One thing children of all ages often learn from the story of Santa Claus is shake it, rattle it, roll it! This is a season where expectations grow and grow and grow about what we’ll find under the tree come Christmas. But, the story of the worst biblically-based church growth strategy ever asks what if we expected more?

Long before Santa Claus was call Santa Claus, you’ll find Saint Nicholaus, Nicholaus of Myra. In one of the oldest stories, he helped free three sisters by anonymous gifts of money. The truth behind that one story has grown over time into a story that overshadows the reason for those gifts.

Now, in our passage, John has a unique approach to church visitors. He insults them.    By comparing them to a family of vipers, a snake that was thought to be born by eating it’s way out of its mother’s body. Today, someone would whisper something’s never been quite right with them. 

If you were in that crowd, I wonder: would you have felt insulted? I certainly expected that reaction. Instead, they ask what should we do? While It’s still all about them, they are willing to be changed.

And John looks at the crowd before giving his advice. Some have far more of what they need… when others do without. Others are soldiers so poorly paid, they were expected to extort money from others. And tax-collectors, who paid for the right to do the job, were part of system that was ripe for abuse. He’s asking them to treat others in ways that threaten their own income and security.

John’s line about stones is important. If god can turn stones into Abraham’s family, clearly even vipers can be changed.

John Wesley looked at this passage and said stop doing evil and do good. In his mind, that goes on to stay in love with Gd. Here, being transformed from a stone began with looking at the abundance in your own life, and using it to change someone else’s life.

This time of year, expectations grow. And, a lot of ads and culture have taught us that’s all about what we’re going to receive… making it easy for the lesson to be about what we take out of a situation.

But, John’s message was, instead, about what the crowd would do, what the crowd would give into a situation. There’s a whole sermon or three in where that first step leads for the crowd. But, this sermon is about letting Expectations Grow. The mystery of Nicholaus of Myra is not about the daughters but about the ripples. What happened when the lives of three daughters were changed? Who heard about that story? How did it impact others? At what point did those ripples challenge the hearers to stop doing evil and do good? How do expectations grow… as people see that stones truly can be changed.

Benediction

    May the Holy One bless you
            and keep you;
    May you be the light of Joy   
            and may that reflections of that light ripple out;
    May those ripples spread
    That others may find their way home
    May peace come