Third Sunday of Advent

I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming” Luke 3:16

Saint Luke tells us in Chapter 3 Verse 7, “John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers!'” Where does this happen? Where do the people go in order to have this robust encounter with John? Out to the River Jordan, John exercises his ministry out on the edge. There were plenty of places where John might have taught, in the Temple courts, in the synagogues, but John chooses to turn his back on the religious institutions. John’s ministry challenges people to come out from the places where things were safe and familiar and listen to what God might be saying to them in a place where there are no other distractions.

Does the place where John exercises his ministry have anything to say to us about where we might go to find the voice of God? Do we prefer to stay in the places that are safe and familiar, or are we prepared to venture out and listen for the voice of God in places where we do not feel so secure, in places where we might feel vulnerable? Are there places where we might go that would be like the people of John’s time going out to the river?

Why does John exercise his ministry? To prepare the way for one who will baptize “with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” It is a challenge to us, to see Jesus not just as someone in the pages of Scripture, not just someone about whom we speak in our worship, but as someone who is present in our lives through the presence of the Holy Spirit. John has spoken plainly, do we hear what he is saying to us? Do we know the Spirit is with us, not just when we come to church, but in every moment of our lives?

-Ian Poulton.