There is an element to John the Baptist’s message in Matthew 3 that doesn’t resonate with our normal Advent/Christmas vibes. (Admittedly, I barely touched it during the sermon on Sunday…)
It’s wrath! Wrath doesn't have a place in our Christmas traditions; the closest we get to “wrath” is Home Alone or Santa’s naughty list, and even the worst kids always seem to get presents anyway. But John the Baptist, in all his curmudgeonly “it’s-Advent-not-Christmas” glory, won’t let us look past this point: the same Jesus who was born in the manger in Bethlehem will come with wrath.
We talk about Advent and Christmas as times of hope, reminding us that “everything sad [is] going to come untrue” when Christ returns to make all things new. It may sound surprising, but this hope is inseparable from the wrath that John warned of. Jesus’ coming would bring judgment against the failures of Israel’s religious leaders (see the destruction of the temple in AD 70), and that judgment itself was a sign directing our attention toward Jesus’ return. Jesus will come back with a wrath that is aimed at the evil and wickedness that are destroying his creation and poisoning our hearts. This isn’t the fly-off-the-handle kind of anger that we are subject to; it’s love, directed against the very things that most threaten the creatures that he cares for. The powers of sin and death won’t be destroyed if he doesn’t come with wrath. Violence, disease, betrayal, deception, oppression, loneliness, and anxiety will last forever if he doesn’t come with wrath. If he doesn’t come with wrath, those things won’t be handled.
That makes this wrath sound like good news! So why would the Pharisees and Sadducees need to flee from it? It’s because they have the same heart-level tendency that we have—to cling in their hearts to the same evil and wickedness that Jesus is bent on destroying. That’s why John’s warning is tied to this call to repent. In a way, repentance is our refusal to close ourselves against Jesus’ coming. It is instead an opening of our hearts to Jesus’ arrival, even to the wrath that he brings, because we know that even his wrath will re-shape us for our good.
If you have a repentant heart that is open to his coming, then that wrath isn’t something to fear. You are sheltered and safe in Jesus; the fire won’t destroy you, it will only make you clean. That may be the best news of all–he has promised to purge us of all the things in our hearts that rob us of joy and satisfaction in him. The same Spirit that he has sent is doing that in us, even now. And by that Spirit, the Jesus that we are waiting for is present in our hearts now, too. So pray for a repentant heart that is open to his coming, willing to let go of every other thing that we might cling to for hope. Pray for a heart that is softened to his presence and willing to be cleansed by his healing fire. You can place your hope firmly in the Jesus we see pictured in all his glory in Rev. 19:11-16; he has come, and he is coming soon. When he does, all will be well.
Justin+