This sermon is based on a reading from Luke’s Gospel describing the ministry of John the Baptist. It’s all about getting ready to welcome Jesus into our lives.
Luke 3.7-18
7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and 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. 9 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.”
10 And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?”11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”14 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.”
15 As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,[a] 16 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 strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with[b] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 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.”
18 So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people
Today we remember John the Baptist. The slightly older cousin of Jesus, who, like Jesus, had his birth predicted by the archangel Gabriel and his name given to him before he was even conceived.
It would be fair to say that John has a rather fearsome reputation- an austere man who dressed in camel’s hair and ate locusts, living in the desert and shouting at people about vipers and divine judgement.
But I wonder whether we have done John- and ourselves- a disservice, characterising him as angry and judgemental rather than as hopeful and passionate.
We hear the gospel passage set for today, and there are lots of potentially scary words and phrases here:
broods of vipers, wrath, repentance, unproductive trees being axed at the root, chaff being burned with unquenchable fire.
Yet, we also read this: with many other exhortations John proclaimed the good news to the people. And we also read that he gave specific help and guidance to everyone who asked for it- share your clothes, share your food, stop practising extortion, stop threatening people, practise contentment with what you have. And people flocked to him from all over the region. His teaching was so compelling that many believed he himself might be God’s saviour. People were attracted- not repelled by his teaching- they wanted to hear what he had to say.
We might read John’s words today and feel that they paint a pretty awful picture- who wants to be burned with unquenchable fire, after all? But I want to suggest that the picture he paints of God’s coming kingdom is not awful, but rather that it is awesome, transformative, purifying and full of hope.
One of the things that makes me say this is the idea of the threshing of wheat- and the chaff being burned. A head of wheat, on its way to the threshing floor, is neither good nor bad- it comprises both the kernels of goodness and the chaff which becomes waste. Every head of wheat needs to be “sorted”, if you will, into it useful parts and the parts which we are better off without.
The chaff is burned off, but from every ear of wheat, the kernel of grain is kept.
So- when I think about the wheat and the chaff, I find it difficult to believe that John is talking about whole groups of people as chaff. We know that each of us is made in God’s image. We know that Jesus came not to judge us but to save us. We know that he came to free us from our failings. We know that he gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to remake our hearts and transform our lives.
I think John is talking about the chaff in each one of us being winnowed off, leaving the pure heart, the true self at the heart of each one of us, finally free of all the false selves with which we have become encumbered. Like taking the shell off a nut, or the peel off an orange.
If we look back to last week’s reading from the prophet Malachi, we see a similar metaphor- of gold and silver being refined in the fire- not discarded, but rather purified.
So I think John is talking about the transformative power of God’s love, not about a mass burning of evildoers in a fiery pit.
When John talks about Jesus baptising us with the Holy Spirit and fire, can we just try to imagine that- to be baptised- soaked, immersed, in the Holy Spirit- the spirit of love, truth and purity. Who wouldn’t want to be baptised in that way? To be purified by a holy fire, refined so that we become, truly, the people we are called to become? William Booth, the founder of the salvation army, famously wrote in one of his hymns “Send the fire today. To burn up every trace of sin, to bring the light and glory in. The revolution now begin! Send the Fire today!”
The phrase, “a baptism of fire” is often used to describe an experience in which we learn something the hard way, but nonetheless we learn it.
Now, it’s true that these metaphors of threshing, refinement, fire, can sound very dramatic, and very uncomfortable, but isn’t this refinement also what we all desire, in the depth of our hearts?
John IS saying everything is going to change, everything is going to be transformed- but look at what he is saying must be driven out:
The selfishness of hanging on to more than you need while others go hungry
The corruption of extortion from people over whom you have been given power
The violence of a system of occupation in which there was no accountability
The covetousness and discontent of always wanting more than you have.
Wouldn’t the world be an infinitely better place if each of us was transformed by baptism, by immersion in a holy spirit of love and truth, so that all those things could be done away with?
If you were to ask 100 people what’s wrong with the world, whether they are Christians, Muslims, humanists or atheists, ecologists or sociologists or journalists, I don’t suppose a single one of them would say- oh there’s nothing wrong really- we should probably leave things exactly as they are. It’s a pretty universal view that selfishness, violence and greed have stained human society from its inception.
And Jesus- the person who upends that- is going to need to bring a change that is truly revolutionary. It must be dramatic, it must be root and branch, it must sweep before it all sorts of our cherished habits, ideas and structures.
If we look at events in Syria over the past week, you see this really dramatic set of events which is driven by a passionate desire for life to be better for everyone, and particularly for people to be free to express their views and come out from under the boot of a truly oppressive regime. We don’t know what the short or medium term outcomes will be, or who will replace Assad, but the changes in Syria are dramatic- armies sweeping across the country in a matter of days, those whose might seemed unassailable last week on the run this week. It’s a circular sort of argument if you like, but if you want awesome and dramatic change, you have to accept that there will be awesome and dramatic change- not just around us but within us.
In order for things to become different, we have to make and accept significant change- deep spiritual, inner change for ourselves as individuals. A revolution in every heart. And the good news- which John proclaims using these dramatic images of cleansing, cutting, burning- is that Jesus has the power and authority to fundamentally reset the human heart: if we are willing to be remade by love, accepting the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, allowing our selfishness, competitiveness, anxiety and insecurity to be burned away.
That is awesome news. It’s no wonder that people wanted to hear it, that even the tax collectors and soldiers wanted to know- how can we be part of this? How can we step into this new way of being?
People then, as now, were sick at heart as they saw the same old patterns of fear and untruth grasping the reins of their lives.
John is in awe of the power of this messiah- who will burst into the world with such love, purity, power and truth, that everything will be changed forever. That’s what we as Christians proclaim and trust in- the coming of a saviour who can break the chains, and heal the broken.
During this advent season of preparation, the call for us then, is to invite that change in our own hearts, so that we can be those whose lives show the marks of our saviour- the marks of love, truth, peace, courage, joy and generosity.
If we feel flat, broken or stuck, after another year of business as usual, in the darkness and coldness of winter, John proclaims the brightness of flame, the promise of change, and invites us to review and renew our way of life.
Can we be more generous to those in need? Do we have spare coats we can give away? Do we have influence that we can use to lift others up rather than keep them under? Are we benefitting at the expense of others from social structures which we could actively challenge or even begin to dismantle?
All these changes take energy- and love. And that dynamic energy and love we find in the gift of the holy spirit, the refining fire, with which Jesus himself comes.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus we thank you for your cousin and servant John, who brings us the good news of your coming. Help us to be unafraid of the changes your presence brings, embracing your Kingdom with joy. We invite your Holy spirit to fill our hearts now, burning away all that is not of you, leaving only love and truth. We invite your holy Spirit now to be good news in our lives and the lives of those around us. May we prepare the way for you, return our hearts to you and dedicate ourselves to you. Today and every day.
Amen
Revd Kalantha
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