Enough Peace Even for a Brood of Vipers

Prophets! This week the Advent lectionary gives us two prophets, Isaiah and John the Baptist. They both have some things to say using reptiles as examples and images. Vipers and Asps and Adders. While there are some exceptions, many people are uncomfortable around snakes. Yet in Isaiah’s vision we have nothing to fear from snakes, not even the most vulnerable of us. Snakes that previously were dangerous, do not need to be feared anymore in the new kingdom.

Isaiah describes the reign of a new king, who comes from the line of Jesse¹. Jesse was the father of King David and David is the exemplary king. But the royal line of Jesse is coming to an end in the time of Isaiah. Isaiah holds out hope that out of that great past another great dynasty will emerge. When they have a righteous and faithful king life will be amazing for both humans and animals. In the land of this king even predator and prey live peacefully and safely together. This text is sometimes titled the “Peaceable Kingdom”.

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist and faithfulness the belt around his loins.The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them.The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:1-10 NRSVue

The gospel reading concerns John the Baptist, who is not known for his peaceful vision. He sounds like someone who has issues with polite society and how is not afraid to speak his mind.

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him,and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:1-12 NRSVue

John the Baptist shows up abruptly in Matthew’s gospel. He is presented as a prophet in the manor of Elijah, who was expected to return before the Messiah.² Prophets, like John the Baptist and Elijah speak the truth, very often in ways that upset people.

John the Baptist was in the wilderness, a place of danger and often a place of divine encounter. He called people to repent and they came into the wilderness to meet him. He was not simply asking people to be sorry for their sins. To repent means to change one’s way, one’s actions. Repentance involves turning, away from the wrong path one was headed and re-turning toward God. John was urging repentance because the Kingdom of Heaven is coming near.³ He called for people to turn toward God, and to prepare the way, the path for God’s coming. And people from, Jerusalem, all Judean and all the region around the Jordan”, responded. He baptized people in the Jordan River, the river Israel crossed to enter the Promised Land.

The Pharisees and Sadducees also came to be baptized⁴. John the Baptist had some blunt words for them, “You brood of vipers! Who told you to flee from the coming wrath.” I wonder, who did tell them? Or did even the powerful elite know that the system they supported and benefited from was unsustainable and destined to fail violently. Underneath the power and the status, did they know, in their hearts and souls, that something had to change?

Notice John didn’t tell them they are beyond redemption. He didn’t tell them to go away. He told them to take repentance seriously. He warned them not to simply go through the motions and to not depend on their religious status. What they do matters more than who they are.

Just before Matthew tells us about John the Baptist, he tells the story of the slaughter of the children. Herod, in fear and rage, killed young children in an attempt to find and destroy the Messiah. Last week we read Jesus’ parable, “But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.”⁵ The empire, the forces of power and might, will not leave without a fight. They will do all they can to protect themselves and the systems that benefit them. Jesus, John the Baptist and Matthew were under no illusions that the project of the redemption of the world will be easy.

We can look at our own times and see that people with power and wealth are fighting to preserve their power and wealth. For the powerful, the idea that the poor or the migrant or the marginalized or those “different” in any way should be equal to them is unthinkable. This past week the President of the United States called migrants from Somalia “garbage”⁶. John the Baptist warns those who have influence and power, who may use the language of faith, who may hold up the Bible and the Cross, they need to bear fruit worthy of repentance living lives turned toward God and the way of Christ.

At the same time, John’s portrayal of the actions of the Messiah do not fit well with what Jesus did. John was expecting axes and winnowing forks and fire.⁷ Evidently even the prophets didn’t fully understand the nature and message of Jesus. Jesus was not the Messiah most people were expecting.

Jesus’ message of love and serving others, loving neighbor and enemy was a challenge then and remains a challenge now. The places in our lives and society where we hesitate or even subvert the message of Jesus means we need to be clear about where and how our own souls need to be purified. What resistance to the kingdom of God do we need to cut down and clear away? What chaff keeps us from lives of generosity? In what ways do we need to burn our bridges with the empire’s values and acts? Where and how do we need to step off the comfortable path and re-turn to Jesus?

Isaiah’s prophecy, with its description of the peaceable kingdom, where the poor and the oppressed receive justice, is beautiful. Even for the prophet Isaiah, for the vision to come true, wickedness needs to be addressed. The actions that hurt and destroy animals and humans in God’s kingdom must end. Things have to change before the peace filled kingdom of God is fully realized.

John the Baptist gives us the fiery language about the difficult work of true personal and social change. Some cutting and clearing are needed. The prophet Isaiah holds a different vision before us. He tells us what is possible. Not just what is possible, but what is coming, what God desires and intends for the world. Even a brood of vipers is not beyond God’s saving grace.

1. This isn’t the place for a lengthy history lesson, but the United Monarchy ( Kings Saul, David, and Solomon) ended in about 922 BCE, and the kingdom split into Judah (Southern) Kingdom and Israel (Northern) Kingdom. In 721 BCE Israel fell to Assyria. Judah was under Assyrian control until 704 when it joined with Egypt and rebelled against Assyria. Assyria invaded Judah in 701. In 587 BCE Judah fell to Babylon. We don’t know with certainty whether these verses refer to the time of the Assyrian conquest or the time of the Babylonian conquest. Or perhaps there was an early version from the Assyrian time that was reworked during the Babylonian conquest. Either way, the Davidic monarchy had been cut off, and so we have the imagery of stumps and shoots. ↩︎
2. Matthew 11:1-19 ↩︎
3. The Kingdom of Heaven is another way of speaking about the Kingdom of God, as Heaven is understood to be where God resides and rules. ↩︎
4. Pharisees and Sadducees are not generally favorably portrayed in the gospels. Sometimes they are curious about Jesus and other times they oppose him. But like any other group they were not a monolith. I think we can assume some were interested in power and control But others were sincerely trying to be faithful believers. ↩︎
5. Matthew 24:43 ↩︎
6. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/us/politics/trump-somalia.html ↩︎
7. Matthew does not clean up John the Baptist’s rough edges and harsh judgment. Our personal response to John the Baptist’s statements could be a check on our own expectations about the Messiah. Are we expecting Jesus or someone with a winnowing forks, axe, and fire? ↩︎