Change Your Mind: SALT's Commentary for Advent Week Two
Second Week of Advent (Year A): Matthew 3:1-12 and Isaiah 11:1-10
For SALT’s “Strange New World” podcast episode that explores these passages, check out “The Poetry of Christmas - Part Two: The Way.”
Big Picture:
1) This year we’ll be walking together through the Gospel of Matthew. The journey began last week with a kind of “flash-forward” from Matthew 24: on the verge of his descent to the cross, Jesus warns of difficult days ahead, both assuring his disciples that God will make everything right in the end and urging them to “keep awake” and “be ready.” This week, we turn to Matthew’s story of John the Baptizer appearing in the wilderness. It’s a little bit like when a film starts with an arresting scene from late in the story, a glimpse of the breathtaking drama to come — and then rewinds to begin at the beginning.
2) As we enter Matthew’s masterpiece, it’s worth remembering what sort of thing a “gospel” is. Originally intended to be read aloud, Matthew is a kind of story-sermon meant to declare good news — euangelion or “gospel” — in ways that provoke listeners to reflect, repent, believe, and serve the wider world. It’s a decidedly practical, poetic work of art, layered with multiple levels of meaning and grounded both in Matthew’s immediate situation and in the broad, astonishing sweep of salvation history. In short, a “gospel” is a form of strategic storytelling that aims to change your life.
3) The second week of Advent traditionally centers on lighting a candle of peace, a light to shine against the growing shadows of conflict and war. Accordingly, this is an excellent week to think, preach, and reflect on war and peacemaking, conflict and reconciliation, hearts full of violence and the wolf lying down with the lamb. And an excellent starting point is to recall that Matthew’s Gospel was written in a time of military occupation, from the perspective of an oppressed people under the thumb of the Roman Empire.
4) In this week’s reading from Isaiah, the prophet speaks of a new king on whom “the spirit of the LORD shall rest,” whose reign will bring peace and concord to the whole creation (Isa 11:2). Generations of Christian interpreters have identified this figure with Jesus of Nazareth.
Scripture:
1) On first glance, John the Baptizer’s sermon comes across as a blunt, bristling attack (“Repent!” “You brood of vipers!”) — but on closer inspection, it’s actually a powerful, door-opening message of inclusion and hope.
2) How so? First, there’s the figure of John himself: ostensibly, he’s a scraggly, isolated eccentric, alone in the wilderness. But Matthew highlights specific details (“camel’s hair,” “leather belt”) that cast him as a new Elijah, and at the same time as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision of a “voice in the wilderness” ushering in a day when God’s glory will be revealed, and “all people shall see it together” (Mt 3:4; 2 Kings 1:8; Mt 17:11-13; Isa 40:3-5). Matthew’s point is clear: God has raised up another Elijah in the wilderness, out beyond the coordinates and control of the empire. God is on the move — and the dawn of the new era of redemption, heralded by Elijah’s return, has arrived.
3) Second, the core of John’s message — “Repent, for God’s realm has come near!” — is a radically open invitation. The Greek word for “repentance” here is metanoia (from meta, “change, and noia, “mind”); today we would say, “change of heart” or “change of life,” a thoroughgoing and ongoing shift and reorientation. Accordingly, the visible sign for this change John uses is baptism, an immersive rite then typically reserved for Gentile converts to Judaism, to signify their comprehensive conversion. But John is calling on the children of Abraham to undergo this baptism, too, as if to say, We all require conversion, not just the Gentiles. For a new day, a new era is at hand! Change your minds and hearts and lives! Come and be baptized for the sake of forgiveness of sins — for God is coming near!
4) Third, John then underscores that “bearing fruit” is what matters most. Mere membership in a religious or ethnic lineage won’t cut it, he thunders; what matters is what you do! Again, the central idea here is an opening up of salvation beyond religious or ethnic boundaries. Ordinary folks, supposed outsiders, presumptuous insiders — everyone is invited to change for the better, to “bear good fruit,” and so to become “children of Abraham,” which is to say, heirs to the covenantal promise God gives to Abraham (Mt 3:10; Gen 17:7). John’s words are stern and his images are full of urgency, but his vision of salvation is universal in scope.
5) But wait a minute — doesn’t John sum up his remarks by speaking of “separating the wheat from the chaff,” including some but excluding others? And doesn’t he say Jesus will come and make this fateful separation, burning the chaff away in “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12)? That’s one way of interpreting John’s metaphor here, but a closer look points us in a different direction. Every grain of wheat has a husk, and farmers (even today) use wind to separate these husks — collectively known as “chaff” — from the grain, the goal being, of course, to save every grain, not to separate the good grain from the bad grain. This is a metaphor of preservation and refinement, not division. What the wind and fire remove are the husks that get in the way: the anxieties, self-absorption, apathy, or greed that make us less generous, less just, or less respectful of others. Alexandr Solzhenitsyn has it right: there is a line between good and evil, but it doesn’t run between groups; it runs through the heart of each person. What each of us requires is restoration, liberation from whatever “husks” are holding us back. And sure enough, later in the New Testament, this is exactly how the wind and fire of the Spirit work: not to destroy, but to sanctify, purify, challenge, restore, and empower (see, for example, Matthew 3:16; 4:1; Luke 4:1-21; Acts 2:1-4).
6) Likewise, Isaiah’s vision of the final redemption is breathtakingly broad. All creatures — wolf and lamb, lion and calf, child and asp — live together in peace: “They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:9).
Takeaways:
1) Even with its brusque elements (“You brood of vipers!”), John’s preaching is nevertheless good news. How? First, John’s challenge itself is dignifying, since it presumes that we have the capacity to rise up and meet it, to bear the “good fruit” God created us to bear. Second, John’s challenge is open to all, not just a privileged few, thereby declaring the divine covenant open to all. And third, John’s prophetic poetry includes the promise that the Spirit comes, in wind and fire, not to destroy but to refine, to restore, and to empower the children of God. Will we have to let go of our anxieties, our self-absorption, our apathy, our sin? Yes, and those will be burned away. But the chaff is removed — for the sake of the wheat! Jesus comes that we might be saved, which is to say, restored, set free from the “husks” in our lives and communities — and this is the good news of the Gospel.
2) Both because this week’s traditional Advent theme is “Peace” and because Matthew is a subversive Gospel of peace written during a time of military occupation, this may be a perfect week to name and explore the realities of conflict in our lives today. God is calling us toward greater peacemaking between peoples and between individuals, and Advent is a season both to long for God’s shalom and to become lights of that shalom in the shadows.
3) As we prepare for this new era of shalom, John challenges us to change our hearts, minds, and lives — for the days of peace have come near! Make way! Remove the obstacles, the husks that get in the way! Bear fruit! The Prince of Peace approaches — not on a warhorse like the imperial authorities of the day, but rather as a humble prophet, teacher, and healer, God’s beloved child, born homeless, sleeping with the animals. For the days are surely coming, cries the prophet, when no one will “hurt or destroy… for the earth will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:9).
For SALT’s “Strange New World” podcast episode that explores these passages, check out “The Poetry of Christmas - Part Two: The Way.”