Mtr Kelli Joyce

Dear friends in Christ,

Over the last several weeks, I have had the joy of helping to facilitate a weekly Women's Bible Study at Saint Philip's. During the month of August we studied the book of Ruth, and for the rest of the year we will be looking together at the Gospel of Luke. Today's Gospel passage led to some wonderful conversation when we discussed it a few weeks ago - especially the bit where John the Baptist says that Jesus' "winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

This might not seem like the best or most exciting part of today's passage - surely the bit about the Spirit descending like a dove is much pleasanter! Part of why it was so interesting in the context of our Bible study is that it hearkened back to our earlier time with the Book of Ruth. (The threshing-floor, if you're not familiar with that story, plays a big role in Ruth's salvation.)

What's a threshing-floor? And what is a winnowing-fork? They're farm tools, designed to remove the stems and hay and debris and chaff from harvested wheat, so that only the edible grain remains. The mention of fire may lead us to think of classic images and teachings about hell, but I have a different suggestion for how we might think about this fire: the judgment of Christ is designed to free us from the parts of ourselves that get in the way of the purpose God created us for. The chaff that Jesus will remove and destroy isn't bad/non-Christian people, it's everything within each of us that is selfish and callous and arrogant and cruel.

Right after this metaphor about preparing wheat, Luke says this: "So, with many other exhortations, [John] proclaimed the good news to the people." The winnowing-fork of Christ is good news, not bad news. We have been forgiven our sins through Christ's death and resurrection, but that is not the end of the story - he longs to free us of their hold on us! Thanks be to God, who longs for our wellness and wholeness, not our suffering and pain.

In peace,
Mtr. Kelli