Day 11 - Thirty Six Days

This Wednesday evening I was teaching from the gospel of Luke. John the Baptist had begun his revolutionary ministry. He was baptizing people for the forgiveness of their sins. That drew a crowd. Could one get forgiveness of sins without the usual sacrifices? That must have been appealing! As the crowd came, John must have sensed a lack of sincerity. Listen.

Luke 3:7-8 - John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

The fruit was not easy!

• "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."
  
• The tax collectors, those who were considered traitors to Israel, could they be baptized? Could they receive forgiveness? They were told, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to.”
  
• The soldiers, those who fought and killed for a living, could they receive forgiveness in their baptism? Yes, if they would stop extorting money, making them fearful. If they would stop bearing false witness as a matter of intimidation, and be content with their wages, then yes indeed.
  

Is this difficult? You know what we ask, if someone is lacking a tunic? If they don’t have a coat or a shirt, we want to know why. Have they been irresponsible? Are they going to take advantage of us? And if I do this, I will be impoverished. Can I afford to be generous?

And for tax collectors to only collect what they are ‘required to’ collect would put them personally out of business. Could a soldier survive on the wages of the day? I think the answer is “unlikely.”

Here is the point. In the world that God has in mind, his people operate like Jesus does. He gives to everyone regardless of their gratitude or their relative responsibility. Jesus has been good to you and me. We have not earned that goodness. Sometimes we are grateful. Would we dare to imitate that?

God help us!