“…do not presume 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.”
Matthew 3:9 ESV
I was at a Starbucks in Charlotte, NC one Summer day. The line was long but moving at an encouraging pace. In walks someone who immediately looked familiar. Was he someone I knew from childhood? No. Someone on the evening news? I don’t think so. Wait! That’s an actor, but who? I’m not giving you his name. If you ask me at church Sunday I’ll share it with you. Fame seems to do awful things to some people, There are good examples of famous people who seem to be genuinely kind people in and out of the spotlight.
This was not one of them.
He literally shoved his way to the front of the line next to the one I was standing in. I was just one more person away from my coffee and this clown shows up and makes a stink. All eyes were on him. The cashier decides, wisely, to not challenge the fact that he had jumped the queue and pastes a smile on her face as indignant onlookers watched the show unfolding in the café.
He places his overly-complicated order (some kind of soy-frappa-crappa-thingy). Clearly not a true coffee fan. And while he waits, I try and place just who he is. While waiting for his order, he looks around and our eyes meet. So, I take the opportunity and ask, “how do I know you?” He goes on to explain that he is a professional movie actor and is here for a celebrity golf tournament.
Then it clicks. Right. I know this guy. I finally had the mystery solved. I immediately recalled a few movies I had seen him in. He often plays the bad guy’s right-hand man in these formulaic Hollywood action flicks.
Today he was the bad guy.
So, I shouldn’t have been surprised when the cashier announced his bill, that he seemed shocked to be asked to pay. A standoff ensued. B-List celebrity verses I’m-not-taking-any-of your-nonsense Starbucks employee in a staring context. Eventually, the Starbucks employee blinks and reaches down into the tip jar, and pays the bill from that.
He scoots away with his coffee order and leaves the café awash in indignation. “Who does he think he is?” and so on.
Who we think we are has a lot to do with the kind of people we become. And the impact we leave on others.
Mr. B-List thought he was above paying his bill. As if his very presence was somehow an adequate financial boon to this local coffee shop franchise. He could not have been more wrong.
We aren’t entirely clear why the Pharisees and Sadducees (see Matthew 3:1-12) came out in the wilderness to John in the first place. Likely they wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Certainly, by now, this firebrand of a preacher was getting noticed. And the religious leaders of the day did not believe in the existence of any competition.
John knew the score.
And so did they.
John was preaching about revival and life change. The religious leaders rested on the laurels of their heritage from Abraham, their proper theology, and proscribed religious practices. The current system benefitted them just fine. John was throwing a wrench into things. Between the Bible scholar-Pharisees and the do-the-right-rituals Sadducees, the religious leaders all assumed that they had it made. Their ace in the hole was their relationship with Abraham.
“Do you know who I am?” They might ask. I’m a son of Abraham! That announcement of identity, along with correct belief and proper rituals, were believed to cinch the deal with God.
John challenged that.
“If you guys weren’t around, God could raise up the stones to praise him!” Meaning, anyone God chooses can be in a relationship with him. Their family and national heritage meant little if it wasn’t lived out. John gave them a hard time. They did the right things, and believed in the right theologies, but their lives produced little more fruit than a brood of vipers.
Matthew uses this interaction to point out that, yes, the impact we have on others really matters. But more than that. God had a plan to include many, many other people that had no claim to fame through Abraham. The leaders of John’s day relied on their status to save them. Which was also the basis for rejecting others who were not related to Abraham as they were.
The people of Israel were, and still are, deeply valuable to God. But they weren’t the only ones God sought to reach. And the religious leaders of the day had used their status as Sons of Abraham as a platform for renouncing anyone who was not one of them. God never intended his chosen people to use their chosenness as a basis for rejecting anyone. Hence, John’s judgment: Brood of Vipers.
In this Advent season, we get to pause and wait and contemplate who we are because of who Jesus is. And what it might mean for us to also announce the Good News while we live lives that bear fruits of repentance. All who trust in Christ are sons and daughters of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. That, when properly understood, brings humility and a desire for others to know as well.
See in you in the mission field+
Pastor Mark
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