Luke 3:17 “His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his thrashing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
I used to work with the mentally ill. They would sometimes say things that were not grounded in reality. I enjoyed by job as a Chaplain with these folks. Everyday was different, and everyday there were new opportunities to show the love of Christ to people who had too often been rejected. You never knew what would happen when you showed up for work.
There are even political leaders who are unpredictable in what they say. Their bloopers reel is full. And for some, they flip flop so much that it is hard to keep track of where they stand. Mexican jumping beans come to my mind!
But I have been known to say some things that seem out of place, not connected to the current situation. Sometimes my mind is somewhere else, or my brain is making a weird connection, and my mouth doesn’t know enough to not speak what I am thinking. Just ask my wife!
Our text contains the world of John the Baptist as recorded by the researcher Luke. Luke carefully investigated the accounts that were available in his day, and complied an orderly account of Jesus life and ministry. John the Baptist forms part of that account.
John was a fiery prophet in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets. People had certain expectations about his life and ministry based on his lifestyle and his preaching. He lived like the prophets of old, especially like Elijah.
No one was safe from his jabs. He told it like he saw it. He called everyone to get right with the Holy God. He called out sin when he saw it, and helped people see what holiness looked like in practical everyday life.
And when he spoke about Jesus and His ministry, he saw the full ministry of the Messiah, both in the present moment and in the distant future. But for him, the future was present. He couldn’t distinguish between the present moment and the distant future when it came to Jesus. They were all compressed in his view.
So as he speaks about Jesus, he uses the language of the Prophets to paint his picture of Jesus. Jesus would be someone who would bring judgment. Using the language of harvest, grain would be separated from the waste. Jesus would separate the fruit of people’s lives from their sin. He would clean house.
This of course happened during Jesus’ life and ministry. He did call out sin when He saw it, especially in those who were in leadership roles in Israel. He never shied away from speaking the Truth. And speaking the Truth separated people’s sin from the veils they used in attempts to hide it from others and from themselves.
And people were separated into two different groups by Jesus, those who believed and those who didn’t. And those who didn’t believe were sternly warned about their futures. Those who believed were welcomed as blessed members of a new family.
The Arnold Journey 