes, though not at all frequently, you might even have fun things on your list. Even non-listers often have at least a mental “to do” list.

I have a written “to do” list. Not in stone—on paper. Here it is. (Unscroll lengthy document.) I know—it’s pretty short right now. Let’s see what we’ve got here… ahhh, number 557. Update my Facebook status. In fact, numbers 557-948 are update facebook status! Number 5 – put that mountain dulcimer kit together (that’s been on the list a whopping 27 years!). And number 1746, get to the point of this sermon already.

Okay, getting to the point (check off). The crowds that streamed out of Jerusalem and the surrounding towns and villages to see and hear the honest, but less than tactful, John the Baptizer—oh yeah—they were list-makers. And they had a “to do” list a mile long.

Only their list wasn’t full of things that needed repair, or that waited to be created. Their “to do” list’s aim and goal was to insure a good relationship with God, and to assure them of salvation. It was a list of things to do (and not to do) in order to be sure that you didn’t go to Sheol when you died. The Pharisees, the scribes, and the chief priests added to these lists, piling on rule after rule, good deed after good deed, that need be completed if you didn’t want to be put to shame.

The idea was simple (and just a smidge short of genius). You took the LAW with its bold strokes, and pulled it apart with things you could do—either to avoid violation in the first place, or to atone for your sin, if avoidance proved impossible. Usually the avoidance and atonement prescribed by the temple involved rituals and sacrificial cultic actions.

As you might imagine, the more rules and rituals, the more there was to remember, the more to remember, the more you might forget, thus invoking another whole set of rules and consequences—which you’d also have to remember. Whew! But if you did…if you did remember all the dietary and social rules and kept them, you’d be living right and God would be obligated to offer you salvation.

Which sounds noble. But, in reality, it caused a separation where a gathering ought to be. Instead of  Israel being caught up in YHWH’s forgiving arms, the people were now bartering for it. Good intention, bad solution. But it was their solution. So when the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching repentance and the coming kingdom of God, you can’t really blame the people for flocking down to the Jordan to see what this prophet-like, Messiah-like man was up to—what his take on the LAW was, what he prescribed as a salvation winner.

Now John, he sees them coming and he knows what they are there for. They want to escape God’s judgment—the wrath to come, as our John so mildly puts it. Always the gentleman, John greets them with a jaunty, “Hello…you brood of vipers!” and then gives them some advice they don’t understand.

Figuring that John is fixing to add to their “to do” lists, they ask him, “What should we do?” And he does tell them what to do, technically. But what he tells them to do is different than what their own religious leaders tell them, and tell them, and tell them. For one thing it’s short. John tells the crowd to share their food and extra clothing with those in need. He tells tax collectors to deal fairly with their constituents. He directs soldiers to stop strong-arming the populace and act responsibly.

In other words, when you think about it, John tells them to do exactly what they were supposed to be doing anyway! Sharing with the poor—one of God’s great concerns is that those who have remember those who cannot and do not. Acting ethically in the world of business (or school for that matter). A big piece of God’s brand of justice is that the downtrodden be lifted up. And the compassionate use of power. A key component of the kingdom of God which paradoxically equates strength with weakness.

John the Baptist says in effect, that they know what they should be doing, and that’s not building a wall of ritual and regulation between themselves and God’s LAW. Rather than hide from God in the letter of the law, John encourages them to live in the spirit of the LAW. He invites the people of Israel to bask in the light of the kingdom of heaven, with the realization that this light, when blocked by them, casts a shadow. A shadow of their own making that darkens part of the world. A shadow they can’t help but cast.

Just like the transgressions they can’t hope to stem. Facing away from the light, they dwell in the shadow, misguidedly seeking the light there. The main thrust of John’s preaching is that repentance is required. That is because the only way to see that the wrath that is to come is instead to be the grace that is to come, the only way to see that is to face the light, to turn and face God. Or for God to shine on them in their darkness.

And guess what? Right there on his mega-list of things to do, God had long time ago scrawled “Save the sinners, save the world.”  It was on God’s To Do list, not theirs. And God checked that one off with the sending of the Christ, Jesus. John knew he was coming soon, and that he was the fulfillment of the LAW. That all the commandments would be summed up by Jesus in two phrases—loving God and loving neighbor. That would be the extent of their “to do” lists from now on.

Your to do list is probably a mile long like mine. We are a busy people. The thrust of this teaching from John, for us, might be to recall what’s really important especially during this season. Sharing. Peace. Righteousness. We might even take the advice of Paul along with it and rejoice in the Lord always—in times of plenty and health, and in times of sickness and want—both good and bad times we are to rejoice in the Lord’s concern and care for us. We need to put on our list take time to rejoice in the Lord.

What’s on your religious to do list? A trip to the Holy Land, Luther’s Wittenberg, Rome? A personal retreat? Making time to read your bibles? Hopefully filling out your commitment form for our stewardship emphasis! Seriously. What do you think you’re supposed to be doing? Well, it’s the same for us as it was for them. We are to be doing those things that we know we’re to do—feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, freeing those held captive by oppression, making this world a reflection of the kingdom

Of course we don’t want to trundle away from here thinking that what we do, or don’t do can somehow take away the sin of the world—or even our own. The Luther in us decries this as works righteousness. The “to do” list of ancient Judaism has been replaced with a “to be” list of God. We are to be generous and caring, fair and equitable, compassionate and empowering. What we are is the body of Christ.

Well, I can check ‘write sermon’ off my list now. May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds (and to do lists) in Christ Jesus. The one who was, is and is to come. Amen