When I was growing up, one of my favorite foods was pie.  We always had fruit tress and bushes and would store enough for a family of five to have at least one pie each week throughout the year.  I distinctly remember all the work it took to get things ready.  Pruning took time.  Picking took time.  Cleaning up after them took time.  Some years were good and some were not as good.  But every once in a while, there would be a tree that wouldn’t produce any fruit.  No matter what we did, not fruit, or at least no good fruit, would come out of it.  Eventually then, we would take down that tree and use it for firewood or in a smoker.

This is the picture we have today from the greatest prophet ever born, John the Baptist.  There is no sugarcoating his message.  As he speaks to the unrepentant crowds fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi 3, “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.  Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:9). The message is clear: God’s wrath is beginning to be poured out.  The sin, the rebellion, the rejection of the world is coming to a close as the unfruitful tree of faithlessness is about to cut down.

So what are we to do?  This is the same question that the crowds ask John, and it is the same question that St. Paul answers in Philippians. Bear the fruit of repentance, of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.  To abound in love more and more, not just in quantity, but in quality with knowledge and discernment that comes from a repentant faith.

And that’s a big focus of this season of Advent.  We are prepared by heeding John’s message of repentance and faith in the Christ, which is the greatest fruit.  This preparation reaches its climax with Jesus death on the cross, where all of the Father’s wrath is laid on the Son.  The Messiah must come to Jerusalem to deal with this crookedness and sin.  It is a road that leads to Jerusalem and the cross, a road in which John the Baptist calls to make straight and level for the coming King and to prepare us to take that journey with Jesus.  The way of the Lord is a catechetical road, the way of life in the person and works Jesus.  Those who are called to bear this fruit of repentance are called to follow Jesus on this road and to undergo changes if they are to be fit for the kingdom of God.

No matter how hard we try, we cannot effect these changes.  A bad tree cannot bear good fruit by itself.   Which means for our lives here in this place and our preparations for the coming King is not about being a better person.  It’s not even about avoiding sin.  It’s about repentance and forgiveness.  This is both the purpose and the effect of John’s proclamation of God’s Word. 

To much of our modern sensibilities, this doesn’t seem like it’s enough for real change.  The world and our sinful pride says you can do it all by yourself if you just have the will, the tools, and the know-how. It is the New Year’s resolutions myth, the heresy that if you follow the rules better you will be more righteous.  The problem is this just doesn’t work.  This is way of the Pharisees and the crowds in which John calls a brood of vipers.  The road make crooked by brokenness of our sinful world can only be made straight through repentance, turning from sin and toward God, and forgiveness in Christ.

And this is where John the Baptist leads us this Advent. Where John directs, Jesus is there. What John prepares for, Jesus fulfills.  What John proclaims, Jesus delivers.  John preaches of a baptism of repentance and forgiveness, a preparation for the Messiah.  It didn’t initiate people into Jesus, the Trinity, or God’s kingdom.  It turned people to Jesus and sets them in motion on the way of the Lord, a journey by grace so that when the promised Messiah arrived the people would recognize Him as such by faith. The righteousness that God declares through faith in Christ produces a regenerate soul that actually thinks, speaks, and does what is right.

And we prepare for Christ in the same way.   We do not need that baptism of John to be prepared for Jesus, for we have been baptized into Christ. What we need in preparation for Christmas is not something new, something trendy, the latest and greatest.  What we need is a simple return to our baptism.  For it is in those blessed waters that Christ delivers His righteousness, His fruit, His death, His life to His people. It is the good work that He began in us, one that He will bring to completion at the day of His Advent.  In the meantime, He feeds and nourishes us through His body and blood.  And speaking to us His Word, a Word of repentance and faith, of forgiveness and life, to bear fruit in us unto eternal life. May be the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus. Amen.