Advent 2
Several years ago, on a Spring Break trip with my college
students, we drove through the wine country of Washington State on our way home. In addition to the many varieties of grapes
(I couldn’t tell one from the other) there were also apple orchards and cherry
trees and others we couldn’t identify. You
can tell what kind of tree it is by the kind of fruit it produces. Even a novice like me can tell the difference
between a grapevine and an apple tree!
John the Baptist tells the crowds that they should “Bear
fruits worthy of repentance.” (3:8) But,
what kind of fruits do followers of Jesus produce? Certainly not the fruits of judgement, fear,
anger, hatred, self-centeredness or self-preservation. Instead, John the Baptist instructs the
crowds who followed him to produce fruits of generosity and justice… and Jesus taught the very same thing.
John tells the crowds that they need to share their coats
and their food with those who have none.
Jesus teaches the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
6). Toward the end of Matthew, Jesus
instructs us to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the
stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison
because in doing so we are doing it to him (Matthew 25:35-36). Jesus, like John teaches that we should be
generous with all that God has placed in our hands.
When faith takes root and grows it changes us. It produces fruit. It has to.
John instructs the tax collectors and soldiers among the
crowd to be just in carrying out their work even though both groups were well
known for being anything but just. John
makes it clear that we should use our power, our position, our wealth, or our
privilege to act justly and work for justice in our unjust and broken
world. Jesus works for justice when he welcomes
outcasts, eats with tax collectors, sinners and prostitutes, heals on the
Sabbath, and drives the money changers from the Temple. He teaches his followers to follow suit.
When faith takes root and it changes us. It produces fruit. It has to.
Following in the way of Jesus, Christians have, through the
centuries to the present day, produced the fruits of generosity and justice in
small, personal ways, and huge, public ways.
Christians have welcomed refugees, started hospitals, schools and
childcare centers, built bridges of peace and understanding between peoples, provided
hospitality for travelers, and cared for the sick and dying in the name of
Jesus Christ. In our time, we need to,
once again, step up, reach out, bear
fruit and prove that love truly is greater than hate, forgiveness more powerful
than revenge, and God’s grace is more powerful than death itself. Now,
as always, those are the very fruits this broken world desperately needs.
Peace,
Bishop Mike
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