FIRST MESSAGE
Advent — Rejoice! The One Who Comes is Our Salvation
The sermon text comes from Luke 3:7-18, and it’s a truth-telling sermon by John the Baptist that pulls no punches. John names our shortcomings and our self-interests go against God’s dream for creation, which is peace on earth. But he doesn’t leave us with just bad news. He gives us practical actions we can take and assures us that our salvation comes through Jesus.
Lectionary Notes
When Bad News Becomes Good News
Luke 3:7-18 NRSVUE
I have a few good news/bad news jokes for you:
Good news: You baptized seven people today in the river.
Bad News: You lost two of them in the swift current.
Good news: Your women’s softball team finally won a game.
Bad News: They beat your men’s softball team.
Good news: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks.
Bad News: You were on vacation.
Notice that these jokes began with the good news, but when someone tells you, “I’ve got good news and bad news,” most of us will say, “Give me the bad news first.” A 2014 study showed that as many as 78 percent of people want to hear the bad news first so that they get it out of the way and end up with something hopeful to work toward a solution.
Our sermon text today starts off with some tough talk from John the Baptist (the bad news), but it ends with good news, including ideas for our participation in God’s kingdom on earth, the promise of Jesus, and the loving purification of our minds by the Holy Spirit.
Let’s read Luke 3:7-18.
7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood[a] of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?”
11 He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
12 Then 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 what is appointed for you.”
14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?”
So he said to them, “Do not [b]intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
15 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, 16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18 And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.
More background about Luke’s Gospel
Throughout his Gospel, Luke emphasizes women, marginalized (or powerless) people, and the work of the Holy Spirit. For example, Luke includes stories about women not found in any other Gospel, such as Jesus raising from the dead the widow’s only son at Nain (Luke 7:11-16), the woman caught in adultery whose sins were forgiven (7:36-50), sisters Mary and Martha (10:38-42), and the parables of the woman with the lost coin (15:8-10), and the persistent widow (18:1-8). Luke also emphasizes the responsibility of the rich to take care of the poor more than any of the other Gospels (Luke 3:11, 6:20, 6:24, 12:16-21, and 14:13). As for Luke’s focus on the Holy Spirit, this follows through to the book of Acts, which represents a sequel to his Gospel. Luke emphasizes that Jesus’ ministry is guided by the Holy Spirit, which was evident at Jesus’ baptism, and in the book of Acts at Pentecost.
Another important contextual element of Luke’s Gospel is the underlying tension of Roman imperial power with Judaism and later, Christianity. Authors Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan write that this tension came to the surface as the kingdom of Rome clashed against the kingdom of God, not as a territorial conflict or ethnic identity as much as it was a clash over “a mode of economic distribution, a type of human organization, and a style of world order, social justice, and global peace.” For Rome, peace was attained through victory and the often violent subjugation of enemies; in God’s vision for the world, peace came through justice and nonviolence. Jesus modeled this peaceful, nonviolent resistance to empire, and he was executed.
Luke 3:7-18 NRSVue
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Luke 3:7-18 NET
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10 And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” 11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” 15 As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,[a]16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with[b] 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 granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people. |
10 So[l] the crowds were asking[m] him, “What then should we do?” 11 John[n] answered them,[o] “The person who has two tunics[p] must share with the person who has none, and the person who has food must do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors[q] also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He told them, “Collect no more[r] than you are required to.”[s]14 Then some soldiers[t] also asked him, “And as for us — what should we do?”[u] He told them, “Take money from no one by violence[v] or by false accusation,[w] and be content with your pay.” 15 While the people were filled with anticipation[x] and they all wondered[y] whether perhaps John[z] could be the Christ,[aa]16 John answered them all,[ab] “I baptize you with water,[ac] but one more powerful than I am is coming — I am not worthy[ad] to untie the strap[ae] of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.[af] 17 His winnowing fork[ag] is in his hand to clean out his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse,[ah] but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.”[ai] 18 And in this way,[aj] with many other exhortations, John[ak] proclaimed good news to the people. |
Footnotes … for the NET …
- Luke 3:7 tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Luke 3:7 sn The crowds. It is interesting to trace references to “the crowd” in Luke. It is sometimes noted favorably, other times less so. The singular appears 25 times in Luke while the plural occurs 16 times. Matt 3:7 singles out the Sadducees and Pharisees here.
- Luke 3:7 tn Or “snakes.”
- Luke 3:7 sn The rebuke “Who warned you to flee…?” compares the crowd to snakes who flee their desert holes when the heat of a fire drives them out.
