Slippery ice on the bridges, northeastern wind coming in.
You will bruise my head, I will strike your heel.
Drive past wind of northern pine, try not to let go of the wheel.
Dream at night
Girl with a cobra tattoo on her arm,
It's head flaring out like a parachute.
Prisms in the dew drops in the underbrush
Skatecase sailor's purses floating down in the black needlerush
Higher than the stars I will set my throne.
God does not need Abraham, God can raise children from stones.
Dream at night
Girl with a cobra tattoo
And try to hear the garbled transmissions come through.
I'm not really sure why I posted the lyrics to The Mountain Goats song, "Cobra Tattoo." The Mountain Goats are one of my all-time favorites, and I really like this song. And so today's gospel, where John the Baptist speaks of vipers and of God raising children to Abraham from stones, was enough of an excuse for me to share some of John Darnielle's wonderful poetry.
Scripture can often be every bit as enigmatic as a Mountain Goat song. What you hear often depends on the way certain emotionally freighted words impact you. Take the words "repent" and "repentance." To a lot of people these are fire and brimstone sorts of words hurled at pagans, heathens, or those caught up in immorality and debauchery. Such words fit well with many portraits of John the Baptist as a kind of wild eyed firebrand yelling that we had better straighten up before it is too late.
But of course Jesus uses the very same language about repenting. And Luke, in the verses just after today's reading, says of John the Baptists' words, "he proclaimed the good news to the people."
Religion gets branded - sometimes correctly - as a downer and a party-pooper. It's about "Don't do that," a nun with a steel ruler who's just itching to crack some knuckles. But Luke insists that John the Baptist brings "good news." And Jesus often connects repentance to the good news of the kingdom, God's glorious new day that has drawn near.
Repentance is about turning, heading in a new direction. And if you're trying to get somewhere, but you've gotten a bit lost, a helpful voice that says, "You don't want to go that way; you need to turn and go down that road," does indeed bring good news.
John the Baptist says to turn and head toward God's new day. "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." This is apparently what God's new day looks like, a world where no one need step on anyone else to get theirs, a world where all rest so comfortably in the promises of God's grace that they are free to share, to be truly generous. Generosity, by the way, is quite different than charity.
Good news, says John. A better world is drawing near. Turn toward it.
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