Year 7, Day 212: Luke 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today we get the majority of the rest of the story of John the Baptizer.  He is the cousin of Jesus, born to Zechariah and Elizabeth.  I’ve always loved John because of his willingness to do the right thing his own way instead of following the crowds.

I was appreciative once more of his message after coming off of the last few chapters of Joshua this past week.  Remember Joshua 24:19?  Remember how Joshua responds to the people when they answer his great challenge “…choose this day…?”  When the people respond to Joshua and tell him that they will follow the Lord, Joshua replies to them, “You are not able to serve the Lord.”  He is forthright, honest, and pulls no punches.

John the Baptizer is the same.  The people are coming out to be baptized by him.  In other Gospels, John is said to speak directly to the religious elite.  In Luke’s Gospel, his message of “you brood of vipers” is given to all the people.  I find this fascinating.

John, like Joshua, starts the people off in truth.  He starts them in the reality that they are unable to serve God and unworthy to think that they can.  John calls them a brood of vipers.  For the record, they are.  We all are.  We all have a core of self-centered thought.  We all see best through the lens of “how am I affected?”  We all naturally live with a “What have you done for me lately” motif.  We are naturally a brood of vipers.

As with Joshua, this reality doesn’t stop John.  John keeps baptizing them.  He keeps telling them the truth.  He helps bring them into relationship with God.  The harsh message of truth isn’t meant as a roadblock to God, it is meant as a threshing floor upon which the chaff is burned so that what remains can remain in truth.

This is why cheap grace is so dangerous.  This is why I don’t trust people who cannot honestly see my faults and speak to me about my faults in live.  If we cannot begin in the truth of my imperfection and sin, then everything that gets built upon the foundation is weak and waiting to crumble.  This is the true brilliance of what John does here in Luke 3.

<><