Bob Brown recently moved to Indianapolis with Lauren, his wife, and his 3 year old son.  In October, he became co-pastor of First Mennonite Church, Indianapolis, after serving as Pastor of Stahl Mennonite in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, since 2010.

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Luke 3:7-9

As I read this passage from Luke’s Gospel—and hear the fiery words of John the Baptist that he gives to the religious leaders of his day—I am struck by words of conviction.

Advent is a time where we prepare for the coming of the Messiah, and God has equipped John in a special way to prepare the way for the Messiah. One part of John’s equipping is a very distinct ability to speak truth to power.

Speaking truth to power is hard. Speaking truth to power is scary. But this gift is one very distinct way that John prepared the way for Jesus.

I think we often romanticize the role of the prophetic voice: we love to see those Pharisees and Scribes put in their place. It is like watching the bad guy get what “he deserves” at the end of the movie.

But reading John’s words can get a bit more complicated when we step back and realize that we are now the ones in power.

The words ring differently when we think about who John was talking to, and take a second to realize that we are the ones standing in the pulpit each week. John was talking to the leaders of his church, and the way he prepares them for the arrival of God’s Messiah was to call them a “brood of vipers.”

Let’s try and imagine this same story in more modern terms: we church leaders hear about this amazing man of God who is baptizing and calling people into relationship with God. So we go, and we meet this man. We feel like we are being gracious. We are willing to meet with a man who lives on the wrong side of town, and doesn’t wear the proper religious attire. In our own minds, we are reaching out. We feel like we are offering support or validation for his ministry. We believe that because we are the licensed and ordained leaders of God’s church, our visit will bring validity to his ministry.

But when we show up on the scene, John makes something clear: he doesn’t need us. John has no need of our support or validation, and in fact, he doesn’t want it. John has been empowered and sent by God.  We think we speak for God. We think we are going in the desert to offer a blessing, but instead John takes us down a peg or three.

If we are ready, if we have ears to hear, we just might realize that God doesn’t need us. We just might realize that in John, God is working without the official blessing of the institutional church. If we have eyes to see, we just might see God with and through those who find themselves at variance with our “proper” understanding of church.

I believe that this is how John prepares the way: By working on our hearts.

John may be working on the religious leaders of his day, but if we continue to pretend that we are so much more enlightened than the Scribes and Pharisees, we stop the work of the Holy Spirit that would “produce fruit worthy of repentance.”

There is a natural tendency for humans to want to focus on the errors of others. And John will have none of it from the church leaders. For me, John’s words are for us today.

If we are truly anticipating the work of God, we must be willing to be corrected. We must realize the ways our greed and pride and desire for honor get in the way of the coming of Jesus.

May we prepare our hearts and our lives for the work that God’s coming Messiah wants to do in and through us all.