1/7/2025 0 Comments UnquenchableLuke 3:15-17, 21-22
Baptism of the Lord https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%203%3A15-17%2C%2021-22&version=NRSVUE Unquenchable is the word that drew my attention in this scripture reading. When I first think of this word, I think of its root, quench, as in something that quenches our thirst. We are so thirsty that we reach for water that quenches or satisfies our thirst. Usually, it is water that satisfies our thirst more than other drinks, particularly sugary drinks. They typically make us thirstier, and so they are unquenchable. With the use of water in this reading, we could easily jump to the conclusion that the water at baptism quenches our thirst for Jesus or satisfies our spiritual longing. If we dig a little deeper, we will see that John the Baptist says he baptizes with water, and he is just a “stagehand” (v.16, MSG). He’s not as worthy as the One who baptizes with fire. Jesus is the one who baptizes with holy fire, and it is unquenchable, meaning the fire cannot be put out. It is inextinguishable. It will never burn up. It will keep burning, a never-ending flame within us. But that’s not quite how John the Baptist used the metaphor of fire. It is interesting that both water and fire are used to describe the spiritual aspects of the Christian life. They are opposites. Water extinguishes fire. Wet wood will not ignite. So, again, we must dig deeper to understand John the Baptist’s message. The tradition that formed me taught that his message was: if you are baptized, you go to heaven, Jesus’ granary, but if you aren’t, you go to hell, an unquenchable fire. It was further taught that Jesus separated the good people from the bad people, rewarding the good and punishing the bad. I find it interesting that this interpretation is considered a literal reading since John the Baptist is clearly using a metaphor. Further, who can prove there is a literal hell with unquenchable fire. No one has seen a literal hell and lived to tell about it. John the Baptist uses a well-known metaphor to his audience, the process of harvesting grain. Many would have understood the message, that Jesus is the harvester who uses the winnowing fork, the tool used in separating the edible or usable parts of the grain from the inedible parts of the outer husk or chaff. John does mean to say that Jesus will perform a separating action, but instead of separating “good and bad people,” he separates or pulls out the goodness in all of us from the unusable parts that might prevent us from living into the person God created us to be. Eugene Peterson’s The Message translation rewords this teaching in modern language that helps us understand the metaphor’s meaning: “But John intervened: ‘I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned” (v.16-17). Our false self is removed and burned by an unquenchable fire. The unquenchable fire continues to burn the trash that Jesus removed from us during the act of baptism. It’s not just a ritual or symbol that we go through the motions, because it’s the trendy thing to do, as was John the Baptist’s context for his reading. Baptism is a life-altering action where Jesus takes the goodness within us and makes it better, and he also takes away the things that hold us back from being who God created us to be. Maybe that is sin, temptation, or other “trash” that functions as chaff in our lives, but Jesus takes it away and it never comes back. Baptism is not a “one and done” experience. It is living a life with the fire of the Holy Spirit burning within us and trusting Jesus to keep the chaff burning away from us. Unquenchable speaks to the promise that Jesus will always be with us and helping us with the chaff in our lives. We can see that promise in verse 21 when Jesus was baptized with the people. Reflection Questions: What chaff do you need to give over to Jesus’ unquenchable fire? Have you experienced this promise to be true? Has Jesus separated and helped keep the chaff at bay? Have you been baptized with water and fire? Pray: Holy God, help us to release the chaff that you have separated from us, so we can live vibrantly through your Holy Spirit. Action: Remember your baptism in a special way this week. *New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
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