Repent or Else
The Rev. Dr. John Judson
December 5, 2010
He thought he owned the town…and rightfully so. David’s grandparents had come trekked to this remote part of the Texas panhandle and had been one of the founding families of Pampa, Texas. This meant he and his family knew everyone, including the sheriff and all of his deputies. This meant that David was untouchable. So one night when he and a couple of his buddies vandalized some property it did not concern him to be picked up and taken to the county jail. After all, the sheriff, Ruff Jordon, was a family friend. So as he walked into the station he figured Ruff would be waiting with a smile on his face, give him a slap in the wrist and let him go. David was shocked then when Ruff, without a word, grabbed him by the arm and threw him into the elevator. Now you have to realize that in Pampa there were only two elevators. One downtown and one in the jail, and the one in the jail was one you never wanted to go into with Ruff because people who went in, never came out the same. There was silence for a minute, then Ruff who was about six-four weighing in at 260, hit the stop button, picked David up, slammed him against the side of the car and said something to the effect of, “Boy, I don’t care who you are, or who your family is, but this is my town. And if you so much as spit on the sidewalk again I will come down on you like (and here I will use nice language) a ton of bricks. So you better turn your life around now, or what is ahead will not be pleasant. Do you understand me boy?”
Do you have that image in your mind? Can you see the confrontation? If so then you are ready to listen to this morning’s story about John the Baptist. While David called his confrontation with Ruff a come to Jesus meeting, what we have in John the Baptist’s encounter with the people of Judea was the original come to Jesus meeting. John pulls no punches. In essence he slams the people against the side of their theological elevator and says, Repent or else. The chosen one is coming and you better be ready. He calls them a brood of vipers and reminds them that God does not care whose family they are from and that they better get their act together, and get it together soon. The message seems clear, yet there is a nagging question. What is it that they are to repent from? Many of the people being addressed are religious legalists who keep God’s law as perfectly as anyone could. So what is it that they are to repent from? The answer I offer this morning is from turning means into ends. Let me explain with a modern day example. Cars are means to an end. They are designed to get people from point A to point B, and back. However, as any of us who have ever been to the Woodward Dream Cruise can attest some cars have become ends in themselves. They have become the object of affection, rather than a means to a transportation end.
I realize at this point many of you may be wondering what is so bad about turning means into ends? With cars it does not matter. With faith it does. What had happened is that the people Jesus is addressing had turned the means by which they were to come into relationship with and be transformed by God into ends in and of themselves. The Pharisees were supposed to use the Law of Moses to guide their lives so that their world looked like God’s kingdom. Instead the Law became the object of their affection…it was for them, God. The Sadducees were those who focused on the ritual of the Temple. The rituals were supposed to reconcile people to God and restore their relationship. Instead the Sadducees had turned the Temple into a money making proposition…it was to them, God. The average person on the street believed that because they were children of Abraham, a fact which was supposed to cause them to live lives of compassion and care, as Kingdom people. But they saw the relationship instead as an end in itself. They were invulnerable. What this means was that because they already had their ends, the Law, the Temple, their family connection, they would be unable to see and participate in the new Kingdom which Jesus was about to bring. They were lost before Jesus even began. So the only way to free themselves was to repent, was to turn around and be open to the end, the Kingdom which Jesus was bringing.
Unfortunately we, as the church, have a tendency to do the very same thing. We turn means into ends. We make certain kinds of worship and music ends in themselves, rather than seeing them as means to an end, encountering God. We turn buildings into ends, pretending that they are somehow holy in and of themselves, rather than a means to encountering the love of Christ. We make certain programs and traditions into ends rather than seeing them as opportunities for creating community. And while this may be very human, it ultimately diminishes our ability to become the Kingdom community God calls us to be. We fail to see that the goal of all of this (meaning the building, worship, study) is to become new people, living in new ways, creating a new world. Our challenge then is to repent of turning means into ends and reset our vision to the end to John the Baptist calls us, to bear fruit that befit Kingdom people.
So whatever happened to David? His come to Jesus meeting changed his life. He became one of the great humanitarians in Pampa, known for his hard work, kind words and care for others. The challenge before us is what will we do after our come to Jesus meeting? I challenge you as you partake of the bread and cup to ask yourselves this question, how am I using the means God has offered to me to focus on the end to which I am called, to be a kingdom person?