- Luke 3:8 tn The verb here is ποιέω (poieō; see Luke 3:4).
- Luke 3:8 tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).
- Luke 3:8 tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”
- Luke 3:8 sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.
- Luke 3:8 sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.
- Luke 3:9 sn Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees. The imagery of an “ax already laid at the root of the trees” is vivid, connoting sudden and catastrophic judgment for the unrepentant and unfruitful. The image of “fire” serves to further heighten the intensity of the judgment referred to. It is John’s way of summoning all people to return to God with all their heart and avoid his unquenchable wrath soon to be poured out. John’s language and imagery is probably ultimately drawn from the OT where Israel is referred to as a fruitless vine (Hos 10:1-2; Jer 2:21-22) and the image of an “ax” is used to indicate God’s judgment (Ps 74:5-6; Jer 46:22).
- Luke 3:9 tn Grk “is”; the present tense (ἐκκόπτεται, ekkoptetai) has futuristic force here.
- Luke 3:10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the consequential nature of the people’s response.
- Luke 3:10 tn Though this verb is imperfect, in this context it does not mean repeated, ongoing questions, but simply a presentation in vivid style as the following verbs in the other examples are aorist.
- Luke 3:11 tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Luke 3:11 tn Grk “Answering, he said to them.” This construction with passive participle and finite verb is pleonastic (redundant) and has been simplified in the translation to “answered them.”
- Luke 3:11 tn Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, chitōn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a ‘tunic’ was any more than they would be familiar with a ‘chiton.’ On the other hand, attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “Shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.
- Luke 3:12 sn The Roman system of taxation was frequently characterized by “tax farming” where an individual would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government throughout an entire district and then add a surcharge or commission (often exorbitant) which they kept for themselves as their profit. The tax collectors referred to in the NT were generally not the holders of these tax contracts themselves, but hired subordinates who were often local residents. Since these tax collectors worked for Rome (even indirectly), they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked. In addition, the system offered many opportunities for dishonesty and greed, both of which were often associated with local tax collectors. Yet even they were moved by John’s call.
- Luke 3:13 tn In the Greek text μηδὲν πλέον (mēden pleon, “no more”) is in an emphatic position. sn By telling the tax collectors to collect no more than … required John was calling for honesty and integrity in a business that was known for greed and dishonesty.
- Luke 3:13 tn Or “than you are ordered to.”
- Luke 3:14 tn Grk “And soldiers.”
- Luke 3:14 tn Grk “And what should we ourselves do?”
- Luke 3:14 tn Or “Rob no one.” The term διασείσητε (diaseisēte) here refers to “shaking someone.” In this context it refers to taking financial advantage of someone through violence, so it refers essentially to robbery. Soldiers are to perform their tasks faithfully. A changed person is to carry out his tasks in life faithfully and without grumbling.
- Luke 3:14 tn The term translated “accusation” (συκοφαντήσητε, sukophantēsēte) refers to a procedure by which someone could bring charges against an individual and be paid a part of the fine imposed by the court. Soldiers could do this to supplement their pay, and would thus be tempted to make false accusations.
- Luke 3:15 tn Or “with expectation.” The participle προσδοκῶντος (prosdokōntos) is taken temporally.snThe people were filled with anticipation because they were hoping God would send someone to deliver them.
- Luke 3:15 tn Grk “pondered in their hearts.”
- Luke 3:15 tn Grk “in their hearts concerning John, (whether) perhaps he might be the Christ.” The translation simplifies the style here.
- Luke 3:15 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”sn See the note on Christ in 2:11.
- Luke 3:16 tn Grk “answered them all, saying.” The participle λέγων (legōn) is redundant and has not been translated.
- Luke 3:16 tc A few mss (C D 892 1424 it) add εἰς μετάνοιαν (eis metanoian, “for repentance”). Although two of the mss in support are early and significant, it is an obviously motivated reading to add clarification, probably representing a copyist’s attempt to harmonize Luke’s version with Matt 3:11.
- Luke 3:16 tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”sn The humility of John is evident in the statement I am not worthy. This was considered one of the least worthy tasks of a slave, and John did not consider himself worthy to do even that for the one to come, despite the fact he himself was a prophet!
- Luke 3:16 tn The term refers to the leather strap or thong used to bind a sandal. This is often viewed as a collective singular and translated as a plural, “the straps of his sandals,” but it may be more emphatic to retain the singular here.
