I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones

 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.  And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough ways smooth;
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." 

So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?  He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."  Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"  And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you."  Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?"  So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages."

- Luke 3:1-14

Yesterday we read Jesus' final words in the High Priestly Prayer in John chapter 17:  "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.  Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father!  The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.  And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.   Luke gives us the historical setting, pinpointing an date in which these things took place.  The sons of Herod the Great rule Galilee and other regions.  It was an ancient prophecy of Jacob that the Messiah would come when a king ruled who was not from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10).  Herod the Great was a non-Jew calling himself the king of Judea at the time of Jesus' birth.   In actuality, Caiaphas was the sole high priest; however, people recognized the continuing power of his father-in-law Annas.  Annas was a previous high priest deposed by the Romans.  The lectionary begins our readings in Luke here, but earlier chapters have told us about Zacharias and Anna, the parents of John, and their relation to Mary, Jesus' mother; also about the birth of Jesus.

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins . . .   John behaves characteristically as a prophet, giving a call to repentance which was traditional for prophets.  His baptism did not grant remission of sins once and for all, but prefigured and prepared people for he baptism of Christ which was to come (see Romans 6:3-11).  John, says my study bible, is a figure of the Law in that, like the Law, he denounced sin but could not remit (literally, "put away") sin.  Both John and the Law point to the One who can remit sin.

. . . as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low;  The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"  John quotes from Isaiah the Prophet (Isaiah 40:3-5).  In John chapter 1, the Baptist declares himself to be the voice crying in the wilderness (John 1:23). 

"Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."   My study bible says that while parents and ancestors can help impart piety and holiness, ancestry itself doesn't make a person worthy of God.  Rather, each person in every generation must bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Stones, it says,  symbolize the Gentiles would would become children to Abraham through faith in Christ (Romans 4:16-18).  See also 1 Peter 2:5.  John warns of judgment in the coming of the Lord.  Having just read through the lectionary readings in John, we recall Jesus' words in the farewell discourse about the sending of the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who will "convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (see John 16:8-11).  In our next reading, John the Baptist will allude to the coming of the Holy Spirit and the connection to the judgment of Christ.

So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?  He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."  Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"  And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you."  Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?"  So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages."  Here are the teachings of justice, and they reflect the understanding of the Law.  All who come for repentance are instructed by John in acts of repentance, in preparation for judgment and the coming of the Lord.  These teachings remain instructional for all of us.

John fulfills his prophetic role as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord."  We have to think about what it means to "make His paths straight."  In a very strong sense, there is a kind of timelessness and seamlessness to the early chapters in Luke.  Time seems to fold and bend and reflect upon itself.  It's not clear what time period begins when.  Ironic it is that Luke sets down so carefully the worldly historic period of his Gospel and the events in it, because interwoven in these events are great periods of time that seem to constitute one time.  Isaiah prophesied of the voice crying in the wilderness in the eighth century before Christ.  John the Baptist comes calling himself that voice, prophesying the coming of the Lord.  And the Gospels go on to tell us about this life of Jesus.  But John's words will also allude to the Holy Spirit, even as Jesus told the disciples more explicitly about the coming of the Helper in the farewell discourse in John (see chapters 14-17, beginning with this reading from last Monday).  But somehow, all is interwoven.  Jesus will come as fulfillment of the Law, and thereby the things that John has to teach those who come to him to learn about repentance still apply and still make good sense to us.  Christ initiates a time period in which the Holy Spirit will come, to "convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" and we still live in this ongoing period in which all of this is happening -- but how often are we aware of this "fire" of the Holy Spirit that is at work in all of us and all around us?  John will teach in tomorrow's reading about this fire.  But the patterns of warning and prophesy, the coming of the Lord and Christ's revelation of both Himself as Son and the presence of the Father, His teaching about the sending of the Helper and the Helper's work in the world, all blend into one.  These moments of revelation are all present with us here and now.  They don't belong only to the past or to a fixed date in historical time.  That is the nature of revelation; it brings into the world something that is eternal and always present with us.  But we, in each moment of our time, have time to reflect and to understand and to recollect what these truths are and what they mean at each moment in our lives.  In such an understanding, each moment can serve as period of reflection, just as the tax collectors and soldiers and those who come from Judea and the whole region ask John what they shall do.  So we, with even greater revelation at our hand, ask what we should do.  The eternal is present with us in Father, Son, and Spirit abiding with us, and the communion of saints which includes the Baptist.  Each moment serves as portal to remind ourselves and to understand, and to consider our role in this great story of God's love for us.   In the words of Saint Peter, what does it mean to be a "living stone"?