Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo + December 15, 2024
Third Sunday of Advent
Words for the Beginning: Do the Good That is Yours to Do
On the Third Sunday of Advent, Pastor Hector challenges us to move beyond the idea of doing more to be accepted by God. Instead, he urges us to focus on the fruit of faithfulness that grows from being in relationship with God. Drawing from John the Baptist's call to "do the good that is yours to do," the sermon emphasizes that God has already given us the grace to live out our faith in tangible ways. As Advent invites us into contemplation and self-examination, we are reminded that our actions are not about outcomes but about being faithful to the call God has placed in our lives.
Sermon Transcript
From automatically generated captions, and lightly edited for readability by AI chatbots
Grace to you and peace from Abba, Father, Mother, Creator God, and the Lord Jesus Christ—our Savior, our Lord, our sibling, and our friend.
We said last Sunday—I said I was coughing and didn’t cough at all during the sermon. Today, I said, “I’m not coughing, I’m okay,” and I started coughing. So, I don’t know what’s going on. Forgive me again if I need to clear my throat during these few minutes.
Last Sunday, we were talking about—we were reflecting on—the fact that you and I are the church; that we don’t need to imagine or dream of a church because the gift of being a church has already been given to us. The call that you and I have is that we can walk together into liminal spaces where we are transformed, where our stories and our relationships transform each other individually and collectively.
In other words, being part of the church that the Lord Jesus Christ has started is a call for us to bear good fruit.
In the passage that we read today in the Gospel, as people are listening to John the Baptizer, they hear him telling them the good news—the message of God in Jesus Christ. They respond with a question, asking, “So, what should we do?” John’s answer—if I can rephrase it, and you heard it through the initial part of the liturgy today—is:
“Do the good that is yours to do.”
I believe there is an implicit answer in those words. The question is this: What do we do? Is doing the good that is ours to do a way to convince God to come to us and bless us? Or is it because God has already come to us and blessed us that you and I do the good that is ours to do?
What do you think? (This is a real question.)
Do we do the good so that God is good to us, or because God is good to us, we live out the good that God has done to us?
Church, if you notice, John the Baptist—or the Baptizer, or John the Reader—denounces, but at the same time, he enlightens and sustains people. John the Baptizer, as much as we do not like to hear it (and as much as we run away from this word), brings judgment—God’s judgment.
We run away from this word, and we don’t like it in the Biblical context because, through the centuries, the first idea that comes to mind is that judgment—God’s judgment—is about a God who comes to punish us, to make us pay for our mistakes, to send us to dark, hot places.
But I invite you to think differently.
God’s judgment is about God’s decision for the entire creation. If we are truthful to ourselves, how many judgments have you made since the moment you got up this morning until now? How many judgments have you made today?
Raise your hand, right?
We have made judgments: What do I wear to go to church? Should I go to church? Should I meet people? Who will I be talking to, and how am I going to talk to them? What am I going to wear for breakfast? What should I wear to go out with my friends today?
Judgments are decisions.
God’s decision—God’s judgment—for us is this: God says, *“You belong to me, and I am going to do anything that is in my power.”* And God has superpowers! God says, *“I am coming to be with you, to save you, to restore you, and not only that—to make you an extension of my power of grace and mercy in this world.”*
John the Baptizer does not demonize or devalue people. He points to the source of true healing and transformation, regardless of who they are. He talks to people who, perhaps, we wouldn’t even speak to. He speaks to soldiers and tax collectors—those who abuse others. Yet, John the Baptizer, regardless of their societal roles, brings them the good news of salvation.
He reminds them, and us, that we are called to live out our faith regardless of the outcomes of what we do.
The point is this: You and I are called to put into practice what has already been given to us.
I have shared with you several times—and it keeps coming to my mind when I read this passage—conversations with the former Bishop of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, with whom I served while in Chicago. When we were trying to implement initiatives in congregations, bringing life and shifting the way congregations think (especially when they tend to look inwardly and focus only on themselves, continuing with things that aren’t working and becoming frustrated), people would call the Bishop, angry and upset.
The Bishop would go, and they’d ask, *“What are you doing here?”* If the Bishop didn’t come, they’d ask, *“Why aren’t you here, Bishop?”*
It became a cycle of anger and frustration.
The Bishop and I started an initiative to help congregations see that we are called to live out the fruitfulness that has already been given to us.
Months—and even years—passed, and it seemed like nothing was happening. Congregations didn’t respond; leaders didn’t engage. Frustration grew. The Bishop, exasperated, said, *“Maybe this isn’t working. Maybe we’re just wasting resources.”*
Not that I am wiser than the Bishop (nor do I claim to have all the answers), but as I was reading these passages, it came to me that maybe the answer is this:
I told the Bishop, *“Maybe the answer to all of this is that it isn’t for you and me to see the fruits of what we are planting. We are called to be faithful—to do what the Spirit is calling us to do—and to trust that God will continue working through the lives of people and congregations. The fruit will come. And if you and I don’t see it, that’s fine, because the blessing isn’t in the result but in the actions we take now as we try to be faithful to the call we have.”*
The Bishop looked at me and said, *“What are you talking about?”*
And we had a wonderful conversation.
