Presented to TSA Corps 614 Regent Park, Toronto, Ontario on 20 December 2015 by
Captain Michael Ramsay
John, ‘the Baptist’ as he
is called, is a celebrity preacher in 1st Century Palestine. He is on a
speaking tour into all the country around the Jordon (Luke 3:3). People are
making an effort to see him. In order to see John in those days you can’t just
hop the TTC or catch a ride. You have to walk, by and large, and you have to
walk and long way; you probably have to take at least one day off work.
Picture this scenario with
me. Pick some famous person you want to see; they are coming near Toronto –
maybe a couple of hours away - and you have been given free tickets. (Who might
that be?) You take time off work or cancel your plans for the day to go see
them. Now imagine that they are a celebrity preacher. Major Danielle Strickland
of The Salvation Army was recently named one of the most influential Christian
speakers. Imagine she comes to town. Big crowds come to see her and not just
Salvationists but all kinds of us. Let’s say we get a bus full of people and we
all take the day off kettles – sorry Iris – to hear her. She has this great
ministry of telling us to turn to God, to repent of our sins. We are among
hundreds or thousands of others who take the time and make the effort to come
to see her. And when we get there she says (cf. vv.7-9), “All of you who have
come to see me… you are a bunch of snakes, why are you here!?" (Can you
imagine?) "Who told you, you could be saved!? You need to start acting
like Christians! And don’t tell me you’ve been a Christian since you were six
or you had this life changing moment when you were eleven or your great
grandmother was saved through William Booth himself on the streets of London
100 plus years ago. Don’t tell me you don’t need saving because you are already
a child of God. I tell you the truth God can raise up children from these rocks
here if he wants to; if you say you are His children you need to start acting
like it!”[1]
Can you imagine? How would you feel? What would you think?
This is what it would be
like for people in our text today who have made this effort to go hear John in
the desert; he addresses the crowds in much the same way, telling them that if
they think they are children of Abraham, they’re really not unless they start
acting like children of Abraham. In today’s colloquial vernacular, many who
went to the desert may have ‘thought they were saved’ but John says, are you so
sure about that? This is quite a greeting!
It is effective though.[2]
Luke records voices seeking salvation in the disparate crowd calling out to
him, “what should we do then?!” (v.10). John tells them, in essence, if you
think you are saved, and if you really are a part of the ‘Kingdom to Come’,
then, Verse 11, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has
none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
How many people here have
two shirts – or more? How many people in our world have none? How many people
here will eat today? How many people in our world won’t? Now I know most of us
here are good at sharing with our friends who need food, clothing, and other
items – individually and through The Salvation Army. I know there are many people
here who would give the shirt right off their own back to someone in need.
John, the Baptist, says that that is because you are a part of the
Kingdom of God. I love it when we study the Gospel of Luke in Advent because
Luke, like the Army's spiritual grandfather John Wesley, is crystal clear in
presenting the Gospel as a social justice gospel: Christians will not acquire
and hoard wealth while others are in need.[3]
The Baptist says, quite the opposite, “produce acts in keeping with repentance”
(v.7).
But there is more to the
story than just this. After John answers these cries from the crowd about what
should anyone do who wants to be saved from the coming wrath (v.7), tax collectors
who are part of this crowd say in essence, “yes, we all know that: everybody
who is saved will give food and clothes to those in need. But what specifically
should WE, saved tax collectors, do when we make this public confession through
this baptism that we have come here to make today?”[4]
Verse 13, “Don’t collect
any more than you are required to,” John tells them. Now this sounds easy but
let’s take a little look at the way things ran back then. It was not all that
different from the way things are run today. These tax collectors were probably
Jewish toll booth operators working for the Romans. Their job was to collect
tolls and they made their money from surcharges applied to the tolls. The
Romans used an early franchise system of sorts to collect these taxes.[5]
They pseudo-privatized their toll booths. Much like fast food restaurants, big
chain stores, and other corporations today; they used a franchise-style system.
