Joy to You, You Brood of Vipers.

Advent 3, Year C, December 16, 2018

When a preacher opens a sermon they usually start with something like Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ or my usual May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer from Psalm 19:14.

John the Baptist begins a little differently…

You brood of vipers!

That’s one way of getting the attention of the congregation.

You see John’s apocalyptic schtick was bringing folks down to the Jordan River to baptize them and help them with the process of repentance, meaning he was helping them “turn around their lives. That’s what repentance means, you know, “turn around”. John used baptism as a kind of catharsis, an outward sacrament to assist with this turning around. It was an extension of a Jewish purification rite called Tvilah that was the act of immersion in a natural source pool of water called a Mikva. This sort of baptism was used as a restoration to a condition of “ritual purity” in special circumstances. An example would be if someone became “unclean” by touching a dead body. They would need to make themselves ritually “clean” through this baptism process in the Mikva before entering the temple to take part in other rituals.

If someone converts to Judaism they need to undergo this immersion.

Undergoing this immersion indicates a change in status for the person so that the person can now be fully engaged with the community without the risk of imposing any uncleanliness on anyone else. This was a kind of immersion that was repeated as necessary. Unlike our Christian baptism that needs no repetition.

So why does John yell at the crowd calling them a “brood of vipers”? Because he’s calling out the folks that show up down by the river with the sole intention of making a public show with no inclination to actually repent and turn around. That’s the thing about repenting. Some folks actually have no intention of doing it but they make some kind of artificial indication that they have. You see, positive change can sometimes seem too difficult.

Ever get to that place where you’re like “No way, man. This just sucks. I can’t imagine it getting better. My job sucks. My family life sucks. My social life sucks. I’m beating myself up with shame or guilt over the mistakes that I’ve made.” Have you ever been there? I have!

Ever listen to Live from Here on NPR? Tom Papa has a great segment called Out in America. Tom travels around the country making wry observations with his catch phrase “I have.” “Have you ever lived in an apartment so small that pigeons would look in the window and laugh at you?… I have.” We all have!

Have you ever looked around and been like “I got no joy, man. No Joy.”? I have.

Today is the third of four Sundays in the season of Advent, this preparation time for Christmas. It’s called “Gaudete Sunday” and it’s signified by pink candle in the advent wreath. (ok, it’s “rose”, not pink). Gaudete is the Latin word for “rejoice” and the readings today emphasize the joyous anticipation of the Lord’s coming.

Joy. That’s the clutch word of the day. Joy.

The theologian Henri Nouwen described the difference between joy and happiness. While happiness is dependent on external conditions, joy is “the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing — sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death — can take that love away.” Thus joy can be present even in the midst of sadness.

Nouwen says, “Joy is essential to spiritual life. Whatever we may think or say about God, when we are not joyful, our thoughts and words cannot bear fruit. Jesus reveals to us God’s love so that his joy may become ours and that our joy may become complete. Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing — sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death — can take that love away.

“Joy is not the same as happiness. We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there because it comes from the knowledge of God’s love for us. We are inclined to think that when we are sad we cannot be glad, but in the life of a God-centered person, sorrow and joy can exist together. That isn’t easy to understand, but when we think about some of our deepest life experiences, such as being present at the birth of a child or the death of a friend, great sorrow and great joy are often seen to be parts of the same experience. Often, we discover the joy in the midst of the sorrow. I remember the most painful times of my life as times in which I became aware of a spiritual reality much larger than myself, a reality that allowed me to live the pain with hope. I dare even to say: ‘My grief was a place where I found joy.’ Still, nothing happens automatically in the spiritual life. Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. It is a choice based on the knowledge that we belong to God and have found in God our refuge and our safety and that nothing, not even death, can take God away from us.”[1]

God is inviting you on a journey of divine imagination. Divine Imagination leads us to a place of joy.

This Sunday, amidst all of the heartbreak around us…. Rejoice. The incarnation of God is coming.

Stay with Joy.

[1] The Heart of Henri Nouwen: His Words of Blessing, by Henri Nouwen (Author), Michael J. Christensen (Editor), Rebecca Laird (Editor), Crossroad Publishing Company; 1st edition (July 1, 2003)