Brood of Vipers (Second Sunday of Advent)
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Perhaps you’ve seen the meme of the John the Baptist Christmas card that always begins circulating on social media at this time of year. It’s a simple message from John – “Merry Christmas from my house to your house, you brood of vipers!”
For all the other things John the Baptist says and does, his “brood of vipers” line is the most classic! And in today’s Gospel reading, he directs his “brood of vipers” statement towards a group of Pharisees and Sadducees. Now, typically the Pharisees and Sadducees are groups of Jewish scholars who give Jesus – and often John the Baptist – a hard time. And yet, as Matthew tells the story, these particular Pharisees and Sadducees have come out to the banks of the Jordan neither to question John the Baptist nor to give him a hard time. Instead, they’ve also come to be baptized by him.
This apparently does not sit well with John the Baptist! “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? I mean, it couldn’t have been God, right? You’re not supposed to be here. You are some of the people who I think are opposed to God’s will. You’re wrong about so many things! Why would God want you included?!”
And yet, there they are. At least as Matthew tells the story, there are Pharisees and Sadducees who, right from the beginning were being included by God even if John the Baptist didn’t like it. They were people who weren’t supposed to be there. And John was right that even these particular Pharisees and Sadducees were wrong about a lot of stuff. And yet, God loved them, anyway! God included them. And in so doing, God made them part of the story of Jesus.
During this liturgical year, which begins in Advent, most of our Gospel readings will come from the Gospel of Matthew. And including people who aren’t supposed to be there is a recurring theme in Matthew’s Gospel from beginning to end. This is in spite of the fact – or perhaps even because – Matthew’s Gospel was originally written primarily for a Jewish Christian audience. And Matthew wants to remind his first readers that while God called and included them in the story of Jesus, God also calls and includes lots of others, even the people who might initially be dismissed as a “brood of vipers.”
And so it is that Matthew begins his Gospel with 17 verses that we NEVER read liturgically because it’s all a list of genealogical names that even Pastors have trouble pronouncing! This guy was the father of that guy, who was the father of the next guy, and so on. Women are never mentioned in these lists in the Old Testament, but Matthew includes four of the mothers.
Included in this list is Ruth, the Moabite. Ruth is a nice person in the Bible. She has a whole book named after her, and she’s the grandmother of King David, so it might seem like Matthew should make an exception because she belongs there. But Ruth comes from Moab. And the people of Israel were often at war with the Moabites, so much so that Deuteronomy states that no “Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Even to the 10th generation, none of them shall be admitted.” (Deut 23:3)
Matthew could have simply omitted Ruth, as he does many other mothers from the list, because Moabites are a quintessential “brood of vipers” in the Old Testament. They literally are told they don’t belong there. And they also were wrong about a lot of things, including trying to keep the Israelites from entering the promised land. But in remembering Ruth, Matthew reminds us that God apparently loves the Moabites, too. God has included them, even if others leave Ruth out of the genealogy because Moabites aren’t supposed to be there. And in so doing, God has made the Moabites part of the story of Jesus.
And then, Jesus is born. But no nice, humble Jewish shepherds come to visit. The only people who visit Jesus are the pagan Magi – astrologers from the east. They were also probably considered a “brood of vipers” by many people. They worshipped pagan gods and they thought they could discern the will of the gods simply by reading the stars. They were clearly wrong about a lot of stuff! And yet, God loved them enough to use their misguided ideas about astrology to guide them to Jesus. God included these gentiles as the first worshippers of Jesus, even though many people probably thought they weren’t supposed to be there. And in so doing, God made the Magi part of the story of Jesus.
And this kind of thing goes on right to very end of Matthew’s Gospel. The Risen Jesus appears to the disciples on a mountain in Galilee and directs them to go to the “brood of vipers.” That is, he sends them to “the nations” – the Gentiles; the very people that many Jewish people kept at arms-length because the Gentiles frequently treated them very badly and were wrong about a lot of things. But Jesus makes clear from beginning to end that God loves even the people we don’t. Jesus makes clear from beginning to end that God includes people who aren’t supposed to be there. And Jesus makes clear from beginning to end that he calls everybody to be part of his story.
But let’s not forget about John the Baptist, the proponent of “brood of vipers” talk. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus, and he knew God wanted him to preach repentance. But if you read ahead to next Sunday’s Gospel reading, John the Baptist is in prison. And he sends word to Jesus asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another?” Clearly, John the Baptist didn’t quite get it right either. He was the forerunner, but he was wrong about a bunch of stuff.
And yet, God loved and called John the Baptist. God included John the Baptist in the divine plan to announce the coming of the Messiah. And John the Baptist was an integral part of the story of Jesus, even if he didn’t always understand it completely.
You’re loved. You’re included. And you’re part of the story of Jesus. This is true even when you’re wrong about stuff! This is true even if others think you’re not supposed to be here because of whatever – your ethnicity, your sexual orientation, your political beliefs, your lifestyle, your past behavior, or because others have called you a “brood of vipers”! This is one of the major themes of Matthew’s Gospel, and we should be alert to it as we read through the Gospel in the coming year, because it can help us live more fully into our relationship with God and with other people.
You may have seen that a couple of weeks ago, on his first international trip as Pope, Leo XIV traveled to Turkey, and there was a big gathering of Christian leaders brought together by the Pope and Bartholomew, the Patriarch of Constantinople. They gathered at Nicaea, because this year is the 1700th anniversary of the gathering of the first ecumenical Council that gave us the Nicene Creed.
If you saw the pictures, it was pretty humble setting. And that’s because today the site of the church where the Council gathered is a ruin, and it’s not even a heavily visited archaeological site (I know this because I did visit there…!)
And while the press mostly reported on the Pope and Bartholomew (who both stood in the front), lots of other Christian leaders were there with them, including an assistant General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation who’s responsible for ecumenical relations. And what they all did was recite the Nicene Creed together (agreeing to use the original version without the added “filioque”…)
I don’t have the perfect answer to ancient debates, but I am certain of two things. I am certain that every single one of those leaders gathered there thought the other denominations were wrong about a bunch of stuff. And secondly, I am certain that they are all correct about this!
And yet, to be able to stand there together and confess a common faith in Jesus showed that they acknowledged that God loved them all. They were all included by God, even if the press didn’t acknowledge their presence! And in lifting up Jesus together, they showed that we’re all part of the story of Jesus.
And one of the comments of the Pope – and he’s right about this – is that Christians will do more to lift up Jesus to the world by standing together and making a common confession of faith than by calling each other a “brood of vipers,” which pretty much all of us have done to one another at some point.
So, since God was clearly inviting and including the people John the Baptist thought were a brood of vipers, maybe it’s a good idea for us to consciously lay off any kind of “brood of vipers” talk about people and groups we don’t like, and maybe especially other religious groups and denominations.
Instead, it’s better to focus on the stuff that really matters. And what really matters is that we remember that God’s divine love extends even to people we think of as a “brood of vipers”. What really matters is that we keep in mind the fact that God is intent on including everybody in his plans for life and salvation, even when they’re very wrong about stuff. And what really matters is that we’re all called to be part of the story of Jesus in our own time and place, and to do that by inviting others into the story as well.
Amen.