A Fire that Lights, Kindles, and Burns
Indianapolis First Friends
Pastor Bob Henry
January 7, 2018
Matthew 3:10-17 (VOICE)
Even now there is an ax poised at the root of every tree, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and tossed into the fire. I ritually cleanse you through baptism as a mark of turning your life around. But someone is coming after me, someone whose sandals I am not fit to carry, someone who is more powerful than I. He will wash you not in water but in fire and with the Holy Spirit. He carries a winnowing fork in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor; He will gather up the good wheat in His barn, and He will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.
And then, the One of whom John spoke—the all-powerful Jesus—came to the Jordan from Galilee to be washed by John. At first, John demurred.
John: I need to be cleansed by You. Why do You come to me?
Jesus: It will be right, true, and faithful to God’s chosen path for you to cleanse Me with your hands in the Jordan River.
John agreed, and he ritually cleansed Jesus, dousing Him in the waters of the Jordan. Jesus emerged from His baptism; and at that moment heaven was opened, and Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him, alighting on His very body.
Voice from Heaven: This is My Son, whom I love; this is the Apple of My eye; with Him I am well pleased.
Most of us could not read our text for this morning without thinking a little bit about FIRE. And with all the cold we have had - a little fire would actually be nice.
Ironically, there are several references to fire in this text about Jesus’ water baptism, if you did not notice we heard about…
cutting down and tossing into the fire
washing not in water but in fire, and...
burning the chaff with a fire
Too often we simply jump to hell or eternal damnation when thinking about fire in the scriptures and often truly miss what I believe John had been preparing the people in the wilderness for – that being the coming of the Light (the Fire) into their lives.
I sense the reason we move quickly to hell is that the word pictures John paints for us are messages that, as William Barclay in his commentary notes, seem to combine both “promise and threat.”
Before anyone get’s cut down and thrown into the fire, I think we first must remember what John says,
John says that the baptism of the one who is to come will be with fire.
William Barclay helped shed some important light on his ideas of what this coming fire would entail – and with many things in scripture it is three-fold. He sees the fire in three ways – 1. Illumination, 2. Warmth, and 3. Purification.
Let’s explore what Barclay said in his own words on this subject.
There is the idea of illumination. The blaze of a flame sends a light through the night and illuminates the darkest corners. The flame of the beacon guides the sailor to the harbor and the traveller to their goal. In fire there is light and guidance.
There is the idea of warmth. A great and a kindly person was described as one who lit fires in cold rooms...God kindles within our hearts the warmth of love towards God and towards our neighbor.
And finally…
There is the idea of purification. In this sense purification involves destruction; for the purifying flame burns away the false and leaves the true. The flame tempers and strengthens and purifies the metal.
For you and me, this often happens through painful experiences, but, if a person throughout all the experiences of life believes that God is working together all things for good, she will emerge from them with a character which is cleansed and purified, until, being pure in heart, she can see God within her.
We must remember that for us, what John the Baptist has described is a present reality. When you and I realize the Light of God is in our present lives – as John realized on the shore that day when Jesus came and dipped into the water – our eyes and hearts are not only open, but even more our entire lives (physically, mentally, spiritually) are opened up to God’s fire and light to enter into our very souls.
Thus becoming, as Quakers have always professed and testified, “THE LIGHT WITHIN”
A fire in our souls
that lights and guides our journey.
that kindles in our hearts the warmth of love towards God and towards our neighbor.
that burns away the false and leaves the true
In the original Greek the word for cleansed, washed, or even baptized meant to be literally immersed - which meant...
To be thrust, plunged, or thrown into
To be consumed by – surrounded by or overwhelmed with.
John’s Baptismal cleansing was for repentance and people were immersed in the water of the Jordan river as a symbol of that cleansing.
But when Jesus comes, the immersion that takes places is one of being thrust, plunged into, consumed, surrounded and overwhelmed by the Spirit or refining fire of God.
When you and I truly experience the Light Within – that Refiner’s Fire – the simple truth is that we cannot stay the same.
Folks, I think one of the greatest things I have learned over the last several years is that fire is not always bad but rather transformational, and it doesn’t always mean hell.
A few years ago, when we were at Yosemite National Park and taking a tour over the valley floor, they told us how descendants of the Ahwahneechee people (the first settlers of the area) taught park rangers the importance of burning parts of the valley floor each year. Doing this brings about new life - seeds that could not open without the intense heat of the fires would instead lay dormant. The dry brush and overgrowth would naturally overtake the forest without the cleansing quality of the fires. And if there were no little fires, an all consuming fire could take the entire park.
I was also listening to an interesting discussion on NPR awhile back, about how we view forest fire prevention today compared to just a few years ago. I found out that what my family learned about at Yosemite is now called, “The Smokey the Bear Effect.”
One of the reasons we have so many huge, all consuming forest fires in our country (often at or around our protected lands such as National Parks) is due to trying to prevent all fires in these landmarks. Most of us grew up with commercials or advertisements where Smokey the Bear taught that we need to prevent all forest fires from happening. Yet not only was that impossible, it was not true. (How The Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires, OPB)
If we would have done what the Ahwahneechee people had learned by living close to the earth and learning from it, instead of abusing, distressing, and overworking it as we too often do, we may have been doing what they have just begun doing in Yosemite – lighting small controllable fires on a rotating cycle for the benefit of the forest and wildlife.
I think this may be closer to what John was trying to teach us about Jesus’ baptism of fire. We need more than immersion in water. We need more than repentance (even though I believe that is part of it). We need transformation.
It reminds me of the words of Martin Luther King Jr (a man who understood the need for transformation and who we will be focusing on next Sunday).
"By opening our lives to God in Christ, we become new creatures. This experience, which Jesus spoke of as the new birth, is essential if we are to be transformed nonconformists ... Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit." Martin Luther King Jr.
We need to be thrust, plunged, thrown into, consumed, surrounded, and overwhelmed by the Light/Fire of God on a regular basis. Not just a once-and-done kind of thing, but a daily refining so that new life can come forth. So that cleansing can take place. So that we can prevent our own bad choices, destructive desires, and offensive ways from destroying those around us and making us useless chaff or non-fruit bearing trees.
As we enter our time of waiting worship - take some time to ponder how your Inner Light radiates the Love of God. Ask yourself...
How is my Light illuminating my path and directing me in the darkness?
How is my Light kindling the warmth of God’s love to my neighbors?
How is my Light purifying my world and speaking Truth to power?