- Luke 3:16 sn With the Holy Spirit and fire. There are differing interpretations for this phrase regarding the number of baptisms and their nature. (1) Some see one baptism here, and this can be divided further into two options. (a) The baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire could refer to the cleansing, purifying work of the Spirit in the individual believer through salvation and sanctification, or (b) it could refer to two different results of Christ’s ministry: Some accept Christ and are baptized with the Holy Spirit, but some reject him and receive judgment. (2) Other interpreters see two baptisms here: The baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to the salvation Jesus brings at his first advent, in which believers receive the Holy Spirit, and the baptism of fire refers to the judgment Jesus will bring upon the world at his second coming. One must take into account both the image of fire and whether individual or corporate baptism is in view. A decision is not easy on either issue. The image of fire is used to refer to both eternal judgment (e.g., Matt 25:41) and the power of the Lord’s presence to purge and cleanse his people (e.g., Isa 4:4-5). The pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, a fulfillment of this prophecy no matter which interpretation is taken, had both individual and corporate dimensions. It is possible that since Holy Spirit and fire are governed by a single preposition in Greek, the one-baptism view may be more likely, but this is not certain. Simply put, there is no consensus view in scholarship at this time on the best interpretation of this passage.
- Luke 3:17 sn A winnowing fork is a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blows away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.
- Luke 3:17 tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building for housing livestock).
- Luke 3:17 sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.
- Luke 3:18 tn On construction μὲν οὖν καί (men oun kai), see BDF §451.1.
- Luke 3:18 tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
From Barclay’s commentary on Luke 3 …
JOHN’S SUMMONS TO REPENTANCE
Lk.3:7-18
Here we have the message of John to the people. Nowhere does the difference between John and Jesus stand out so clearly because, whatever the message of John was, it was not a gospel. It was not good news; it was news of terror.
John had lived in the desert. The face of the desert was covered with stubble and brushwood, as dry as tinder. Sometimes a spark set the face of the desert alight and out from their crannies came the vipers, scurrying in terror from the menacing flames. It was to them John likened the people who came to be baptized.
The Jews had not the slightest doubt that in God’s economy there was a favoured nation clause. They held that God would judge other nations with one standard but the Jews with another. They, in fact, held that a man was safe from judgment simply in virtue of the fact that he was a Jew. A son of Abraham was exempt from judgment. John told them that racial privilege meant nothing; that life, not lineage, was God’s standard of judgment.
There are three outstanding things about John’s message.
(i) It began by demanding that men should share with one another. It was a social gospel which laid it down that God will never absolve the man who is content to have too much while others have too little.
(ii) It ordered a man, not to leave his job, but to work out his own salvation by doing that job as it should be done. Let the tax-collector be a good tax-collector; let the soldier be a good soldier. It was a man’s duty to serve God where God had set him.
A negro spiritual says:
There’s a king and captain high,
And he’s coming by and by,
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes,
You can hear his legions charging in the regions of the sky,
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.
There’s a man they thrust aside,
Who was tortured till he died,
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.
He was hated and rejected,
He was scorned and crucified,
And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.
When he comes! when he comes!
He’ll be crowned by saints and angels when he comes,
They’ll be shouting out Hosanna! to the man that men denied,
And I’ll kneel among my cotton when he comes.
It was John’s conviction that nowhere can a man serve God better than in his day’s work.
(iii) John was quite sure that he himself was only the forerunner. The King was still to come and with him would come judgment. The winnowing fan was a great flat wooden shovel; with it the grain was tossed into the air; the heavy grain fell to the ground and the chaff was blown away. And just as the chaff was separated from the grain so the King would separate the good and bad.
So John painted a picture of judgment, but it was a judgment which a man could meet with confidence if he had discharged his duty to his neighbour and if he had faithfully done his day’s work.
John was one of the world’s supremely effective preachers. Once Chalmers was congratulated on a sermon. “Yes,” he said, “but what did it do?” It is clear that John preached for action and produced it. He did not deal in theological subtleties but in life.
From the Lectionary Notes …
In our sermon text from Luke, John the Baptist is preaching to the crowds of regular people, not the Pharisees and Sadducees that appear in a similar passage in Matthew. The reading begins with John calling the crowd “a brood of vipers,” reminding them that repentance means more than relying on their genetic connection to Abraham, and then challenging them to bear good fruit. To their credit, the crowd asks, “How do we do that?” John’s response is not anything new. He talks about sharing even if you don’t feel you have much. John also calls out those in power, the tax collectors and soldiers, and admonishes them to stop extorting money, which created poverty for many. Instead, he encourages them to live in contentment with what they have. John ends his sermon by reminding his listeners that he was only the messenger, baptizing them with water, but the One who followed him would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire. Interestingly, verses 16 and 17 speak of purification by fire (i.e., “burn with an unquenchable fire”), which is not hellfire but rather God’s love that will cleanse us of anything that is less than what we were created to be. This was John’s proclamation of good news.
