Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

St. Luke writes his Gospel (with Holy Spirit as dove), Armenian Illuminated Manuscript, Monastery of  Hromkla, 1166

 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

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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 (1:1-4), 3:1-14

On Saturday we read that Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.   I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life."

 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.  In the ways in which the Gospels work throughout the changing of the lectionary, we get a strange kind of synthesis between Saturday's reading and today's.  On Saturday, Jesus spoke of Judgment, clearly indicating not only the time of the end of His ministry, but the time of the true eschatological end of all things of this world.  He has come to save the world, but His words will be that by which we are judged in terms of our own acceptance or rejection of them.  Today we begin reading from Luke.  It's quite a contrast:  Luke is very careful to set down all things in an orderly way, and to couch his Gospel in historical facts, time and place settings.  He was not a disciple from the beginning, but he writes that he has perfect understanding of the gospel message as his sources are the apostles themselves, the eyewitnesses of Christ.  Luke wrote his Gospel to Theophilus, who was a prominent Gentile who had received Christian instruction (see also Acts 1:1).  St. Ambrose comments that the name Theophilus can mean any "lover of God.  Therefore, he says, "If you love God, it was written for you."

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 sets down very carefully the setting of his Gospel in its historical time and place, noting the rulers and the high priests.  Herod and Philip have succeeded their father, Herod the Great, while Pontius Pilate is governor of Judea.   Caiaphas at this point is sole high priest, but people also recognized the continuing power of his father-in-law Annas, a previous high priest who was deposed by the Romans.

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins . . .  John the Baptist's call to repentance was a traditional one for prophets.  His baptism did not grant remission of sins once and for all, but was a prefiguration and preparation for the baptism of Christ which was to come (see Romans 6:3-11).  My study bible says that John is a figure of the Law in that, like the law, he denounced sin but could not remit (literally to "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 the Baptist ascribes to himself this role of the voice crying in the wilderness (prophesied by Isaiah) in John 1:23.

 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."  My study bible comments here that while parents and ancestors help impart piety and holiness, ancestry itself does not make one worthy of God.  Each person in every generation must bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Stones, it says, symbolize the Gentiles who would become children to Abraham through faith in Christ (Romans 4:16-18).  John gives them a formula for righteousness in preparation for the Messiah.  But when Christ comes, grace and truth will make an immeasurable difference to our understanding of righteousness. 

John gives a warning in today's reading:  "Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  Interestingly, in Matthew's Gospel, John gives the same warning, which is later repeated by Jesus when He preaches in the Sermon on the Mount about false prophets, wolves in sheep's clothing (see Matthew 3:10, 7:15-20).  And in Matthew's Gospel, the words, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" are clearly directed at the leadership who come from Jerusalem.  The term brood of vipers is again repeated by Jesus in reference to the religious leaders.  (See Matthew 3:7, 12:34, 23:33.)  We can hear the outrage, the response to what is clearly considered to be scandalous behavior on the part of the religious leaders at this time.  The fact that Luke tells us (via John the Baptist) that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones should tell us something about the gospel going out to the rest of the world and being taken away from those who have failed to heed the word of God.  Indeed, John the Baptist says, "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'"   In John's Gospel, in which we've been reading recently until today, this is precisely what the leaders say to Jesus.  Jesus replies to them, "If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham" (see John 8:39).  Clearly there is something at work in these scenes that reflect this theme.  John warns of the fire that awaits the trees that do not bear good fruit.  This is a time of expectation, of the return of the Messiah, widely watched and hoped for by the people.  But it is also a time, tellingly, of corruption and greed, of distrust of those leaders who are meant to care for this flock and insure spiritual heritage of the Jewish people.  John comes bearing warnings as prophet, speaking about making the path straight for the expected Messiah, who will surely fill every valley, bring low every mountain and hill, make straight all the crooked places and make smooth all the rough ways.  What is he telling us here?   What is the meaning of this?  The Messiah is the great leveler.  Whatever is crooked, or depends upon position for advantage, whatever is rough -- all of it will be removed as obstacle for this straight path of the Lord.  In His judgment to come, there will be no standing on ancestry or position or coveted place before the world and the "praise of men" (see John 12:43, in Friday's reading).  Ceremony and inheritance won't count, and surely as John the Baptist warns in today's reading, anything gained through cheating and corruption and dishonest, unrighteous behavior.  It is the Word who is coming, and as we read on Saturday, it is every word that proceeds from His mouth that is given by the Father, those words and commands themselves will be the judgment.   If you see corruption and dishonesty, unfairness and unrighteous behavior around yourself, a disregard for justice, know that Christ's words are this judgment that is present and at work in the world.  It is all about what we can hear and what we are simply deaf and blind to.  The Holy Spirit, the breath of God, remains active in the world, a gift of grace and truth.  We heed the words of John and understand the One who makes all things straight and level, and cherish the words we're given, living them in faith, and in response to times like these which are always with us.  God is working, and so is the word of the Son, and the Holy Spirit (John 5:17).