“You den of writhing snakes, who told you to come to church? Who told you to confess your sins? Who told you to come here and seek forgiveness?”
The disheveled man, wearing skins that only cover the…um…necessities, interrupts the pastor’s sermon and slowly moves up the aisle of the church, yelling as he goes.
“If you are forgiven,” he continues shouting, “then I better see some proof of it in what you do. If you are a precious tree planted by God, then I better see that you are handing out some sweet juicy fruit to those around you.
Stopping by the baptismal font, the man challenges those who are listening…and believe me…all are listening; “Don’t start to say to me, ‘Hold on sir, we are baptized, we are saved, we are God’s people.’
Enough! Hypocrites! If you presume to be a tree, drinking from these waters of life, then you better show it in what you do! God does not need to keep you around. God does so right now as a gift. But, make no mistake, God can baptize the stones of this church and make them God’s holy people if God so chooses. So, hear me clearly,” he shouts as if no one could hear his shouting in the small little box of a church, “An ax is ready to swing at your feet.”
And, with that, the man pulls out a full sized ax and raises it high. A woman gasps and grabs her child. You wonder, “The man’s wearing a loin cloth, where the heck did he pull that from?” The pastor thinks, “Man that was effective, I wish I had thought of whipping out an ax.” The pastor turns away to write a note for himself for future reference (“Bring ax, hide in pulpit”).
For a moment, as the pastor scribbles, there is a tense silence in the church. The man holds the ax high over one shoulder…ready to strike; the congregation stares awkwardly at him…refusing to move. The mother covers and protects her child. The usher contemplates reaching for his cell phone and calling the police. The Boy Scout ponders on how a well tied knot might help in this situation. The husband that was dragged along to church wonders what the score of the game is. But, the most sensible person in the place spoke up (the one who was actually listening to what the man was saying and taking it seriously because he had not yet learned to ignore whatever is said in church). He was a 13 year old boy.
He says, “Are you just going to stand there like a dork with an ax, or are you going to tell us what we need to do? What should we do?”
The congregation stares at the teen, and then stares at the disheveled, half clothed man who smiles and slowly lowers his ax. “Your fruits are ripe,” he says, continuing to smile at the boy. “Do you have more than one coat in your closet at home?”
“If you needed a coat sir, all you would have had to do was ask,” the teen replied.
“Shut up!” the man shouts. “Answer the question, do you have more than one coat?”
“Yes, of course” the teen replied.
“Good, then take your extra one of school, give it to the front desk and tell them to give it to someone who needs one this winter.”
“Really, that’s it? That warranted an ax?” the teen asked.
“The coat is still in your closet is it not? It’s serving no purpose right now is it not? It could be keeping someone who is struggling warm, could it not? You hadn’t thought to do it before now, correct?”
“Correct sir.”
“Then I guess you needed an ax,” the man replied.
Seeing how the teenager had not died when talking to the man, the local grocery store owner decided to give it a go. “Tell me then, what must I do?”
“Don’t charge more than what you and your employees need to live. You shouldn’t be getting rich by selling people what they need to survive.”
“Can’t I just give away a coat like the boy?” the man asks quietly.
The disheveled man raises the ax that yells at the top of his lungs, “Do both!”
“Ok, Ok, Ok, I got it, won’t try to get rich off of the poor,” the man said stepping back.
It was true, sometimes it does take an ax before people will even consider acting reasonably toward their neighbors. Why should that be the case?
It was at that moment that the police officer at the door asked “What should I be doing?”
The exasperated usher, who had placed the call without the crazy man knowing, thought to himself, “I know exactly what you should be doing right now!”
But, the police officer had not drawn his gun. He had been listening, and he honestly wanted to know.
“Don’t bribe anyone. Don’t threaten anyone who doesn’t deserve it. Just protect and serve. Just do your job and do it honestly. Do your job as if God cared what you were doing.”
Then the disheveled man with the ax faced the entire crowd and said, “Just go about your life and do your job as if God cares, because God does. God cares about everyone you run into. God cares about everyone you deal with. God cares. Jesus died for all of them also.
If any part of you at all doesn’t care, then let God cut that part off. Or, better yet, let Christ burn that part away like a refiner burns away the impurities or a farmer burns away the chaff. Or even better yet, if you are baptized, let Christ drown the part of you that doesn’t care.
Don't forget, you are a tree planted by God. You are a tree fed by the waters of forgiveness from Christ found in this font. Your fruit is good to eat...it is full of grace. Let others eat of your good fruit.”
And with that, he laid the ax at the base of the font and walked out of the door. The pastor got done scribbling his sermon idea and asked, “What did I miss?” When you have a chance, you tell him.
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