The Wrath to Come
Luke 3.7-18
The wrath to come, who warned you to flee the wrath to come? demands John the Baptist. There is fire in his eye, his voice.
Indeed, the wrath to come, he tells of one who is coming, one more powerful than he is coming. His winnowing fork is in his hand.
His winnowing fork, a kind of rake used to toss what has been harvested upward into the wind, the wind catching the chaff in its draft while the grain, the heavier grain, falls to the threshing floor.
With fire in eye and voice, John the Baptist demands to know, Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?
He tells of one coming more powerful, the thong of whose sandals he is unworthy to untie. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
With fire, the harvest thrown upwards into the wind. And fire—unquenchable fire—a swirling, spiraling inferno. The dry chaff snaps and flashes, is incinerated in the updraft, hot, and the grain, the wheat, falling to the threshing floor, is gathered into the granary.
This wrath to come, what are we going to do? This powerful one coming, what are we going to do?
Interesting. It is interesting that they should come to him, to John the Baptist. Soldiers, soldiers in the imperial army of Rome occupying that land. Soldiers in Caesar’s powerful army, quaking in their armor, ask, What should we do?
And it is interesting what John the Baptist says to them, these soldiers. And what he does not, what he does not say.
John says to them, Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.
And it was what these soldiers would do. They would supplement their incomes with the points of their swords, the people living under their thumb and under this constant threat.
And certainly it would be good if they stopped doing this to people. It would be even better if they took off their armor and laid down their swords altogether, but John does not, he does not tell them to do that.
And interesting. It is interesting that these, too, would come to him, to John the Baptist. Tax collectors, collectors of the taxes imposed by Rome on the people of that land, a crushing burden. These tax collectors ask, Teacher, what should we do?
It is interesting what John says to these, these tax collectors. And what he does not, what he does not say.
John says to them, Collect no more than the amount prescribed to you.
Tax collectors, in addition to the heavy Roman taxes, would also collect from people a fee for their tax collecting services. And this fee seemed ever to grow larger and larger.
And it would be good, certainly, if they stopped doing this to people, would collect only the prescribed amount. It would be even better if they were to stop collecting taxes altogether, to stop their collaboration with Rome, but John does not, does not require this of them.
It is interesting that soldiers and tax collectors would join the crowds coming to John the Baptist and asking him, What then should we do?
Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.
For there is one coming more powerful. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand. What is harvested tossed upward into the wind, the chaff snapping and flashing in the upward spiral while the wheat, the grain, falls to the threshing floor and is gathered into the granary.
And what are we going to do? The coming, the Advent, of this powerful one and the coming wrath. What are we going to do?
And I do mean we, we who are gathered here. What should we do? Teacher, what should we do? And we, what should we do?
I think about this wrath that is coming, the coming of this one more powerful. His winnowing fork is in his hand.
And I don’t think, I don’t think there is any escape. We cannot flee this wrath.
All of us, we will all be tossed upwards into that fiery spiral. The chaff will snap and flash. The grain will fall. We cannot escape. There is nowhere we can run.
I think about this coming wrath, the day of wrath, the coming of the one more powerful, his winnowing fork in hand.
And I’m counting on it, on its coming. I think it would be a relief. I do. Honestly. It would be a relief, this wrath.
Think about it. Think about those Roman soldiers, those collectors of Roman taxes, and the crowds made destitute by Roman occupation. And Rome, the power of Rome, it held all of them captive. And Rome was, indeed, very powerful. It held the whole world captive.
But John the Baptist did not tell the crowds to rise up in revolt, to throw off Roman rule, but to share, even out of their poverty, to share what food and clothing they had with each other.
He did not tell the soldiers to throw down their swords and the tax collectors to stop their collecting, but to stop, to stop making a terrible situation worse.
Why? Because Rome was powerful, indeed. Much too powerful. More powerful than all of them and all of them put together.
Think about it. Think of these and think of us. There is something—I don’t know what to call it, if it has many names or just one, I don’t know, call it Sin—but something holds us captive, drawing even you and me into its web, making a mess of things, the whole world captive. And there is no escape, nowhere to run from it.
But one is coming. One more powerful is coming. His winnowing fork is in his hand.
And I tell you, even with fear and trembling, I tell you it will be a relief.
One coming, one more powerful, one whose mercy, kindness, faithfulness, and goodness is more powerful.
One coming and proclaiming good news to the poor and release to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free.
The winnowing fork is in his hand. And tossed upward into the fiery wind, the chaff pops and flashes, is incinerated, and upward, spiraling upward—there is no escape—upward into the smoke and blast, and…falling, falling to the threshing floor. He gathers us. He gathers us into his granary.
A relief. I tell you, even with fear and trembling, this would be a relief.
What shall we do? And I do mean we. What shall we do? Teacher, what should we do in this situation?
The Baptizer says, Share your possessions. If you have two coats, give one of them to the one who has none. And the same with our food. And do not make what is a bad situation for people, don’t make it any worse by grabbing for yourselves.
If I may, if I may add to what John the Baptist says…What should we do?
We can pray. Praying always as we have been taught to pray. Praying always, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Hallowed by your name. And deliver us, deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.
This. Let this be our hope. Let this be our hope and our prayer.
Neal Kentch, Salem United Church of Christ and Corydon Christian, December 14, 2003