Title: “The Lima Bean of the Gospels”
Text: Matthew 3:1-12
Day: Advent 2A
Date: December 5, 2010
Earlier this week, Eryn and I were talking about our childhood eating habits. Most families have rules about meal time and ours were very similar. You had to eat at the table. What you see is what you get…there was never any “second meal option.” And, of course, you had to eat what was on your plate if you wanted dessert. These rules were pretty hard and fast, but for the most part I didn’t complain. I have never really been a picky eater. Sure, there are things that I would rather NOT eat, even today, but if it’s on my plate I usually feel obliged to dig in. The trick, I learned early on, was to examine the meal ahead of time, and if there was something there that I knew I didn’t like, then I would shovel it into my mouth quickly right off the bat. That way, it was just done and I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. At that point, I could enjoy the rest of my meal in PEAS. (Groan!)
Anyway, like I said, I was never really a picky eater. But the one food that I disliked more than any other when I was younger was the dreaded lima bean. I dreaded seeing it tucked away inside that vegetable medley, trying to hide among the corn and peas and carrots. But the lima bean is hard to hide. First of all, it’s ugly. To my young eyes, it looked like a big, sickly green grub that was almost too big for it’s own skin, which was pulled tautly around its fleshy interior. And, of course, once you bit into the bean, that soft, fleshy interior exploded and coated your mouth with its disgusting innards. And even then the pain wasn’t over, because after you swallowed, the bean still left a terrible taste in your mouth, making you dread your next bite. The lima bean, I was convinced, was an ugly, evil, unpalatable creation of Satan. But, again, if it was on my plate, I had to eat it. And, as per my usual, it was the first thing to go so that I could just enjoy the good stuff that followed.
Now, I know that I’m not the only one to do this. Many of you might be like me and when you encounter something you dislike – whether it’s lima beans, or homework, or some kind of task at work – you try to get it over with as quickly as possible, right? Sure. That way, it’s just done and you can move on, enjoying the good stuff the rest of the day has to offer.
Well, have you ever noticed that the Gospel writers all put John the Baptist in right at the beginning of their Gospels? Every one – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – have stories about this wild and crazy man. He is obviously an important character, one that must be mentioned whether they like it or not…but none of them spend a whole lot of time talking about him. At most, he gets a chapter or so, and then he’s done, out of the picture to make way for Jesus. All this makes me wonder whether the Gospel writers had the same M.O. for dealing with unpleasant things as I did. Maybe, just maybe, we’re supposed to understand John the Baptist as the “Lima Bean of the Gospels.” And the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
First of all, let’s face it: he’s ugly. It’s not easy for a man to hide or to fade into the background when he’s wearing smelly camel’s hair…and especially when he’s got locust breath! (And I thought lima beans were bad! Ugh!) But that’s how he’s described…as a man, who lives out in the wilderness, eating and wearing whatever he happens upon. Kind of like a first century hippie – patchouli odor and all!
But that’s not the only thing that makes him unpalatable: his message is distasteful. You don’t find a whole lot of comfort or gentle words coming from this man. Rather, he enters the scene crying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” And then Matthew records his message even further: “Bear fruit worthy of repentance,” he continues. “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. 11I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me…His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire!”
Now, if that message doesn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth, I don’t know what would! All in all, I think we’re supposed to not like this man very much. He’s brash, unyielding, and even offensive. Not exactly what we’re wanting to hear, especially as we are approaching Christmas.
Surely you have noticed the dichotomy: that in the world out there Christmas music is playing happily, lights are twinkling merrily, and presents are starting to make their way around the bejeweled Christmas trees in our homes. It is hard not to get caught up in the joyful flavor of this holiday. But then, you come here…to church…where you might expect this flavor to be enhanced…and instead you are being forced to swallow this distasteful message of John the Baptist. A message that confronts us with our need for repentance. A message that sets our teeth on edge as he points out that our priorities are not always where they ought to be. That is a hard pill to swallow for sure!
But it’s there…it’s on our plate…which means that we can’t avoid it. In a very real way I think we have to take this message in in order to enjoy the good stuff to follow: namely, the coming of Christ our King.
And I think that might be the genius of these Gospel writers. They know, they understand, they see the importance of this unruly man named John the Baptist…and they don’t avoid him. They serve him up and force us to take those unpleasant bites of humility, repentance, and confession: things we would rather not touch, for sure. But, in doing so, we find that even in this distasteful message there is the slightest scent of hope…the faintest whiff of something better to come. “One is coming after me,” he says. “I am NOTHING compared to him.”
Christ is coming, he seems to say…but you can’t have dessert without eating everything else on your plate first.
So as you prepare for the great feast of Christmas this year, let me give you a word of advice – from one child of God at the dinner table to another: when God puts that heaping helping of John the Baptist on your plate, just get it over with first…shovel it in, chew on it, digest it. You might not like it, it might leave a bad taste in your mouth, but I promise it will make your Christmas that much sweeter.
Amen.