Judean business people would buy a toll booth franchise or a number of toll
booth franchises (such as in the case of Zacchaeus; Luke 19); they would
collect the money to cover the fees from their clients and everything else they
made after they paid their overhead was profit. This is similar to the way many
or most chain stores, franchises, fundraising catalogues, contemporary
manufacturers and most businesses in general are run today. They collect what they
are required to for head office or whomever and/or to cover the cost of
inventory already paid for and then the rest, after expenses, goes to
profit. But John says to them, ‘don’t
collect any more than you are required to [by the head office].” Don’t make a
profit this way, the free laissez-faire capitalist way, charging what the
market can bear in order to make a profit. Well, who would want to be a tax
collector then?! Can you imagine if the Baptist told the franchise owners or
others today that they are not to make a significant profit off their
customers, that they are only allowed to charge what they are legally or
otherwise required to charge, what would they do? ... Well, just maybe
John, Luke, or even Jesus IS saying just that… I love looking at Luke in the
Advent season. Luke is a revolutionary text. Luke's is a gospel to the poor.
Luke is the social justice gospel.
Luke’s not so subtle
condemnation of this 1st century expression of a market economy that
made the rich richer and the poor poorer is as radical then as it would be now
if we applied the gospel to our own society today.[6]
Anyone who drives in this city knows that the parking meters all collect
different amounts of money for an hour or an half hour: a dollar fifty here, $3
there; $8 for a parkade here, twenty dollars for a parkade there. And grocery
stores owned by the same person, the same corporation, the same company – you
buy the same product at a different outlet and it is a totally different price
simply because they know they can get more money from you at that location.
This is Adam Smith and Ayn Rand's version of capitalism; this is the free
market.[7]
But what John is saying to the owners of the Roman tax franchises in the first
century is seemingly quite the opposite; he says, “don’t collect any more than
you are required to.” And this I think is what Luke is telling us today:
poor people in the Kingdom of God should have the same access to life as
wealthy people, so do your part, “don’t collect any more than you are required
to;” don’t make a profit at the expense of others. I love looking at Luke in
Advent. Luke’s is a revolutionary text. Luke’s is a social justice gospel.
Luke's Gospel, as Miranda and John Wesley remind us, is good news, gospel for
the poor.[8]
Now after these tax
collectors/toll booth franchise owners get their answer, the soldiers who have
also come here to be baptised are eager to know what is required of them. Like
the tax collectors, the soldiers know they need to give food and clothes to the
poor - but they don’t own toll booths; they don’t own franchises. They aren’t
rich. Quite the opposite: while the tax collectors were apt to get rich from
this 1st Century inflationless microcosm of market-driven free
enterprise, the Judean soldiers were likely to get poor from it; so, what
should they do when they are saved from the impending wrath? Verse 14, John
says, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your
pay.”
This sounds easy enough
doesn’t it: don’t extort money from people, don’t falsely accuse people, and be
content with your pay. Easy? Maybe. These soldiers weren't Romans; they were
Judeans just like the tax collectors and just like most of the rest of the
crowd. These soldiers worked for the Romans just like the tax collectors but
these soldiers were very poorly paid. They didn’t have the freedom of the toll
booth operators to set their own wages so they resorted to other ways to make
money - basically stealing. But that was okay, they convinced themselves,
because ‘everyone was doing it’. But that is not okay. I love looking at Luke
in Advent season. Luke is the social justice gospel. It is a revolutionary
text.
I remember when we were
living in Vancouver, there were many stores in our neighbourhood which would
charge you less if you paid in cash because then they wouldn’t have to declare
the money as income. I have met many people who are paid 'under the table', who
deliberately do not claim income on their taxes – after all they don’t make
very much and the government doesn't need their money. When I worked at a
military base pre-9/11, one co-worker allegedly regularly used to take
discarded copper home to sell for extra money, after all he only made minimum
wage; the government didn't need more money. I remember as a janitor when I was
a teenager, colleagues who would take food or office supplies from the
buildings where they were working: they're only going to throw it out anyway.
Why would they miss this food from their coffee room? They have lots of money
to buy more. Luke says, “be content with your pay.”
