December 12, 2021 “It’s Christmas! Two Coats or None?” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

 

December 12, 2021

“It’s Christmas! Two Coats or None?”

Pastor Jacqueline Hines

 

How many coats do you own? It is not likely that many of us here have only one coat, or no coat. We are more likely to have more coats than we can count. In this Advent season, we joyfully give thanks for our coats and other countless blessings. We also find a way to be cheerful givers and do something to bring joy to someone else. I will never forget hearing the story of John Wesley feeling shame after someone knocked on his door. Before him stood a woman shivering in the winter wind. Wesley felt shame because while he was preoccupied with decorating his home, he was oblivious to people like this woman who did not even have one coat to wear in the winter.  Wesley’s eyes were open and he began a journey of becoming more sensitive to those in need, especially those in dire need.

In Wesley’s sermon of 1789 entitled “The Use of Money” Wesley admonished God’s people to “Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” He noted that the church was in need of more sensitivity and compassion for the poor and needy and that a generous spirit would keep the church from what seemed to be its downward spiral.

Wesley concluded that “If Methodists would give all they can, then all would have enough.” He wasn’t trying to increase giving for the sake of the church budget. He was making a plea for generosity and a plea for compassion for the poor and needy.

John the Baptist may have preached a harsher message, even a bit of an insult. Verse 7 reads: ⁷John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? God is angry and about to have a fit, but who warned you? It was if he was saying that no one should warn you because you are guilty, and you deserve a surprise attack. You are guilty and should get the brunt of God’s anger and punishment. You deserve to be cut down and cut off. John put it bluntly. Your heritage does not exempt you or help you if you refuse to do God’s will. They were proud of the Abrahamic heritage. They trusted their roots more than their fruits.

John does not see Christians gathered to be baptized; he sees vipers, snakes in the grass, worthy of punishment. Vipers are long, hollow, and venomous with moveable fangs that you may not see right away. A viper has rough skin and vertical eyes that are weird, but vertical eyes help vipers see at greater distance, which makes them stronger predators.

If you can fathom that God has feelings, think about this: how mad does God get when we are oblivious to the needs of God’s children? How mad does God get when we are insensitive and unkind, thoughtless and belligerent, proud and arrogant to a son or daughter. We think of God as mad enough to send lightening, to frustrate us by blocking our blessings. When bad things happen after we have done something wrong, we are prone to believe that God is mad at us and punishing us. That may be true, though God’s anger never crosses the line to hurt us only help us.

When we think of ourselves as being good and doing the right thing, we may ask like I have from time to time: “Why is God keeping my blessings from me? What is God waiting for? I am done with waiting for certain blessings. I want my blessings now.” Not long after such a complaint I heard a devotional somewhere that said, “We are not waiting for God. God is waiting for us.” God is waiting for us to be still and know that God is able, to trust God’s heart when we can’t see God’s hand. God is waiting for us to understand deeply that God has our best interest at heart and has not forgotten us nor forsaken us.

John the Baptist reminds us that God is not pleased when we act like snakes in the grass, like vipers, preying on others. God will indeed deal with us. God will judge us righteously, fairly, and often with more mercy than we deserve. By now we can say that the crowd that gathered before John to be baptized were followers of Jesus. They were church folk for all intents and purposes. These church folk asked a very, very brave question. What should we do? What should we do?

Last Sunday, Jean said to me, “Pastor, is there anything I can do for you?” Everyone knows that when you ask the pastor if there is anything you can do, a pastor always, always has something to do. For, the harvest is plentiful, and the laborers are few, and we are always praying that God will send hands and feet that can do the many tasks that need to be done every day and all the time. Another reason a pastor always has something for you to do is because it is one of my jobs to identify your many gifts and talents and the movement of the Holy Spirit in you. When we use all that God has given us, people are blessed and God is pleased. When we use all that God has given us we grow in excellence and the church becomes spiritually fit and more mature.

When we know we have come short, when we know God expects more of us, we do well to do just as the church folk did with John the Baptist. Ask, “What do we have to do?” Asking that question is asking for change, it’s asking for God’s list of things that have to be done. It is coming out of our comfort zone to do God’s will, not just our own. What do we have to do as a result of falling short of God’s will is a very, very brave and humble question to ask.

People came from many different backgrounds and experiences and John gives them all an answer as to what they needed to do to please God. He says “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Verse 12 tells us that ¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked John, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³John said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”  

They asked what they needed to do to repent and return to being in God’s good graces. John answered all of them. The tax collectors were considered to be traitors, Roman soldiers were resented for their unfair power over the Jews. There were people with more than their daily share of food and clothing. Unlike many of us most of the time, they were willing to repent, willing to change in order to make it right with God.

So, the text begs the question – What do you and I do when we are out of line with God’s will – even a little?  Do we dare ask, “What do we have to do?” And when we get the answer, do we do what we have to do to please God or do we keep on digging a deeper hole in which our sins are buried and we become more deeply entrenched in our trespasses and farther and farther away from God and God’s sons and daughters?

At the top of John’s list of things they needed to do in order to make their relationship right with God is to look in their closet and see how many coats they had. If they had one to spare, they needed to give it for God’s sake – give it. Give it to the one who has none.

In these days and time, it is probably fair to say that those who have only one coat, may not have a coat for all four seasons. They may be in dire need. If may even be fair to say that if we have eyes to see someone who is in need, especially in dire need, we are seeing what God sees. We are seeing what can only be seen through the eyes of holiness, through the eyes of one who is prayerful. For, our human poverty is often hidden while in plain sight and requires sight that prayer brings. Our human poverty, our hurt and suffering may be pushed to the sidelines or it may tempt us to wear blinders when we have eyes and do not want or cannot bear to see the results of one human’s inhuman behavior toward our brothers and sisters.

John warns us to do the right thing, do the right thing, do the right thing. Be open to God’s evaluation and judgment, get into position to be baptized, to be inundated by the holiest spirit, to be saturated with liquid love from head to toe. Come before God with a heart willing to receive a baptism with a fire that not only gets rid of that which is not pleasing to God, but warms us and comforts us in the deepest ways.

John declared Good news that God is able and willing to lead us into a life of blessings for our lives and especially for the lives of those who need it most among our brothers and sisters. It’s Christmas! Whether we have two coats or none, Jesus is coming. May we receive him as king today! May our eyes be opened and our paths made plain. May the gifts we give be acceptable in God’s sight, and may they bring joy to someone in this world and peace to someone who is suffering. Amen.