Luke 3:10-18
If we had listened to the gospel passage before this, we would have heard John the Baptist being fairly intemperate. He tells his hearers that things are going to get pretty bad and that they can’t expect to escape just because they are descendants of Abraham. In fact, John insults them by telling them that God can make sons of Abraham out of rocks. You would think that the crowd would leave, but they don't. They ask, “what then shall we do?” And that is when John gives surprising answers.
A very long time ago while I was just starting medical school I was suffering an existential crisis. I loved medicine; it was intellectually exciting, and I could help people, and being a physician looked like a good life. On the other hand, I had read about saints who had given up everything; missionaries who had left their homes and native lands to die in foreign countries; monks who had turned their backs on the world to grow closer to God. In addition, I was receiving spiritual direction from a wonderful guy who belonged to Opus Dei, and naturally he thought I would be a great fit as a numerary -- someone who takes vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience but continues working in a secular profession to support the organization. So I went on a retreat by myself. “What do you want, Lord?” I prayed. And I heard an answer, deep in my spirit -- “Whatever you choose,” the voice said, ‘I’ll still love you.” The next day I made my choice and here I am today.
What then shall we do? John’s answer is simple. If you have food, share it with someone who doesn’t. If you have clothing, same thing. If you are a tax collector, you know how much you are supposed to tax-- do that. If you are a soldier, be content with your pay and don't extort people.
Notice that John doesn’t tell the people to go off and live with the Essenes, who were a monastic community that tried to have nothing to do with the world. He didn’t tell them to join the Pharisees and practice their strict rules and spend all their time studying the law. He just said, look around you. If someone needs something you have, share it with him. That's The goal, but that means you need to be alert to the needs of others. Repentance means to change the way you think. Instead of looking out for myself all the time, get in the habit of looking for people you can help, people who lack something you can give them. Change the way you see the world.
And to the tax collectors, despised by their fellow Jews. Tax collectors worked for the Romans. They were supposed to collect taxes from a defined group of people -- maybe everyone in a small town, or in a big city, there was a chief tax collector who farmed out the work. The whole idea was that you were entitled to part of what you collected as your salary -- a defined part. And this was where with a little cheating, you could make a lot of money. John doesn’t tell the tax collectors to quit their jobs. He simply says, “Change the way you think. Collect what you are supposed to, no more. After all, when you take more than you should, someone ends up with less.”
And to the soldiers, who in John’s time were probably gentiles because the Romans made it a matter of practice to station soldiers in territories where they were unlikely to feel a sense of kinship with the people they helped control. And to these John gives a similar message, “be content with your pay.” Change your way of thinking. Because the soldiers took bribes, extorted the people, had the power to make life miserable if they didn’t get their way -- and it was easy because they saw the people as other, as less than human. The Romans set things up this way so that intimidation would be easier. And John is saying “these people over whom you are given power; they are your brothers and sisters. Be content with what the Romans pay you.
John’s message is the same for us today. Repent. Change your mind. Ask yourself if you are being the best you can be, because for most of us the answer is usually no. Where could I be better? I don’t need a hair shirt; I don’t need to retreat from the world; I don’t need to spend all my time in church. I do need to change the way I think. Am I giving my best to my employer? Am I being sensitive to the needs of my family, emotional and spiritual, as well as physical. Where can I do better? Am I being the best version of myself? That’s what John is asking the crowd. And we hear him challenge us today as well. Let us go forward knowing that God gives us what we need to change our minds, to work toward sainthood in the very place he’s put us.
