Making a list and checking it twice.

The readings these days have a matter of urgency attached to them. They've got a matter of urgency when it comes to the possibility of the end of all things.  For you see, we are used to the idea of Jesus coming to earth at this time, as he does as a baby in Bethlehem, but we are prehaps less used to the notion that Jesus will be coming again.  His return is imminent.

That matter should fill us with concern, but it doesn't, not really.  The human brain is adept, remarkably adept, at putting these sorts of things out of our minds while they are not a pressing concern.  Things that are a long way away, they don't really factor in as a concern, not while they're a distance away, anyway.

I liken it to the hares that we see here in Saskatchewan.  The ones that are alternately brown if it's summer, white if it's winter, or red if they're on the highway.  If you approach them, they will dart away, but

they won't dart all the way away.  They'll just hop over to slightly out of range.  They'll hop over to where you can't reach them by grabbing them with your arms, and then they'll just sit there and look at you.  They're well within range of guns, bows, slingshots, but they feel as though they're out of range, and so you as a human being are no longer a concern.

Now, the readings at this time of year are all about the return of Jesus.  The imminent return of Jesus, the great and terrible day of the Lord.  And when John the Baptist is talking to, well, anyone who would listen, he did so by declaring loudly and forcefully that the Lord was coming.  He was coming and would soon be here.

And that's the funny thing.  At this time of the year, we're used to the arrival of someone who comes to judge the nations with righteousness and fire.  We're used to the arrival of somone who will reward the righteous, and send the wicked away empty.

At this time of year, you know that you'd better not shout, you'd better not cry, you'd better not pout, I'm telling you why.  Santa Claus is coming to town.

That's who we're used to hearing about at this time of year.  But it's a shame that the elf on the shelf, the Santa Claus, well, all that stuff only comes to our attention in December.  If Santa was to truly punish the wicked and reward the righteous, then we should probably think more

about him in the sort of January through September timeframe as well.  But we don't.  And here's the thing - if Santa is someone who is checking us out all year, if he's interested in keeping tabs on the entire human race, then by the time December 1st rolls around, it'll be a bit late to turn the entire ship of deeds and misdeeds around.  It's only once things become immediate, it's only once things are unavoidable that we care about doing things to try to catch up.  After it's too late.  After time is up, then we feel as though it's going to be time to catch up.  But too late, folks.

Now, insofar as the arrival of Santa is a threat, how much more so is the arrival of Jesus?  The one that John the Baptist speaks of, the one who

promises to make every hill low, and every valley high?  The one whose winnowing fork is in his hands, to gather the wheat into his barn but burn the chaff with unquenchable fire?  This is a really big deal, and it is something that we as Christians have to deal with.  John's words seem to indicate the the one who is coming, who is greater than John himself, will be coming with the Holy Spirit, and with fire.

This can, and ought to alarm us.  It should alarm us to think about Jesus as the one who is coming to cut down all the trees that do not bear good fruit, and casting them into the fire.  It should alarm us because deep down, we know that we don't bear the sort of fruit that we know we should be.  We aren't living our lives in the way we think even other people should.  And when John reminds us of that, it gives us a healthy fear, it gives us discomfort to think about how Jesus is coming with his winnowing fork in his hand, to gather the wheat into his barn, and to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Does this make you uncomfortable in the countdown to Christmas?  Does it make you uncomfortable in the countdown to realize that Jesus is coming to divide the wheat from the chaff?  That the axe is at the root of the trees?  These are John's words.  If it does make you uncomfortable, then this is what John the Baptist is there for.  Look at the people streaming to him in Judea, streaming over to him why?  For a baptism of repentance.  They are there for the repentance of sins, which John the Baptist has called to their minds.  That's what he calls to you now, through the pages of the scriptures.  He calls you to repentance as well, calls you to turn away from your sin.  That prepares you for Christ, for the coming of the infant into the world.  The deal is, that Jesus comes to take these sins away.  Without John calling their sins to their minds, they wouldn't be ready to recieve the coming Messiah.

That's the work that has to be done.  That's the hills being brought low and the valleys being raised up.  If you are comfy, if you're happy with your activity thus far, then you need to have John the Baptism lower you down.  You need to be brought low.  If you have been brought low by your sins, if you are terrified by them and their potential punishments, then you need to be raised up by Christ and his salvation promise.

Advent is a time for this.  Advent is a time for us to reflect on this, to think of John's words, to be made low by them, and to be raised up by Christ.  Mainly because this is why the king of kings showed up in the first place. He's come to free the people from their sins, and the more we know of our sins, the better that news is.