January 12, 2025
John the Baptist apparently made quite a splash, no pun intended… well, maybe. Over the last few weeks we have spoken about the huge crowds that had come to hear him speak and to be baptized by him. Back in September one of our readings from Mark told us that “All the land of Judea and all that were in Jerusalem were baptized by him”. Yes, John made quite a big splash indeed, and not without good reason.
A nation, under oppressive Roman rule, longing for their promised redemption, probably found great hope in the fact that the prophetic voice of God, silent for the last four centuries, was once again speaking among them. The excitement must have been tremendous. John was giving them hope, and I am sure that a big part of his popularity revolved around the idea that people were believing that the redemption of Israel was finally at hand. John was forceful, he was bold in his preaching and peculiar in his lifestyle and mannerisms. If someone was going to be a prophet, John probably fit the bill better than anyone that the first century Palestinians had ever seen. And so, the question that was on all of their minds was “Could this be the Messiah?”
We don’t know if someone asked John that question directly or if the Spirit simply told him what to say, but John wanted to make it abundantly clear that he was not the Messiah. According to Jewish law, a disciple, a student of a teacher, was required to do anything for their master that a slave could be required to do, with one exception. To remove the sandals of your master was considered to be a task too lowly to be performed, even by a Jewish slave… or a student. This was a task that was reserved for the Gentile slaves. And yet, John makes it clear to his listeners that he is unworthy to perform even this lowliest of tasks for the One who is to follow.
John further explains that his baptism with water is a symbolic one, a public statement of one’s intent to turn from their worldly ways and incline their hearts towards God’s righteousness. But… John says, the baptism of the One who follows will be a baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire.
John then continues to describe Jesus with an apocalyptic statement about winnowing forks and chaff and fire. The image of the winnowing fork is something with which his audience would have been quite familiar, but for us… not so much. When grain was harvested in the first century the harvesters used sickles to cut down the entire stalk. The stalks were laid out on a hardened “threshing floor” where animals were brought in to pull rollers over the grain, which separated the grain from the stalks and chaff. Then, a winnowing fork, something that resembled a pitchfork, was used to pick the stalks up and toss them up into the air. The heavier grain would fall back down to the threshing floor, but the much lighter chaff would be carried away with the breeze. The grain was then collected and stored or sold while the chaff would be gathered up to be used as fuel for the fire.
And it’s here where John’s language about “burning the chaff with unquenchable fire” starts to maybe sound a little out of place because it doesn’t seem to match our experience with the loving and gracious Jesus that we encounter a little later in the Gospels. But we need to realize that, while Jesus sought to be a gentle persuader of willing hearts, Jesus did indeed come to separate the wheat from the chaff. Richard Niell Donovan tells us that, “The separation of wheat from chaff serves as a metaphor for Jesus separating the redeemed from the unredeemed and gathering the redeemed into their heavenly home. The ‘unquenchable fire’ serves as a metaphor for the eternal punishment of those who are not redeemed, and thus speaks of the eternal consequences of our choices.” [1]
And now for the second Sunday in a row I’m starting to sound like that fire and brimstone guy again, so I really do need to explain.
Each and every person has the full and completely unrestrained choice to decide for themselves what their relationship with God will be. Whether they choose to examine the claims of the Bible or not… up to them. Whether they choose to discover the depth of God’s love for them or not… up to them. Whether they choose to respond positively to God’s love, or ignore God’s love, or outright reject God’s love… up to them. But in the exercising of these choices, we need to understand that we are also responsible for all of the repercussions of those choices. And we need to understand the fact that at some point in time these choices will become permanent. It is not a pleasant thought, but Leon Morris tells us that, “Unless we can be sure that, in the end, evil will be decisively overthrown there is no ultimate Good News.” [2]
Now, please understand this: It is absolutely not God’s will that anyone should be lost. We read in 2nd Peter 3:9 that “God is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” But… God will not force us, and He will not coerce us. The choice is entirely and completely ours. But here is where the second half of John’s description comes into play, because Jesus is not just baptizing with fire, He is also baptizing with the Holy Spirit. And this is really the essence of what we Christians love to call the Good News. Because all of our fears, all of our worries, all of our concerns about our status before an eternal God are wiped away when we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Without entering into a discussion today about the merits of the various methods of baptizing, the Jewish understanding was that baptism was all about the emerging from water, having been fully immersed. This was done as a sign of new life, dying to the old, and being reborn into the new. And so, as we are baptized with the Holy Spirt, we are entirely immersed in the Spirit. We emerge from our baptism with the Spirit, – as new creatures, and the Spirit becomes a permanent part of who we are.
