Year C Advent 3 (09)
December 13, 2009
Luke 3:7-18 and Isaiah 12:2-6
Patrick Preheim
Gentle Winnowin
I confess to a feeling of dread when I looked at the Advent
texts for today. John does not mince words with the tough message he has been
given for the crowds gathered that day. John’s style of preaching is not my
style. And, in fact, I have serious misgivings about preachers who regularly
harangue others. I further confess that I often find the editorials of Aiden
Enns in the Canadian Mennonite to be of this variety and I do not always make it
to the end of his sermons. He might be considered a modern day Baptist. I often
turn the page before finishing his article because it is too “preachy”. (I think
a preacher only calls something preachy if it isn’t his or her words, but I will
return to authentic preaching later). I suppose my distaste for this mode of
persuasion is rooted in my own story of conversion which is different from a
rapid response to fiery words. I agree with most of what Aiden says and I agree
with the intention of the Baptist in his Luke 3 sermon; I agree with them even
though I find their tone hard to take. God wants a loving, healing, purpose
filled relationship with us. This life finds its fullest expression in Christ.
The Baptist, Aiden Enns, and I do not want people to miss the coming of Christ.
This morning I will share with you what I hear the Baptist’s cry to be and pick
apart the style of motivation he uses. I will also try to draw some examples how
we might join the Baptist in his message if not always in his style. You see, in
addition to being the crowds which hear the words of John, we are all modern day
Baptists invited to prepare the way of the Lord.
I believe John the Baptist of Luke’s gospel has two intentions in his harsh
warning: to invite people into a life giving relationship with God and to
clarify that God wants a relationship with “the nations” and “all the earth” as
Isaiah 12 puts it. Some in the crowd gathered that day believed that they could
continue on in a relatively empty spiritual life because of their genetics. They
were God’s chosen people. Their ancestry, they believed, would carry the day.
John addressed these people in verse eight. Others in the crowd were so
disconnected from their spiritual base that they felt that they could continue
with very selfish actions. John gets at this in verse nine. (see Robert
Tannehill in his Abingdon New Testament Commentary on Luke, pp. 80-81). John
motivated the crowds toward spiritual rediscovery by calling them vipers,
reminding them of God’s wrath, and threatening them with unquenchable fire. Our
Luke passage concludes: “with many other exhortations [John] proclaimed the good
news to the people”, and I find myself thinking that if this is the good news
let me hear the bad news—it might be a better option. While the Baptist has
preached in a style that is hard for me to hear, there are several important
points to make about his message and the tone in which he gave it.
First, some people need to hear the “unvarnished truth” (used by a Susan Howitch character) stated as starkly as our friend the Baptist has put it. Some people need to hear it plainly put-- your life is in danger if you keep acting this way; or you are twisting up the good purpose and meaning God has for your life if continue on this path; or you will seriously harm your marriage and family if you continue like this; or you need to let this frustration go because it is killing you. I am not an advocate of military solutions to world problems, but I also know that the uncompromising chain of command has preserved and righted the life of more than one young person. The military imposes harsh consequences for those who do not obey the rules, and some people require an unyielding structure in which to learn. We, in this Mennonite Church, do not use a stick to bring people into line. The pastor is not a general whose word is obeyed. We hope that naming the truth in a respectful and caring way will allow a person to choose life. This kind of intervention is an art. It must be done in a spirit of complete love or not done at all. It is a matter of debate if John the Baptist has mastered the art of respectful truth telling, but he certainly is worked up. It is a serious situation when Jews of the 1st century, Lutherans, and (oh yes) Mennonites focus more on ethnicity than the spiritual gifts which have enabled them to become a people. Vipers and axes reflect the urgency of John’s message, but not all of the language John uses is as harsh as it first appears. John does have softer side.
