Striking at the Root of Evil

Striking at the Root of Evil

Matthew 3:1-12

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”  (Henry David Thoreau)

            Choose any major problem:  systemic poverty, racism, sexism, ageism, immigration reform, education reform, inner city blight—any of these, or any other that I’ve overlooked.  Take a few minutes to consider how the problem you chose has been addressed during your lifetime.  You will find that the issue has been studied from every angle, analyzed down to the minutest detail.  Conferences have been held.  Congressional committees have met. Experts have been consulted.  Those on various sides of the issue have argued with each other.  Policy statements have been written.  Laws have been passed.  Everything possible that anyone could think of has been done.

            And the problem is still with us.

            In many cases, in spite of all the talking, all the attention, all the action, the problem has gotten worse, not better.  No solution has been found.  Families are still poor, generation after generation.  Racism, sexism, ageism still raise their ugly heads, condemning people to less-than-adequate jobs, salaries, and living conditions—not because of who they are but because of how they are labeled.  Many inner cities still look like war zones.  Our schools still fail to raise the educational level of too many of our children.  Our immigration system serves no one well.

            Thoreau wrote the words which begin this page well over a hundred years ago, and still we hack away, removing a branch here, a twig there, a leaf somewhere else, and no real progress is made towards solving the problems our society faces.

            John the Baptist understood.  He looked back over the history of God’s chosen people and saw the ground littered with leaves and twigs and branches, but his culture moved not one bit closer to solutions.  He wasn’t going to convene a committee, or propose a new law, or issue a policy statement.  He knew that until people repented—changed their direction, cleansed their hearts—nothing was going to change.

John wasn’t about to coddle the people who came to hear him preach. He had no kind words even for the religious leaders of the country.  He called them vipers, and told them they needed to repent as much as anyone else.  He understood it wasn’t enough to say you’re sorry for the wrong you’ve done.  He told them to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”  Give proof by your deeds that you have turned your life around.

            John warned, “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.  Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

            No more hacking away at branches.  It’s time to attack the root of the problem, the evil that poisons every person, and therefore every institution of every society.  John was there to prepare the way for the axe, the one coming after him who would provide the solution, the one who would separate the wheat from the chaff.

            It’s popular to say that Jesus is the solution to all problems, but the slogan, “Christ is the answer” seems too simplistic to provide meaningful help in solving the problems facing society.  I won’t trivialize these problems by suggesting a one-size-fits-all approach.  I do, however, suggest that if we love as God loves, love as Jesus showed us how to love—all people, all the time, in all situations—we might be able to stop our useless hacking away at branches and begin to address the roots.  It’s worth a try.