Gospel: The holy gospel according to Luke, the third chapter.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Narrator: The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
ISAIAH: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin 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; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
So, with many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
“When the Dead Sea scrolls came to the Science Museum in St. Paul a few years ago, my family and I bought tickets for the exhibit. But when we got there, we didn’t get to see the scrolls right away. Instead, we had to wind our way through the exhibit, learning some of the history, how they were found and the elaborate scientific process by which they were put back together into a readable format. I learned a lot about them. But it took a long time. So I was excited when, finally, I was able to enter the special room that held the fragments of the scrolls. Fragments is an understatement. The pieces were tiny! To see them, we had to look through a special microscope.
Those who put on the exhibit knew that If I had just gone to see the scrolls – without the preparation of the earlier part of the exhibit, I might have left thinking, “Is that all the bigger that they are? Is this it? What a waste of time!” But instead, I left thinking, “Wow! This is amazing!” Clearly, the preparation was important.
Speaking of preparation…in case you haven’t noticed… Christmas is coming! So how do you prepare? If you are like me… and many families, you may set up a tree, get out the decorations and maybe even do a little Christmas baking or send some Christmas cards while listening to Christmas music. But our houses are only one of the things that needs to be prepared.
Isaiah declared, “Prepare the way of the Lord. And that is what John came to do. John is an Old Testament style prophet who speaks the truth, tells people what behavior they need to change and prophesizes the coming of Christ using fiery images. Although it sounds kind of harsh, John’s message prepared the people of his day for Jesus. And John has a message for us too. We too need to prepare our hearts and our lives for Christ to dwell with us even more than we need to prepare our houses.
In those days, John called people to repent of the ways in which they neglected God and chose their own way. Convicted – or maybe afraid - they asked, “what can we do?” John gave them concrete, ordinary and simple examples of how they could live better – live in God’s way. He told them: Be generous - share your extra coat with someone who is cold or a meal with someone who is hungry. Be honest -- charge only a fair amount. Be kind - do not bully, oppress or exhort. In short, John tells them that they could live better lives, lives that reflect God’s way of loving their neighbor instead of thinking and living only for themselves.
What would John say to us if we asked, “what should we do?”
His message probably would not be all that different from what he told the people on the riverbank. Share what you have. Be honest. Be kind not only to your family and those who think like you, look like you and are in your group but also to the neighbor, the coworker or classmate and any person you meet on the street.
We would do well to listen to John. After all, your words and actions make a difference. Oh, it may not feel like what you do makes a difference to the global economy or the political state of the country, but I know that even something as simple as a phone call or a card can make a huge difference in the life of the person who receives it and the one who gives it. For example, my cousin Rhonda loves to bake. I love her baking – but I can only eat so much of it before I begin to change dress sizes. So when I discovered that my neighbor’s Dave’s wife just went into a care center, I brought over some of Rhonda’s baking. Dave was beyond happy. It made a difference to him that I stopped by. It made a difference to Rhonda that her baking was well received. I was just the carrier of delicious baked goods. But it made a difference to both the giver and the receiver. John was wise, sharing what we have, being honest and kind helps us to live our best lives.
It seemed that John had an answer for everyone who asked, “what can we do?” If he was around today, he could have written a best seller or shared a podcast on social media of how you too could live into your best life.
But John is more than someone who gives advice. He is also a prophet. And as a prophet, he has some fiery words. When asked about the Messiah, John says, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Yikes. That sounds scary. But then Luke writes, “So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.” Good News? Burning the chaff with unquenchable fire does not sound like good news. Unless… you know what chaff is.
This passage is too often interpreted as a separation of the good people who are the wheat from the bad people who are the chaff. But chaff and the grain are not like wheat and weeds which are two different things. They are a part of the same seed.
Chaff is the inedible hull or shell that surrounds the grain. And just as you remove the husks before eating corn on the cob, grain is surrounded by chaff which has to be removed from the grain before it can be eaten.
This is done by a process called “threshing.” I remember when I was young and lived on a farm, my dad and the neighbors formed a threshing crew every year to harvest the grain. The threshing machine cut the stalks of the grain, the grain was sorted out and the chaff – which is really light -- blew out of a smoke stack.
In Biblical days, this was done by hand. The grain was threshed – which separated the grain from the chaff pod - and then both were lifted into the air where the wind blew away the chaff - and the grain remained.
The word for wind – in Greek, the language of the New Testament - is the same as the word for “Spirit.” So the question becomes – not who would be judged as wheat and who would be considered chaff but rather what “chaff,” what “stuff,” would the Holy Spirit blow away?
As we prepare our hearts and our lives for Christmas, let us pray that the Holy Spirit –like the wind - would blow away everything -all the chaff – that gets in the way of us being the best people that we can be. And then, freed from everything that keeps me and you – us -- from being the people that God made us to be, we can rejoice.
As Paul wrote to the Philippians - from a prison cell – “Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS, Again, I say, “Rejoice.” For Paul knew, that despite all of the problems around us, and despite the challenges that we may face, Christ has come – and this means that we can celebrate; we have reason to rejoice!
Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, let us rejoice in the midst of our preparations for Christ’s coming again. Let us rejoice as we seek to live into the lives that God would have us live. And let us pray that the Holy Spirit will set us free from all the chaff in our lives and everything that keeps us from being who God made us to be. Rejoice. For Christ has come, is coming and is here with us today. Amen.