Jesus: The Theatrical Trailer

Third Sunday of Advent (December 14, 2003)

By The Rev. Benjamin J. Newland

- Zephaniah 3:14-20
- Psalm 85:7-13
- Philippians 4:4-9
- Luke 3:7-18

I have a love/hate relationship with movie previews. One the one hand, it is exciting to see a glimpse of upcoming movies, and the trailers usually manage to raise my expectations for movies I haven’t heard of or raise my anticipation for movies I know are coming. Sometimes the previews are better than the movie. I don’t even remember what movie I had paid for when I saw the trailer for the first Lord of the Rings movie, the preview so out shown the feature attraction. On the other hand, movie previews often give away the best parts of an upcoming film, robbing the actual experience of any excitement or tension.

I recently purchased, from our fine Cathedral Bookstore, a book titled, "Genesis: the Movie." The author suggests that if we were to view the first six chapters of the book of Genesis as a movie rather than as exact historical chronology we might have less difficulty with the particulars while noticing more of the significant spiritual themes.

And so into my head full of movie thoughts comes today’s gospel lesson from Luke, in which we have the most complete summary of the preaching of John the Baptist in the scriptures. And it occurs to me that this summary, and the life of John the Baptist more generally, serve as a great theatrical trailer for the life and teaching of Jesus himself. John the Baptist is like the original screenplay for the Jesus story, kind of a pre-production Jesus, released to limited audiences who were then asked for their input in small focus groups.

Well, enough of that metaphor for now. What is it that John is saying? Essentially, there are three parts to what John teaches in the Gospel reading today. First, he warns of the coming judgment of God. Second, he calls for real ethical reforms. And third, he announces the coming of the messiah. These three points serve as a succinct preview of the life and teaching of Jesus, and provide a fairly handy guide for churches on how to be a balanced Christian community.

First off, the warning of coming judgment. John accomplishes this with typical prophetic flair. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” he screams at the crowds presenting themselves to him for baptism, conjuring up an image of snakes writhing over each other in an attempt to flee from a fire. This is the same Gospel that just a couple chapters ago was full of images of Baby Jesus, tender and mild. Now it’s hellfire and brimstone as John excoriates those who come to him hoping just to cover all their bases. He ridicules their self-justification as children of Abraham, mocking them, saying that God could make children of Abraham from rocks and would still not stand for their injustice and selfish ways.

Before I go on to John’s second and third points, I’d like to take a brief side trip into the reading from Zephaniah, because something very important has happened in the prophetic tone of Advent. You may have noticed that Advent is something of a schizophrenic time in the Church Calendar. On the one hand, we are quietly preparing and waiting for the arrival of God’s incarnate Son, come into the world as a baby, meek and humble. On the other hand, we read again and again from the prophetic literature which cries out for repentance and judgment and the end of days. I personally think we reflect this two-minded confusion of the church pretty well in secular society. On the one hand, we make plans to gather with family and friends in the quiet comfort of home and hearth. On the other, we willingly plunge into the apocalyptic shopping world of WalMart and the Mall.

In today’s reading from Zephaniah however, we have turned a corner. The portion read is the ninth of Zephaniah’s nine oracles and the end of his book, and at the last, the prophet changes his tone from “beware” to “be glad”. He will not give up the fire of his earlier words, but while God is still coming to judge, such judgment is to be cause for rejoicing among the people of God. Zephaniah marks a shift in prophetic tone from lament to joyous confidence.

John the Baptist is a prophet too, however, and he will not let the crowds off lightly. After warning them in no uncertain terms that God would be displeased when God arrived, the crowds ask him what they can do. John again foreshadows Jesus by recommending a very practical, and very personal, set of ethical reforms. Anyone with two coats is to share one with one who has none. Toll collectors are to collect no more than is fair, and soldiers no more than their wages. In the first century economy of the Roman Empire, toll collectors paid the empire for rights to collect tolls, then charged whatever they could get away with for their own profit. Soldiers were paid a very humble wage and expected to supplement their earnings by threat of violence or plunder. It was a system set-up for abuse, and to refrain from such abuse would have been radical indeed, and put the one who refrained in a precarious social and financial situation.

John’s ethical prescriptions were a very personal and practical way to go about the repentance he required. Unlike many of his contemporaries, John advocated not withdrawal from the world like the Essene community at Qumran, nor a military solution like the Zealots calling for revolution. John’s ethics were intensely personal, just as Jesus’ would be.

In the third pillar of his speech, John announces the coming of Jesus. As his teaching unfolds, the people gathered begin to wonder if John is the Messiah they have been expecting. He responds by announcing the coming of the true Messiah, one whose greatness is so much more than John’s own that John would not be worthy even to perform the duties of a slave for this Messiah.

And thus you have the complete theatrical trailer for Jesus: the Movie. In John the Baptist’s teaching you have warning of the coming of God’s kingdom and judgment, you have call for personal ethical reform, and you have announcement of Jesus as God’s messiah. Any of these three points, taken alone, is insufficient to be Gospel proclamation, but taken together they form an accurate preview of the core of Jesus’ message in the Gospels.

Advent is a weird kind of season. If we take the metaphor of John the Baptist as preview for Jesus Christ, we’d have to conclude that the trailer really over-hyped the movie. Here John goes and gets all these people in the crowds excited about the coming Messiah/Movie, but when it finally arrives it’s nothing like what they expected. John promised pyrotechnics and an action movie hero. Jesus delivers only mystical philosophy and gets executed like a criminal. It’s as if you went to the theatre and saw a preview for a great new blockbuster movie with millions of dollars of special effects in which the good guy would win, get the girl, retire rich, and save the planet. Then when you went to the movie it was some bizarre art-house film about a moody Jew who got killed because he wouldn’t do what the authorities wanted him to. Also, the movie went straight to video.

This backwardness of Advent hype is reflected again in our modern practice of Christmas. All the excitement is in the building up of the Big Day, the anticipation, the lighting effects, the musical score. Then when Christmas comes it’s almost a let down. Except in the church of course. We know that this movie may start slow, but we also know that all the special effects come at the end of the film, at Easter, when the good guys do win, although not in a way anyone could have imagined.

And so I’m back to my love/hate relationship with previews. I love all the Christmas hype, the music, the Santa Claus decorations, even the goofy, animated Christmas light elves that build a snowman on top of the building next door. But I hate that all of this noise distracts from the events to come rather than really getting me ready for them. I guess I’ll just have to see the movie to spite the preview. I hope you will too, Merry Christmas.