And now we reach the point in our story where Jesus is finally baptized, Jesus comes up out of the water and He says a prayer. And as He is praying, Luke tells us that heaven was opened and that the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
But here, troublemaker that I am, I need to stop and ask, what exactly is it about which God was well pleased? I mean, to this point in the story, Jesus has been born, received some gifts from some wise men, stayed behind at the temple in Jerusalem, causing some consternation for His parents, and just got baptized. That’s really not much of a resume so far, so why is God so pleased? God is pleased not because of what Jesus has done, but because of who Jesus is. Does this sound familiar? David E. Garland tells us that, “The effects of the Spirit in the life of Jesus are evident in what follows: the power to resist the wiles of Satan, the power to recall and apply scripture, the power to see God’s plan and purposes and to proclaim the Word boldly, the power to withstand hostility, and the power to minister to and heal the oppressed. The Spirit in the lives of believers can do the same things.” [3]
The thing about which God was well pleased, was the fact of Jesus’ complete and total obedience to the will of God, through the leading of the Holy Spirit. And there is a lesson to be learned for us here too.
God chooses to love us for who we are. But God will not allow us to remain the same. As He fills us with His Spirit, our values and our goals and our desires become rearranged. Bit by bit, we leave worldly wisdom behind, and we begin to view our lives from a kingdom perspective. We become obedient to the will of God, not because we make a choice to behave in a certain way, but because it is simply our new nature to do so. Jesus did what He did because He and the Father had the same mind and the same goal. Through the Holy Spirit, believers are able to have the same mind and the same goal as God also. Let’s stop and think about this for just a moment. The Holy Spirt who is fully and completely God, dwells within each of us. And the only limitations to the Spirit’s ability to transform us into Christ-likeness are the limitations that we impose ourselves.
My dear friends, we have been called to a heavenly task. As believers, we are not content to sit idly by as those we love (and just a gentle reminder, those we love includes everyone!), we are not content to sit idly by while others make choices that result in their separation from God instead of their reconciliation with God. Remember, this is the real and living God actually dwelling within us, and it is He who directs us towards compassion and empathy. It is He who leads us to share His remarkable, extravagant, all-encompassing love with others. It is He who calls us to be gracious and forgiving. And when needed, it is He who gives us the words to say that help others to find ultimate truth in the person of Jesus Christ.
Now, before we all get all nervous. Let me make something clear. I’m not advocating knocking on doors, or handing out tracts, or accosting strangers at the Shop-Rite. Not that there may not be some who God calls to these ministries, but for the most part, we need to understand that sharing God’s love works best one heart at a time. And that when we are faithful, God will put people in our path and call us to be a friend to them. And that friendship may manifest itself in a variety of different ways, depending on needs and on available resources. Maybe it’s a little financial help when really needed, or perhaps an offer to babysit, or to make a grocery run. Maybe it’s no more than lending a sympathetic ear or maybe just sitting and being good company. How do we know what to do? We probably don’t, but the Spirit will tell us.
And as we are being faithful to love these folks who God has put in our path; it is critical to remember that our job is just to plant the seed. It is God who brings the increase. You’ve heard me say before that the person who is most responsible for me being a Christian has no idea that his words and actions led me to Christ. But this friend of mine, this person in whose path God put ME, was happy simply to be the one planting the seeds. He didn’t need the confirmation of my conversion. He didn’t need an ego boost from tallying another soul. He didn’t need these things because what he did, he did in love.
When all is said and done, the most powerful force in the universe is love. If I… if we, each in our own little corner of the world, are able to love others with a love that resembles the love with which God loves us, then we will find ourselves being seed planters also. And there is nothing in this life that is more important
[1] Richard Niell Donovan, SermonWriter.com, Biblical Commentary on Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
[2] Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Luke Revised Edition, Pg. 108
[3] David E. Garland, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Luke, Pg. 172
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