But this reminds me of the passage in First Corinthians, where, you know, the churches are fighting and divided, and they are having their arguments. And St. Paul says, "What are you talking about? Some of you say that you belong to Paul, others to Apollos." Then St. Paul says, "Remember, it is not Paul or Apollos—the one who plants or the one who waters—it is the one who brings the growth. It is the power of the Holy Spirit."
And that's what we need to focus on—not so much on how much you do, but what your attitude and posture are in responding to the blessing that you already have.
"What should we do?" they asked.
And John the Baptist replied, "Let the one with two coats share with the one who has none, and let those who have food do the same."
I believe that the passage in the gospel today can be summarized in this way: If you notice, John the baptizer responds not by telling them to add more tasks on top of what they are already doing. They have positions in society; they have responsibilities, tasks, and duties, and they are fulfilling them. John the baptizer doesn't say, "On top of everything you are doing, here is another list of things to do to please God."
What he says is, "Keep doing what you are doing, but do it with a different attitude—an attitude that reflects who you are and what you are called to be as a child of God, as part of a creation that has been redeemed, saved, received, and called by a God who decided to come to be with you, as one of you, in the One who is coming after me, of whom I am not even worthy to untie his sandal."
It is a question not so much about doing but more about being. And in churches—and I need to say, sometimes in our own denomination—I don’t know for what reason we have fallen into the trap of believing that the more we do, the more we are accepted by God.
We keep hearing that congregations should do, individuals should do, and we all need to do more and more, to the point that you and I are so overwhelmed by all the things we believe we need to do to be good Christians, that we lose track, lose focus, and forget that we already have a greater gift in who we are and whose we are.
Everything that is needed for the church to be the church has already been given to us. It is just a matter of being what we are called to be.
If you have two coats, he didn’t say, "Go to the nearest retailer, buy three more coats, and then bring them back to give them away." Not that we don’t sometimes need to do that—I want to be clear about that. But what John says is, "Give one of them."
The easiest thing for us is to go to the store, get two more coats, and give them away. The most difficult thing to do is to take something we believe is ours and give it away. Isn’t it?
How many of us are ready to give, for example—and I’m just going to an extreme here, for illustration—how many of us are ready to give away your flat-screen Samsung, LG, or Sony TV? Are you ready?
It wouldn’t be easy to say, "Well, I’ll just pay for another one and give that instead." Giving away your own, even if it’s used, is much harder.
It is a matter of being, of believing, of accepting.
In this season of Advent, my siblings in Christ, it is a season for you and for me to contemplate the judgment of God. And I already said what I mean by judgment.
John the baptizer says, "They will know that you are my disciples if you—"
(What? This is a test. This is a biblical test! I’m checking if you’re reading the gospels.)
"They will know that you are my disciples if you—what?"
If you love one another.
And St. Paul says, "All things work for good for those who—what?"
Who love the Lord, who love God.
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Here is the remainder of the transcript with appropriate punctuation added:
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Just to conclude with a practical and tangible example, you probably, when you are parking, wonder, "Why in the world won't I have spaces to park today?" because all the parking lot is used now by the construction of what?
And the purpose of that is... what, right? Trinity Lutheran Church and Schools decided several years ago—before I was born—no, no, I'm not that young; this was just like 12 years ago. Trinity Lutheran Church and Schools decided that we were going to lease this piece of land to another partner organization in the area to build a building that will be used to provide spaces for the community. The lease, the rent that they are paying, the amount they are paying is only $1 for 50 years. Great deal, right?
Do we know the results and the outcomes? To be honest, many of us won't be here by the time the fruits start coming. Is it the point that we need to have right now the results? Or, according to the gospel, the point is that we, right now, need to live a life that reflects who we are. It's about being. What does this require? Now that there will be a group of people on the other side of the parking lot, you and I need to re-evaluate what it means to be Church in this place. Not so much about doing more stuff, but how we are going to be. What are going to be our behavioral patterns or our partners in relationship with the people who will be coming to this place? In order for us to reflect, as our young worshippers were saying, our super, superpowers that God has given us—the power of love, mercy, and divine compassion—we are to trust that all things will work for good for those who love the Lord. Because what we are trying to do is align with God's intent for the wholeness and well-being of all creation.
This Advent season, my siblings in Christ, starts in the dark of our fears and our desires to do more and to have more. But the truth is that the message of Advent leads us into the understanding of God's judgment as a declaration of life, healing, joy, and wholeness. As we heard today in the book of the prophet Isaiah, you and I will be known as repairers of the bridge, or we will be known as those who can fix anything, restore all ruins, rebuild and renovate, and make the community livable again. The Church— you and me, and all people of the Universal Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the body of Christ in this world, in this universe—bears a revolution in the womb.
As we sing every Wednesday in the Holden Vespers, there is a power that's been given to the Church to bear it into the world and to bring a revolution that disrupts everything else that this world tells us is okay when we despise, neglect, and forget others. Help us to focus: you and I are the Church who is going to extend the arms of Divine compassion to bring the joy, the hope, and the peace that is needed right now. We are an Advent people, bearing the tension of joy and sorrow, of light and darkness.
And John the baptizer concludes, "But someone is coming who is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not fit to untie. This one will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire." May this fire be in our hearts to be the Church that God has called us to be at this corner, in this place, for the years to come. And let's not worry too much about the results. Let us leave today and be who God calls us to be—superheroes with the superpower of love, as our new worshippers reminded us today. And we said, Amen.
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