Homily from Rev. Timothy Crowley, Anchorage, Alaska
17 Dec 2000
Third Sunday of Advent. Cycle C

Our Gospel ends with this sentence:  "Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people."  Luke is writing about John the Baptizer.  He was a classic hell-fire and brimstone preacher.

     The word he used more than any other was "repent."  That means: "Change your life, turn around, go the opposite direction."

     And John gives us some specific examples.  The man who had two coats was to give  one of them to his neighbor who had none.  The person who had plenty of food was to share with someone who was hungry.

     The soldier was to stop bullying and intimidating people.  And the reason for all this moral behavior was the imminent appearing of the Messiah.

     But listen to John's description of the Messiah:  "His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

     Then comes the line:  "…He preached good news to the people."  Where is there good news here?  Is it good news to be told to repent? To change one's life?  Is it good news to be warned  of the day of judgment?

     Perhaps the gospel is not all sweetness and light.  Maybe it is stronger and more demanding than we know.  And John forces us to see the stern side of the gospel.

     First is this:  Repent, turn around, change your manner of living.  Most of us do not welcome a call to reform our behavior.  It does not strike us as good news.  We prefer to be left alone.  Our lives may not be perfect.  But we have gotten used to them.  And frankly, it is just too hard to change.

     Changing the way we live is hard.  But John was not concerned with that.  It needs to be done.  And the good news is that we really can change.  We do not have to stay the way we are.

     The grouch does not have to remain a grouch.  It will not be easy.  But he can change.  The greedy man is not doomed to be greedy.  He can become generous, and giving, and kind.

     This is a stern message.  But it is good news.  We can change the way we live.  We do not have to stay the way we are.

     John's call for this moral re-formation is followed by a vivid image of the Messiah:  "His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

     It is a clear picture of judgment.  Christ is portrayed as a farmer at harvest time.  He separates the wheat from the chaff.  He saves the wheat and burns up the chaff.  And again I ask:  "Where is the good news in all of this?"  It seems so harsh and unbending.

     Well, John is reminding us that the world is coming to a day of judgment when Christ and his cause will prevail.  And evil will be utterly defeated.  One of our Christmas carols says it best:

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet their words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then in despair I bowed my head.
"There is no peace on earth" I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead nor does he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

     That is the stern side of the Gospel.  But it really is good news.  Christ and his cause will somehow, some day prevail.  And evil in all of its forms will be utterly destroyed.