As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.
Luke, the Gospel writer, calls this word
that John the Baptist preached "good news."
So, with many exhortations,
he preached good news to the people.
Yet, when I read his words, Lord,
at least as Luke records them here,
calling the people a "brood of vipers,"
threatening them with wrath and fire to come,
the news does not sound "good" to me.
Is it right to frighten people, God,
to stampede them to your mercy like a herd
of frightened cattle? So many preachers,
down through the centuries, have used this same technique,
have portrayed their congregations dangling by
a spider thread over the flames of hell.
So many persons seem to have embraced the faith
in order to evade eternal punishment,
rather than to enter joyful into life abundant.
I question this, Father. How can one choose
to live a selfless life for selfish reasons?
How can I freely love a God who threatens to destroy me
and all that I hold dear? What is the proper role
of fear in the gospel of your grace, Lord God?
Sin is a fearful thing.
Evil is no childish fairy tale,
but a real-life horror story, as the news headlines
make clear every day. this evil may seem far beyond
my own small failings and omissions,
yet the roots are here within. I know them
in myself, when I am honest with myself.
Could it follow therefore that,
before I hear the good news of your grace,
I have to face the bad news of my failures,
with all their fearful consequences?
Might it be that fear, not fear of hell so much
as fear of hell on earth I am creating here and now,
might this fear be the blade that opens my life,
prepares it for your gospel? Is so, then may this day
be fearful, and thus open to your grace. Amen.
J. Barrie Shepherd
to stampede them to your mercy like a herd
of frightened cattle? So many preachers,
down through the centuries, have used this same technique,
have portrayed their congregations dangling by
a spider thread over the flames of hell.
So many persons seem to have embraced the faith
in order to evade eternal punishment,
rather than to enter joyful into life abundant.
I question this, Father. How can one choose
to live a selfless life for selfish reasons?
How can I freely love a God who threatens to destroy me
and all that I hold dear? What is the proper role
of fear in the gospel of your grace, Lord God?
Sin is a fearful thing.
Evil is no childish fairy tale,
but a real-life horror story, as the news headlines
make clear every day. this evil may seem far beyond
my own small failings and omissions,
yet the roots are here within. I know them
in myself, when I am honest with myself.
Could it follow therefore that,
before I hear the good news of your grace,
I have to face the bad news of my failures,
with all their fearful consequences?
Might it be that fear, not fear of hell so much
as fear of hell on earth I am creating here and now,
might this fear be the blade that opens my life,
prepares it for your gospel? Is so, then may this day
be fearful, and thus open to your grace. Amen.
J. Barrie Shepherd
A Child Is Born: Meditations for Advent and Christmas
Westminster Press, 1988
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