THE SCENE VIBRATES WITH ENERGY. Anxious crowds surround the fiery figure of John the Baptist, aglow with prophetic unction. We remember what has brought him here, along with such a mixed crowd of people, to this pool in the Jordan River some distance outside Jericho, and further yet from Jerusalem. He was prophesied about in the O.T., as Matthew informs regarding Isaiah’s declaration: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” (Isa.40:3) His life has been consecrated to God since before conception. “Your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will go on before the Lord—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (c.f. Luke 1:11-17) John is a man on a mission.
He is standing at the edge of this somewhat small brown-tinged river that courses its way from the upper slopes of Mt. Hermon down into the Sea of Galilee, and from there through the desert waste on its way to the Dead Sea. This may be the very place where Jesus will soon be baptized, but that not this day. We imagine a small natural amphitheater, John’s voice echoing throughout the layers of natural stone benches where people sit or stand, awaiting a word from the Lord through his prophet. He makes an arresting figure, dressed in clothes “made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.” (Matt. 3:4) The artist’s paintings depicting him from centuries past all portray him as thin, with shaggy long hair, stern aquiline features, and eyes ablaze.
He speaks the message of repentance that he has been commissioned with, and his voice is not comforting, but intensely challenging. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee of the coming wrath?” (Luke 3:7) The imagery of his language is meant to produce a visual metaphor—many would understand this in the context of original sin, and the role the serpent played in the Garden of Eden.
Those listening comprised a wide array of social and economic strata, and it appears that all who were there came with some sense of urgency, but not for the same reasons. Beyond the unnamed ‘crowd’ were also tax collectors, soldiers, and members of the Pharisees sect. Some came to jeer; some came to find hope. All came during momentous times in Israel, times that were laden with anxiety and fear and rebellion, and all of these in play with a powerful thread of the revelation of the coming of the Messiah.
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance,” he shouts, his outstretched arm and pointed finger randomly moving from figure to figure. (Luke 3:8a) And he tells them not to depend on simply claiming that they are children of Abraham as a means to being right with God, for “I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” (Luke 3:8b) We suddenly grasp a deeper visual image and meaning; people baptized in this pool of water surrounded by these jagged stone witnesses will become, somehow, true spiritual children of Abraham!
John’s warning is severe. It is also deeply prophetic not just for those individuals surrounding him, but for the entire nation of Israel, which stands unknowing between the cusp of chaos and diaspora at the crossroads of history. “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:9)
All three synoptic gospels address this dire prophecy. Further in Luke’s gospel, it is Jesus speaking, and it is possible and tempting, even probable, to think that this parable is given during the last year of his ministry. “He said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’” “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” (Luke 13-7-9) A further revelation awaits, this just shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion, on his way in towards the temple: “Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, Jesus went to find out if it had any fruit. There was none. He said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’” (Mark 11:13-14) The next day, “they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’” (Mark 11:20-21)
The fig tree is well-known in biblical literature and commentary as a symbol for the nation of Israel. Their rejection of Jesus, leading to his crucifixion, death, and resurrection, also leads to the fulfillment of the destruction of Israel as a nation. Within three decades after Jesus’ death, Rome will obliterate the Jewish state and all its edifices— ‘striking the ax to the root’ —and scatter the people out across the earth.
We shudder to think of this kind of prophecy working its way out in our own times. The bible is very clear about the coming Day of Judgment, and no nation, no person, will be exempt from this. John the Baptist’s words are very clear: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matt. 3:2) Therefore, ‘Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.’
So too, but exponentially more powerfully, do these same words come from Jesus’ lips as he begins his ministry. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matt. 4 17) In baptism, you and I have been raised to new life in Christ Jesus, and he says, “everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you, so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” (John 15:15-17)
Q. Is my personal Tree of Life well-weeded, nurtured, watered, so that from root to leaf I can produce the fruits of righteousness?
Leave a Reply