This second observation about the text is implicit through a couple of things that John the Baptist says. The Baptist talked about the wrath of God, and this is a wrath understood differently than how we understand wrath. I suggest that God’s wrath is more of a giving up, a letting go. I do not think the meaning of God’s wrath in Luke’s gospel can be separated from its usage in Paul’s letter to the Romans, which was in circulation as Luke was compiling his gospel (Paul wrote Romans mid-late 50s and Luke authored in the last third of the century—notes in the Oxford Annotated Bible). In Romans the wrath of God is connected to God “giving” (paradoken) people up to their sinful inclinations (Romans 1:18 connected to 1:24 through a dia “therefore” clause). God lets people go. The wrath of God is more the frustration of God which says, “fine, go empty your life of meaning. I don’t support you but I won’t stop you”. A second linguistic softening comes in verse 17 when John spoke of the winnowing fork. “The winnowing fork was a forklike shovel used by farmers to throw the beaten grain into the air so that the wind could blow the husks away from the grain. The Messiah, according to John, will preserve what is valuable and destroy what is worthless, just as a farmer does” (Tannehill, 82). And Biblical commentator Robert Tannehill adds this reflection: “This may apply to good and bad individuals or to good and bad aspects of each individual” (ibid). We are all a mixture of chaff and the good stuff, so I like the second interpretation Tannehill gives. Christ will remove the chaff of our lives and make us a better quality of grain. That is, if we allow the Messiah (the Christ) to be our grain handler. Removal of the chaff will make for a finer bread to offer the world. This fits with the spirit of a refiner’s fire which does not consume all the metal, just the impure parts. It is not that we are good people or bad people-- we are all good seed which benefits from a winnowing process to eliminate the chaff. It is a gentle winnowing, I believe, which John alludes to.
The softer edge to this aspect of the Baptist’s message also
fits with the whole concept of the incarnation. If we understand John’s message
through the life of Jesus Christ we have no choice but to see the call for
repentance surrounded by gentleness, companionship and forgiveness. For goodness
sake, Jesus comes to us in the form of a baby (not exactly a warrior springing
from the Godhead like Athena Nike). Jesus patiently continues with obtuse
disciples and antagonistic religious leaders. And in the end Jesus lets people
go their own way down from Calvary. The cross is the wrath of God which allows
people to make bad mistakes and then welcome them home. This is the gentle
winnowing to which Robert Tannehill made reference. John’s words cannot be
separated from the life, death, and resurrection of the Christ.
Where does the Baptist’s message leave us? Well, it would be remarkable if we
didn’t have something personal to which we could point that needed righting.
Perhaps it is a bad habit, or rebelliousness, or a grudge, or a quiet-ism to
some injustice. We need to take the Baptist’s words to heart, reflect on who we
are, and re-commit our lives to the way of Christ; or commit them to Christ in
the first place. The Baptist’s message, however, is not only one of personal
renewal. He spoke to a whole community encouraging them to engage their society.
The Jews had a mandate to spread the way of the Lord to the nations, to all the earth as Isaiah 12 put it. They had good news but were not sharing it. The people resisted their calling and it separated them from the mission of God. I have been very much impressed with the people of this congregation and the Mennonites in Saskatchewan. The people here are leaders in business, engineering, education, farming, health, and social services. They have become leaders on account of their integrity, hard work, ability to listen, and willingness to disagree in love. Our business and personal successes mean nothing, however, apart from the missionary mandate to share the spiritual source of our strength. Like the Hebrews of Isaiah and the John’s time we have a religious obligation to give the story of God with us (Emmanuel) to others. Think about it. If God was willing to allow the Jewish people, his chosen people, to opt out of Christ’s way would not God also allow us or the entire Christian Church to opt out? Mennonites and the church are not guaranteed to continue forever. If we are unwilling to proclaim peace in the public square or invest ourselves in a spirituality that brings inner peace, God simply will find someone else to do these necessary tasks. This does not mean God loves us any less. It only means that God has serious tasks to do and can only work with uncooperative stewards so long. God is willing to move on, but does so with a heavy heart. So, we have a responsibility to be preachy.
While parts of this sermon may have smacked of John the
Baptist I can not see myself threatening the unquenchable fire or calling people
“snakes” in an effort to motivate them. I will not be an Aiden Enns who cuts
down Mennonite institutions at every corner (see editorial Nov 28, 09 editorial
in Canadian Mennonite). I will preach, and I will preach in my way. I think I
choose encouragement as my primary form of motivation. I affirm the ministry God
has done through us, and invite us all to trust and live more deeply in that
mystery we call God. I would hope that it is received as a gentle winnowing. In
extreme circumstances I may intervene with the “unvarnished truth”, and I hope
to do this steeped in a spirit of love. Now each person here also needs to learn
how to preach. Preach in your own name and in your own way. We don’t need
another John the Baptist, or another Aiden Enns, or God help us all another
Patrick Preheim. What we need are as many people as possible proclaiming through
word and deed that our Lord is coming, that this Christ is so glorious that we
are not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals, that he will baptize with
power from above, that in him all flesh will see the glory of God. In this
season of Advent we are invited to renew our commitments to follow the Christ
child. We are also invited to proclaim his coming. As we preach in word and deed
we, like John the Baptist before us, prepare the way of Lord. Come, Lord Jesus,
come. Amen.