John, ‘the Baptist’ as he is called, is a
celebrity preacher in 1st Century Palestine. He is on a speaking tour through all
the country around the Jordan (Luke 3:3). People are making an effort to see
him. In order to see John in those days you can’t just drive, catch a bus, hail
a cab or get a ride from someone. 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 to
get where you are going.
Picture this scenario with me. Pick some
famous person you want to see; they are coming to Nanaimo 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 a few years ago was 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 all walk there or better yet in this day and age we get a bus full of
people and we all take the day off kettles to go hear her. We are among
hundreds or thousands of others who take the time and make the effort to come
to see her. Now imagine that 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!?"
"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 taken the whole day or two off of their lives, walked
for maybe up to 100km and 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,
who is part of God’s Kingdom, 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 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 well-known 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 big 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 the 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 profit off their customers, can you imagine if he
told the big name companies 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, and even Jesus IS saying just that…just take what you need. 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.[6] We just
moved from Toronto this year and previously we have lived in Victoria and
Vancouver. Anyone who drives regularly in these 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? What should they do as citizens of the Kingdom
of God? 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 ever 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 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 us 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 Kingdom
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 field (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 Love 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 Joy and as we love our
neighbours as ourselves in this way we will experience the joy 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 seek the Lord and 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 for as we do I promise God will
change our world as He changes us even here –who seek him- from the inside out.
Let us pray.
More daily blogs at
More articles, sermons, and papers at
Based on Luke 3:7-14: In the Advent of Revolution. Presented to TSA Corps 614 Regent Park, Toronto, Ontario on 20 December 2015
[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.
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