I remember too, we used to
be able to make more money by working more hours so we would volunteer to take
on extra hours cleaning extra buildings. I –like my fellow janitors – loved
that. This is where you could get overtime pay without even working one hour
overtime. It was late at night and we often worked alone so some of us could do
16 hours worth of cleaning in just six hours without anyone noticing. The
buildings were clean, thus no one complained so we would write 16 hours on our
timesheet even though we only worked six; no one cared, everyone was doing it
and that way we would not only get paid for 10 hours of work we didn’t do but
we would even get time-and-a-half or double-time for some of those hours. It
was an easy way to make an extra buck or two. Get paid for hours you don’t
work, take food and supplies no one will miss which ‘everyone else is taking
anyway’. (I have also seen Salvationists with jobs and money take food or toys
meant for the poor as presents for their own families too… ‘everyone is doing
it’…)
I remember one security
guard at a building where I worked as a janitor for a while. I would chat with
him about God, among other things; one day he asked me, “If you are a
Christian, why are you leaving early?”
“My work is done.”
“Are you getting paid?”
“Yes.”
“So, do more work.”
“Everyone just leaves when
they are done, we’re expected to”
“Isn’t that stealing?”
The baptiser, John, says
to those of his day who weren’t paid necessarily a ‘liveable wage’, “be content
with your pay.” Luke says to we today who may be tempted to pad our hours, not
declare our income, or manipulate our wages, “be content with your pay.” It is
always interesting looking at Luke during Advent. Luke is the social justice
gospel. It is a revolutionary text. Luke tells as what the impending Kingdom of
God looks like. It is a place where the poor will have equal access to life and
liberty as (or more than) the rich and everyone who is a part of God’s Kingom
will deal openly and honestly with each other.
And honestly, in Advent
this revolution is noticeably important. We, as Christians, are called to be
holy. We, as Christians, are called to be the advance guard of a just society
where the poor do have the same access to life and to forgiveness as the rich.
The middle class and the elite - like the tax collectors - are not to make a
profit at the expense of the poor and those just barely eking out a living; we
are to do it honestly. And all of us, rich or poor, are to be content with our wages
for God will provide for us as He provides for the birds of the air and the lilies
of the feild (Luke 12:27, Mt 6:28).[9]
Everyone, as we are a part of God's proleptic Kingdom, we are to love our
neighbour and as they are in need we are to provide for their need just as our
Heavenly Father provides for our needs.
Last Sunday we lit the Candle of Joy and as we love our
neighbours as ourselves in this way we will experience the joy of the Lord - I
promise. This week, we lit the Candle of
Peace and as we love our neighbours as ourselves in this way we will
experience the peace of the Lord - I promise. This week, as we await the
celebration of the penultimate arrival of our Lord as a baby laid in a manger
and as we await the ultimate arrival of our Lord at the echaton, let us all be
a part of the joyful, peaceful revolution by honestly loving our Lord with all
our heart, mind and soul and loving our neighbour as ourselves and as we do I
promise God will change our world as He changes us from the inside out.
Let us pray.
---
[1] Cf. N.T. Wright, Luke for
Everyone (Louisville, Kentucky, USA: WJK, 2004), 34
[2] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, Luke
(Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1990), 48.
[3] Captain Michael Ramsay, Analysis
of 'The Use of Money': Sermon 50 by John Wesley (Presented to William and
Catherine Booth College, Summer 2008)
http://sheepspeak.com/reviews_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Use
[4] Walter L. Leifeld, The
Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/III.
Preparation for Jesus' Ministry (3:1-4:13)/A. The Ministry of John the Baptist
(3:1-20), Book Version: 4.0.2
[5] R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB
8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 84
[6] N.T. Wright, Luke for
Everyone (Louisville, Kentucky, USA: WJK, 2004), 36
[7] William Hendricksen, Exposition
of the Gospel According to Luke (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids
Michigan, 2007), 208
[8] Cf. Jose Miranda. Marx and the Bible: a Critique of the Philosophy
of Oppression. Trans., John Eagleson. (New York: Orbis Books, 1979),
250
[9] R. Alan Culpepper, Luke
(NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 85.
Posts
