Sermon by Rev. Russell Daye

We are the Chaff

Zephaniah 3:14-20; Luke 3:7-18
St. Andrew's United Church, Halifax
Advent 3, Closing of the Jubilee

From Zephaniah: On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love.

What is 'that day?' That day is 'The Day of the Lord.' That day is the day the crushing boot of Babylon is lifted from Israel. That day is the day that Jerusalem is rebuilt and becomes a beacon to the world. That day is the Jubilee, not the every-fifty-years Jubilee, not the St. Andrew's Jubilee 2006 (as fine as it has been), not a silver or a gold or a platinum Jubilee, but the Jubilee: the day of the coming of the Messiah. That day, for Christians, is the day of the return of the Messiah: the coming-again of Christ, this time in global fulfillment.

Oh Glory! Oh, Hallelujah! Oh, Joy! But not for everyone. 'One is coming who will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire,' says John the Baptist. What good news! But not for everyone.

John preached and the people were filled with expectation. They wondered if John the Baptist might be the Messiah. John replies: I am not, but I know of the Messiah, and this is what he will be like: he will baptise with fire; he will separate the wheat from the chaff, and the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire! This is good news! But not for everyone.

What kind of baptism is this? It doesn't sound like a sprinkling. It doesn't even sound like a full immersion - in water. It is a full immersion in flames - a holocaust. To understand John's baptism, and by implication that of the Messiah, you have to know that this was not an individual event. Today's baptism of Sadie - while corporate in the sense that she joins the Body of Christ manifest in this community of faith - is the baptism of an individual. We baptise one person. John didn't do that.

John took whole communities of people across the Jordan River. There he taught them: repent! Which meant, literally, make a 180 degree turn in the way you live. John took them back into the river. He held them under water until the breath had left them. Visually they disappeared. They were gone. John brought them back up again. They gasped new life into their bodies. John sent them back into Judah to confront the powers, back into society to make Israel more just.

John's was a baptism of water, a baptism of choice. Not so for the one he prophesied to come. On that day the Messiah will separate the chaff from the wheat. On that day the Messiah will separate those who have repented from those who took more than their fair share, from those who exploited, from those who hoarded their wealth. On that day the Messiah will burn off the chaff. A baptism of fire.

Jerusalem had seen baptisms of fire before. In 586 BCE, after holding the city in siege for a year and a half, king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon pierced its walls, seized Zedekiah the king of Judah, murdered his sons in front of him, put his eyes out, and then burned the city, and sent all surviving inhabitants into exile. (The Zephaniah passage we are using today was likely written as an articulation of hope in the wake of this national disaster).

The baptism of fire that John prophesied would be both the same and different. It would be the same in that there would be a great upheaval with both victory and destruction, both winners and losers. But this time it would not be the powerful who would win, but the just. It would not be the mighty who would win, but the righteous.

Hearing John's preaching, believing John's preaching the people called to him: 'What then should we do?' John's replies were simple: 'Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none'; 'whoever has food must do likewise.' Tax collectors must 'collect no more than the amount prescribed.' Soldiers must 'not extort money from anyone' but be satisfied with their wages. Those who repented were wheat, the bread of life. Those who stopped their ears were chaff, to be burned away.

Sisters and brothers, we are the chaff. In this era of globalisation we in the first world are the chaff. It doesn't matter if you are a good person. It doesn't matter how good your set of personal ethics are. Remember, the baptism of fire is not individual. We have been given a few simple rules to guide our lives, and we in the wealthy west do not obey them.

'Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none.' Whoever has surplus dollars must share with anyone who has none. Whoever has effective medicines must share with those who have none. Whoever has good education must share with those who have none. We in the west make many promises in this regard. If we just lived up to our promises … but we do not. We have promised billions for AIDS relief in Africa, but we have not given it. We have promised billions for reconstruction in Afghanistan, but we have not given it. We have promised massive debt relief, but we have not given it. Preaching to today's global village John would address western society: 'You brood of vipers, you are the chaff.'

'Collect no more than the amount prescribed.' Use no more than your share of he world's resources. Produce no more than your share of the world's garbage. In North America we have 5% of the world's population but we produce a quarter of its greenhouse gasses. We consume its riches and resources at an equally distorted rate.

Let me speak simply and theologically for a minute. I do not believe in a god who micromanages history. That God would be charged with war crimes. I do not believe in a god who exercises controlling power over the events of our lives. That god's mercy and justice are too fickle. I do believe in a day when peace and justice will be fulfilled. The Day of the Lord. The day of the Messiah. The day of the return of Christ in global fulfillment. The Omega Point. The ultimate Jubilee. I do believe that God pulls us toward that day and pulls that day toward us. I do believe that there is a divine Force working in history.

As that Force pulls, as we resist, history heats up in atmospheric tension preparing a baptism of fire. As God pulls us toward that day, as we run in the opposite direction a baptism of fire is prepared. Some will repent and run toward that day. Some will refuse and will run away from it. Right now we as a civilisation run away from it. When our leaders say our economy cannot bear commitment to Kyoto and we do not throw the bums out, we run away from it. When we do not hold our leaders to their promises of aid, we run away from it. While we still drive our gas guzzlers (mine's a Mazda MPV) we run away from it.

We are the chaff, and the Divine Force in history that pulls the world toward that day will have to burn us off before it can get there. John still preaches: repent! The full thrust of the Gospel we come here to live preaches to us: repent! The voices of the AIDS sufferers cry to us: repent! The very atmosphere cries to us: repent! Turn 180 degrees and run toward that day.

When we have all turned around and are running toward that day, then we will hear the words: 'Do not fear; do not let your hands grow weak. The your God, is in your midst. She will rejoice over you with gladness, she will renew you in her love.'