Let’s consider four ideas from this passage:
1. It’s easy to become complacent in your religious activity.
While church attendance and participation in other outreach activities are important and can be an expression of our faith, John points out that membership in a religious club (or heritage) isn’t enough. Episcopal vicar Judith Jones writes, “Although it certainly does fit with Luke’s interest in redefining the people of God, John’s message needs to be heard by baptized Christians as well. It’s as shocking as if a preacher in a liturgical church today were to say, “Don’t presume to say, ‘We’re baptized!’ Show your faith by your actions.”
2. The good news demands a biblical view of justice.
Barclay’s Commentary writes that John’s message “began by demanding that men should share with one another. It was a social Gospel which laid it down that God will never absolve the man who is content to have too much while others have too little.” John’s comments reveal a viewpoint that sees poverty as a failure of human beings to care for each other more than any fault of those who are poor. The way we earn money and use it shows our values.
John’s suggestions to the crowd were not new, “more like the stuff of kindergarten than the apocalypse,” according to Lutheran senior pastor David Lose. He writes the following:
Fidelity does not have to be heroic. There are opportunities to do God’s will, to be God’s people, all around us. These opportunities are shaped by our context: the roles in which we find ourselves and the needs of the neighbor with which we are confronted. But make no mistake, opportunities abound. John may have come from the wilderness, but the crowds — and we — live in the towns, villages, and marketplace, and these, too, can be places of testing and the arenas in which we offer our fidelity to God through service to neighbor.
For John and for us, repentance, or the changing of our minds, requires us to take action. Lutheran Senior Pastor Karl Jacobson writes that “Repentance here is not just (or perhaps even primarily) about the dialectic of faith and sin; rather, it is about how we are living out the love of our neighbor.”
I share these quotes to emphasize these are not just my suggestions; there is a consensus from different pastors and ministry leaders across the body of believers.
3. The Messiah will cleanse us by the loving presence of the Holy Spirit.
Being baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire (v. 16) sounds a bit ominous. However, God’s work of mercy in our transformation means we are cleansed of that which keeps us small and feeling separate from the Father’s love and from each other. Remember, fire is a symbol of divine presence, such as the burning bush before Moses (Exodus 3:2) and the pillar of fire leading the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21). For clarity, let’s read Luke 3:16-18 in The Message:
But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house — make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.” (Luke 3:16-18, MSG)
Being scrubbed clean and forced to let go of unhelpful or wrong beliefs about our value and lovability in God’s sight can be painful. Repentance requires us to die to preconceived notions about God’s expectations and then let ourselves be loved. With that as our baseline, we can properly love others.
Re: Jesus baptizing “with the Holy Spirit” … some passages that can help to clarify …
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- Luke 3:16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
- Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
- Mark 1:8 I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
- John 1:33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
- Acts 1:4-5 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
- Acts 2:1-4 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all [a]with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them [b]divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
- Acts 11:15-17 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”
- 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink [g]into one Spirit.
- Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in [c]you all.
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Re: the “fire” that Jesus would baptize with … some passages worth considering …
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- Exodus 24:17; Deuteronomy 9:3; Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29
- Malachi 3:1-3
- 1 Corinthians 3:11-15
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4. Proclaiming the good news includes political considerations.
The passage ends with v.18 saying, “So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news [euaggelizo] to the people”. The Greek word euaggelizo was not a Christian word, and in the cultural context of the Roman Empire, it could include good news that also had a political aspect to it. (By political we mean, the actions/policies of government and the complex way people living in a society together relate.) While Christians adopted this term to refer to the good news of Christ, the term itself has social and political connotations both in the past and for us today. In conjunction with repentance, being cleansed by the Holy Spirit of our religious complacency and our tendency to neglect social justice, Christ followers need to consider how these values are reflected in our communities — and how we can be messengers of the good news in the communities around our congregational venues. We can prayerfully consider how our local leaders reflect the nonviolent care of those groups who are marginalized, following the emphasis Luke portrayed in his Gospel account and the responsibility we have for the other as preached by John the Baptist in this passage.
As we continue our journey through the Advent season, we rejoice that Christmas is not only about Jesus’ birth and our sentimental rituals. The stories and scriptures surrounding the birth of Christ are personal and political, and they provoke the transformation of our minds and hearts as we deepen the understanding of our role as citizens of God’s kingdom — God’s dream of peace on earth in its fullest reality. Because of that, we can rejoice in the One who comes as our salvation.